Home Sweet Home

Well, it has been a few days since I last posted. I wanted to share you all a picture of Jack's new permanent family (unfortunately I never got a picture of the family with Jack like I had hoped). But they are a great family with two kids with beautiful home and especially nice backyard they intentionally created and designed for a dog.

The have decided to formerly rename Cracker Jack to "Jack".

When I drove Jack over to their home on Sunday, it was quite an experience. As it turns out, Jack decided to leave me a little something to remember him by.... some throw up in the back seat on the way there. So now when I get into my nice care, I can tell Jack was there.

Other than that we had a great visit and Jack really got acquainted (and spoiled) by the family. Actually Jack was a surprise to the kids, since they didn't know they were getting a dog. But they loved him right off the bat and were very happy to find out Jack was staying with them permanently.

I just hope Jack doesn't embarrass me and start to act up or forget his house-training and leash skills that we mastered over our time together.

Worse yet, this new family has such a beautiful home... I hope Jack realizes that unlike my home, where he liked to make a mess of things on purpose, I hope he doesn't carry over that bad habit that slipped by me. To be honest Jack wasn't bad a chewing up anything of value. Jack just liked to chew on things just to make mess. Like pulling ever single tissue out of a Kleenex box and running around with one end of the toilet paper roll, or famously chewing up Chinese menus and leaving each numbered order item in a different part of my place.

But for me, those were the good things about. As much a dog or puppy can make a mess, half the fun for me was watching him do it. After all, it only took minutes to clean up, but gave him hours of enjoyment to make the mess.

I hope every adoptive parent of a young dog realizes that young dogs and pups LOVE to chew. Doesn't matter on what. They just like to chew and play with anything. I think curiosity gets the best of them. But just give them a little leeway with the small and unimportant things and they'll be happy.

As for me, Jack was one of the hardest, but greatest dogs I've had. He was rambunctious, hyper, and completely untrained in every way. Even though I only had him 3-1/2 weeks, the challenge to train him and show him the ropes took a great deal of time and effort.... I can say - without a doubt - he was worth every last bit of trouble. With some patience and persistence, Jack turned out the way I had hoped. He was fully crate-trained, fully house-trained and good on the leash.

In the end Atlanta Dog Squad, helped to save another dog from likely bad fate. And now Jack has a new great loving family.

As for me, I will definitely miss Jack but will look forward to helping another homeless dog find a loving permanent home. So within the next few days or so, I will be picking up another dog or pup and will try to instill the obedience and training in him/her to make him a highly desirably dog to adopted by a loving and permanently family.

When I get the new dog or pup, I will start a new daily blog of his antics, training and all the good and bad things he or she does. Half for my amusement, and the other half for potential adoptive families to really know more about the dog they're choosing to permanently adopt. And if I have any say in it, it will be a great dog when he gets adoptive by a permanent family

So please stay tuned for the next chapter... it'll be good :)

To all the readers who have followed Jack's blog... I want to say thanks.

Mike

Adoption Day Downer

Today was the Atlanta Dog Squad's Adoption event at Petco in Roswell. This was Cracker Jack's (aka CJ) first time to attend an adoption event.

He seemed to love all the people and all the dogs. He played in the water pools a lot and got to play with some other dogs, so that was great. 

I was proud to show him off and how well he can behave once settled down. And even more so proud to tell other how well this dog learns.  In less than 3 weeks he went from a completely wild and untrained puppy to now being a fully house, crate and leashed trained dog. This is quite a challenge for any puppy at 4-1/2 months old, when I first fostered him 3 weeks ago. Since then, he's not only grown, but has become a great dog who friendly, fun and behaves really well.

But the best news is that CJ's personality won some people over today. He got a lots of attention from different people looking to adopt while having multiple families interested in adopting him. So lucky for him, he was quickly adopted by a seemingly very nice couple with two kids and a nice fenced yard. So it seems like they will make a great family together. With the young kids they have, and CJ being so young himself, these guys will be able to grow up together as happy family together for a long time.

If I can be honest, I almost wished everybody ignored CJ, because I was hoping I would get to spend more time with him... and I will definitely miss him too. I think that's the hardest part about fostering a dog, because you know it will not be permanent, even if you want it to be.

So tomorrow will be a tough day when I have to part with CJ and take him to his new owners and help CJ get acquainted with his new family.

I'm sure I'll get another foster dog in a day or so, or sometime this week, but no new dog can replace the old ones you've trained and bonded with even over a short weeks. So I'm sad for losing CJ, but glad we saved another rescued dog... and that we will also be able to save another abandoned dog to be placed with a good family before they are put down.

The good news for me though, is knowing that CJ will be going to a nice permanent family who can show him lots of love and attention.

Puppy Update

With the ADS lab adoption event coming up tomorrow (Saturday, June 12th 10am-1pm), I wanted to offer potential adoptive families additional insight in to Cracker Jack (aka CJ).

Right off the bat, I can tell you that CJ LOVES to hang around you in a desire to get you to play with him. For the last 2 3 4 5 hours... literally... I have been pushing him away from me while I'm trying to work. But CJ doesn't give up easily when he wants to play or wants to sit in your lap. Whenever I move, he moves. So to put it mildly, this dog LOVES attention and will eventually wag his tail and bark at you to get your attention to play with him. The one thing about CJ, is that you'll never lose sight of him. Since he is always determined to be in whatever room you are, or at least be a in place where he can keep his eye on you at all times.

I've written about his antics before, and they are still ongoing. He is definitely an energetic and enthusiastic dog. Other than his desire for play and attention, he is still a great and well behaved puppy at 5-1/2 months old.

He listens pretty well for  puppy and has great potential for learning earning more. In less than 2 weeks he was completely house and crate trained - without once accident since. He is also fast becoming a great dog a on leash. He will mostly always walk next to you (not in front or behind you) with plenty of lag in the leash. That is unless he sees somebody who wants to give him some attention... then you have hold him back, or make him sit. If he is has eyes set on something like a dog, squirrel, bird or anything else... you just have to make him sit. And he'll sit there calmly without trying to run.

Observation Update (partial)

Cracker Jack (aka CJ or Jack) is flat out gorgeous and at about 5 mos old. He is still very puppyish from both a personality and looks perspective. He definitely is a BIG puppy and he's still got a lot of growing to do. He has the most adorable personality - he's cuddly, still a bit clumsy, silly, animated and a little unsure of himself. He has the makings, markings and characteristics of a true  purebred yellow lab.

CJ has been fully vetted and appears to be great health.

Let's Talk Puppy

Jack and I had great weekend this weekend. His surgery from Friday did not affect him in any way that I could tell. He was the same lovable pup, with the same amount of energy and play that he had before I took him in for neutering and more vaccination shots.

So with this last medical hurdle, it seems Crack Jack is fully ready to be adopted - having all his shots, vaccinations, checkups, micro chipping, preventative health treatments, neutering and everything else that makes him a very health dog ready for new permanent home.

With an upcoming Atlanta Dog Squad adoption event coming up in a week or so, this week I wanted to focus
on some evaluations of him, so hopefully his potentially new adoptive family will know a lot about Cracker Jack before they take him.

It's only been a few weeks since I've had Cracker Jack, but we've been together almost 24/7 since I first picked him. So it's easy to tell you about what kind of dog he is, his bad and good habits, as well as personal thoughts about what type of an ideal families he'd enjoy.