Beaux

Here is Beaux with his short haircut.

He  is a very active dog, smart and a pretty typical Schnauzer.  He barks at strangers and strange dogs and, of course, the squirrels...otherwise he is fairly quiet.

My new rug came today,  ordered it before we had Simon.

It looks like a perfect match. I trust him enough not to potty on it but we still need to keep a close eye on him.  We are very close to calling him trained.

We've been taking walks everyday.  They are usually about 1.5 miles, around 1/2 an hour.   We try to go twice a day. He loves it.  He does very well on the leash.

 

 

 

In the video he is a little less focused than usual because we are walking behind my son riding in the wagon.  He normally walks pretty nicely right next to me.

 

I am no professional but it seems to me that his leg is better when we get more exercise.  His limp seems more pronounced when I have not taken him for regular walks, but even then it is not  bad.

 



Just a quick note,  he learned what his bed is.

 

 

Also, the housetraining is coming along pretty well.  He no longer pottys right when we take him out of the crate.  He is taken out a lot, but he is really starting to get it.

Short on top, a little off the sides.

Guess who trusted me enough to sit still for a haircut?  Now we can see those eyes.

Also, the finger nibbling is not an issue anymore, it is almost nonexistent.  And if you are wondering how his leg is...just accidentally drop a piece of chicken on the floor when he is a room away, you'll see how fast he can move.

Simon is a music lover, at least he seems to like the sound of a 4th grader learning the recorder. He really did sit and listen for quite awhile.

He is not a lover of the vacuum cleaner but he is getting used to it, he has no choice if he is going to keep exploring behind the things I don't always give the attention they apparently need. He keeps coming over for some back scratches with dust bunnies on his nose. 

Simon will make a great family pet.  He loves to play with the  kids.  Most of the dogs we have fostered tend to attach to one person more so than the others, not so with Simon.  He is happy to be around any of us.  He is a very social boy. 

It rained off and on all day yesterday, so no time on the dog run.  We just made time to do our playing inside.  Simon and I did sit out on the porch for  awhile.  He started out sitting next to me but kept putting his paws up on my leg so I did eventually let him sit on my lap.  You know, if he got adopted right away I think someone could train him to be a lap dog if they wanted.  He was very comfortable sitting there.

 He will still go after your feet if you're walking around in stocking feet.  He does love the socks.  Although,  he will listen when told to stop,  he just always has to give it a try. Simon, coming from being a stray, needs to learn when something doesn't belong to him, we are working on it but I think it will come with time and trust. 





Here is Simon sitting nicely.

Here is Simon sitting nicely while holding his leg up. It's pretty random as to when he holds it up and when he doesn't.  I can't stress enough that the leg is just not that big of a deal for him. He is a great, loving and playful dog.  He looks like a puppy and always will but with the sense of an adult dog. He is learning more words including toy and bed.  I think we will work on the leash next week.  And as always, we are working on the housetraining,  it is getting better but not ready to call him trained yet. Unless you wanted to adopt him today and train him yourself,  I think he could be trained to use a litter box.

Enjoy the weekend!



Good morning

Yesterday we took Simon out for a short walk on the leash.  I didn't want to take him too far, just another test for his leg. We walked about 2 blocks down and 2 blocks back.  He is so very curious. He had to stop and smell everything we passed.  He pulled me along the whole time. While he is never going to be the dog you want to take out for a long hike, as with most little dogs, I have to say he walks well on the leash, as long as you let him think he is in charge.

When we got back from our walk I put him on the dog run just to see if he would lay down or keep on playing.  He ran around for a little bit and then lay down in the grass and chewed on sticks.

 

 

After he finished with his sticks, he came over and rolled over and gave me the belly.  He hasn't done that before so I am very pleased, he is getting used to us.  I tried to get a picture of it but he rolled back over immediately when I snapped the picture. He doesn't like to miss anything.

 

 



 

 

 

He is a fun little dog, very playful, plus he has managed to find all of those socks my boys have been missing.  He loves socks and I can't believe the places that he finds them, I am starting to question my housekeeping skills.

 

 

 

Can you see which leg is the bad one?  I doubt it. 

 







Welcome to our brand new blog.  Our family has been fostering for 5 months now and have met and fostered some pretty great dogs. We decided to start this blog to tell everyone about our current foster, Simon. 

Simon, you see, has a bad leg. He was found as a stray and was limping when he was picked up in Alabama. He came all the way to Wisconsin where he received his medical evaluation. It seems that he has an old break that has not healed properly. The orthopedic surgeon feels to do nothing is the best course of action.  The fact is he has a limp and always will. I am sure that will scare away many people from adopting. We are starting  this blog to  post pictures, videos and updates to show Simon in all of his glory and not define him by this one part of who he is. We know there is someone out there who can love him, flaws and all.

 

 

 

Simon is a very energetic little guy. He loves to run, chase sticks or balls or the leaves falling off of the trees in the yard.  We hooked him up to a dog run in the yard so he could set his own pace. We are letting him use the leg as much or as little as he wants.  He wants to use it.  He loves to play. And jump. And run.  It is only the first week with us and he has been sitting around waiting for doctors before he came here, I will be curious to see if this energy level stays or if it is just him exploiting his new found freedom. 

He is very puppy-like, in both looks and manners.  He does some puppy nibbling, never aggressive, and is not house-trained although he does seem to be crate trained.  He is the only dog in the house at the moment so we are giving our full attention to training him.  He has already learned sit and out.  He is very curious and he is a bit of a collector.  Needless to say, the kids no longer leave their shoes or socks laying around.  He stashes his collectibles in his bed.  We have provided him with lots of fun toys and he is quickly learning what is his and what is not. Did I mention that he is smart and a quick learner, because he is.

As for his leg, he uses it to run and walk.  When he is standing still, he holds it up. A few times he has walked with it up, usually right after he is getting out of the crate.  It makes me wonder if it is stiff and then he walks it loose.  Who knows?  He has never cried or whimpered or shown any sign that he is in pain. He jumps right up on the couch and he will jump down also.  He has been squirmy when picked up and again I wonder, was he dropped, is that how he broke the leg?  I have been picking him up and very gently setting him down and he seems to have already gotten more comfortable with it.

Simon is very friendly and he loves to play with the kids.  I have not seen any aggression or growling at all. He is sweet as can be and will make someone a fantastic pet. Once you get to know him, his leg will be the last thing that you would mention when describing him, it just isn't a big part of who he is.

 

 

 

 

It seems too, that he is a Badgers fan,  I think he came to us that way and we have not influenced him at all in that direction.