Joey a 2-3 year old beautiful red-gold male was found abandoned at a high school.  A Good Samaritan took him home and searched for the owners of this happy red boy for 10 days.  When no owners could be found, he came to GRR. Joey is a wonderful, calm and loving boy.  He gets this report:

If you could go to a “dog factory” and order the PERFECT dog in terms of temperament, very likely the dog you would receive would be Joey.  He is sweet, affectionate, and calm.  He’s also beautiful!  He’s a big dog, weighing about 75 pounds and he is a beautiful shade of red.  He has a little white spot on his chest.  His eyes are a gorgeous gold color and are very expressive.  He has these wisps of long fur on both shoulders that stick out several inches past his coat.  They look like little doggie angel wings.  His tail is very full and is wagging almost all the time.

Joey loves to be cuddled and will sit with me for hours.  Even if my hand is just resting on his head, he’s happy.  I think he thinks he’s a cat, because he’ll wind around my legs and will happily curl up in my lap.   If I am standing, he’ll come up and just lean on me.  Sometimes he can’t get close enough!  If I am busy, he’s perceptive enough that after a minute or so of being ignored, he’ll find something else to do.

Joey is very calm and peaceful.  He’s never into anything, he doesn’t chase the cat, and he mostly ignores my dog, Cricket.  We were saying last night that it would be easy to forget he was even in the house, except that he’s so sweet, you want to play with him all the time.  He’s unlike most Goldens, especially fosters, in that he’s not a “Velcro Dog”.  He prefers to be where I am, but is content to sleep in one place while I wander around the house. 

Joey is very friendly and greets newcomers with a calm enthusiasm.  He doesn’t jump on people and isn’t too pushy.  He will try to get his nose past Cricket’s to get his share of the love.  I hadn’t heard him bark until we’d had him for 5 days.  He was running around the yard and came up to me and said, “Woooo-oooooo” which was a funny sound and not like a typical bark.  More like a bay.  It seemed like he was just saying, “Hi Mom!”  Then he ran off to find a ball.  He watches the fence when my neighbor dogs are barking, but doesn’t respond to them.  

Joey does not seem to have been around other dogs.  He doesn’t know how to play.  Cricket has been trying really hard to teach him the joys of playing “bitey-head”, but he’s not sure what could be so much fun about chasing each other around the yard, getting tackled and biting on ears and scruffs.  He’s trying, though, and he is more playful than when he arrived.  When he sees strange dogs on our walks, he’s friendly.

He has never picked up anything he shouldn’t, doesn’t get things out of the trash, and never chews on shoes.  He’ll sniff at things on the ground, but doesn’t pick up anything that is not a dog toy.  He had to be convinced that peanut butter stuffed Kongs are great and he discovered the fun of a potato bone just yesterday.

In the morning he waits until Craig gets up for work and then jumps in bed with me.  My cat, typically the biggest dog hater in the world, will even let him sleep next to her on the bed.  He’ll get off if I tell him to, but I’m too much of a softie to do that.

Joey understands no, but not many other commands.  It doesn’t really matter much because I have never had to get him to settle down or lie down.  We’re working on sit and he’s learning.  It helps if I have a treat.  He doesn’t try to get on the rest of the furniture.  He’s happy to sit on my feet when I am on the couch.

            His manners are great, he doesn’t “counter surf” and he doesn’t beg for food.  Joey is fine in the car and jumps right in.  He prefers to sit in the front seat next to me.  I have had to push him back over because he thinks it’s a great time to snuggle.  But once I say “no”, he stays on his side.

Joey likes to play ball.  It’s his very favorite toy.  He’ll retrieve it and just yesterday he started dropping it for me to throw again.

The funniest thing Joey does is when he’s excited he dances on his two front feet.    I usually get that when I am preparing dinner, if I get the leash out, or if I have been gone for a while.

Joey is great on a leash and loves to go for walks.  He doesn’t seem to know “heel”, but never pulls on the leash.  

The only flaw in this otherwise perfect dog is that I would not yet consider him reliably house-trained.  He’s had 2 accidents in the week he’s been here.  He’s considerate about using the bathroom inside though- once he went on the tile in my bathroom and the other time it was on a plastic tarp I had down for painting.  Both times I was home so he could have told me he needed to go out.  I am typically very careful to let the dogs out often throughout the day, so I can’t even say for sure how he would let me on his own.  I do leave him loose in my bedroom when I leave, though, and have no accidents in there.  I would consider him trustworthy loose alone in terms of not destroying things.  He hasn’t had an accident in many days, so I hoping he’s figured it out.  Sometimes it takes fosters a few days to understand the new rules.

Joey will go in a crate, if I bribe him, and not bark.  He does whine a little and pants really hard.  I take that as a sign of nervousness.  He’s currently not crated at anytime, but I am sure he’d deal with it OK if his new family chooses that method.  He really just wants to make his people happy. 

Joey is one of the sweetest dogs I have ever had the pleasure of knowing.  It will break my heart when he finds a forever home, but I know he will make his new family so happy.  I haven’t seen him around children, but I am confident that he would be a great best friend to any child.  Some family will be very lucky to get this wonderful creature!

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