Boomer is back!  Boomer was adopted to a home with a cat.  Boomer and the cat got along OK except for a couple of instances when the cat startled Boomer while Boomer was in a deep sleep.  Boomer’s frightened response was to lunge at the cat.  No damage done, but in order to keep peace Boomer was returned to us. 

I checked in with Boomer’s original owners and they also had a couple of occurrences where Boomer startled when surprised while he was in a deep sleep.  Again, no damage done.  Boomer just jumped and gave a small growl.  We found this quite interesting because we did not see Boomer’s startle response while he was with us.  But we are an adult household with resident Josie who sleeps by choice in her crate.  Boomer’s sleep was uninterrupted at our house and all was good! 

So what does this mean for Boomer?  Boomer will need to go to a home where there are no small children who may not understand Boomer needs his space while he sleeps.  Any other pets in the home must also respect Boomer’s space while he sleeps.  Humans in the household must remember to give Boomer a quiet verbal “hey Boomer” before they approach him while he is sleeping so as not to startle him.  This actually is good practice for all of our pets, but in Boomer’s case it will be extremely important.

Knowing that Boomer is cautious around new dogs, we took re-introductions to resident Josie slow.  The dogs are either supervised or physically separated by a baby gate.  We’ve had no trouble, the two dogs seem to remember each other and are doing fine.  Boomer did give Josie one warning growl when she barreled into him as I was petting him.  Good communication skills on Boomer’s part, and a good reminder to Josie that not all dogs appreciate her enthusiasm.

Boomer’s routine at our house is pretty simple.  Work week we rise and shine at 4:45am for a one mile walk.  The early rise and shine is foster mom’s choice, I think Boomer would like to sleep much later if given the chance!  Morning walk is followed by breakfast in the laundry room.  Boomer is very patient while waiting for his food dish and does not mind sharing the laundry room with Josie for meals.  The dogs lounge around while we get ready for work and then are taken out for a final potty break before we leave.  Boomer is gated in the mud/laundry room while we are gone.  Boomer doesn’t seem to mind this arrangement one bit.  He doesn’t even get off his dog bed to say good-bye when we leave.  After work, foster dad takes the dogs for a brisk 3-4 mile walk and then it’s dinner time.  Evenings are usually spent catching up on projects around the house/yard.  While outside Boomer enjoys taking in all of the sights and smells of our rural yard while on a long lead.  His recall is very good but for safety reasons RAGOM requires all foster dogs to be leashed or in a fenced yard.  When inside Boomer is content to follow us from room to room, laying his head on our laps for ear skritches if we happen to sit down.

Boomer LOVES his walks.  He is so funny.  He’ll prance along and all of a sudden all four feet come off the ground and he kicks up his heels like he is saying “WOW it feels good to stretch my legs!”.  The first time he did this it really surprised me and I thought he was either going to bolt, or jump on me.  But nope, he doesn’t even put any pressure on the leash when he does this!  It is the cutest thing ever and puts a smile on my face every time.

Please contact your placement advisor if you would like to learn more about Boomer.

Boomer

Boomer and Josie