Duke's forever family sent us some adorable pictures of him with Santa. I had to share!

They just adore him and he looks so happy! 

We just received an email from Duke’s forever family. They say, “He is looking more and more relaxed and contented! We just love him!!!”

We couldn’t be more thrilled for him and he looks so happy! He has been waiting for this family to come along and they were worth the wait!

Enjoy a picture of Duke showing how happy he is. We also want to share one last photo of Duke…We took Duke for a bath the day he was picked up and we snapped a picture of him enjoying his after bath treat…ice cream! Duke and Ally were both enjoying the ice cream after their baths.

We were out of town, over the weekend and we were fortunate to have another RAGOM foster take Duke in!

Duke met their resident dog, Buddy, without incident. There is even a picture of the two dogs sitting side by side. (Duke is the dog on the right.) Good sniffs and then moving on to the yard and all the new smells. There was a marsh close by, which we have no doubt Duke would hop into if he spotted a muskrat or a duck!

Duke’s “weekend” Foster Mom liked the picture of Duke next to the pile of wood. Their family was starting to build a deck and knew a mouse had taken residency in the pile of lumber. Duke didn’t waste any time in his pursuit of the mouse. Thankfully he did not actually catch the mouse…yuck! However, the picture does look like Duke ate a little dirt while digging at the ground and lumber. The picture looks like he's saying, “What?! There was a mouse under there!”

We also had reports; Duke did great with the kids. “He was SUPER!” The kids climbed on him a few times and he didn't even bat an eye! They did not have a fence, and really didn't test him on not having a fence. However, they agree Duke would probably come back when call as long as there was not a “great” distraction. (ie:Squirrels, Rabbits, Ducks, Muskrats, etc…)

The family thought it was a pleasure having him stay at their house and were a little sad to see him go. “What a lover he is.”

Lucky for you Duke Fans, this boy is still looking for his forever home!

My husband has created two Blackberry eating machines! The Blackberries are ready to eat, so he thought, I wonder if the dogs will like them. Now when Duke and Ally are let outside to go potty, they both spend about ten minutes eating the fallen berries and picking berries off the stems. Duke has been funny because he has picked berries that were not quite ready and he has taken too big of a bite…ouch! (Duke is on the left in the picture of both dogs.)

Please contact your placement advisor if you are interested in talking to us about this big palooka.

We are so lucky to still have Duke! Our resident dog Ally loves having him around so she can wrestle him. We think Duke lets her win.

Duke did meet an interested family recently with two cats; which we brought him over to meet. When he met one of the cats he sniffed and was very excited. He play bowed and barked playfully at the kitty to play, but didn’t get the hint that when a kitty hisses; this means the kitty doesn’t want to play. He was too interested in this little orange cat. We think he thought it was a miniature golden retriever which would want to wrestle also. J We are not saying he could not live with a cat, it would just need to be the right cat, maybe a cat that can tell Duke who is boss.

Duke has been helping us in the garden. He will explore by the tomatoes to make sure no squirrel or rabbit has been overstepping its bounds and he will check to see if anything in the garden is ripe for picking. What a good boy! We filled up the kiddie pools for the dogs, with this streak of hot weather. He seemed very intrigued with the water, but didn’t lay down in it. He would stick his nose in the water and blow bubbles. We thought the bubble blowing was pretty cute.

Next week around this time we should be hearing from Duke’s potential family; just getting back from a work trip. In the meantime we are continuing to wear Duke out!

This past weekend we had a visiting RAGOM dog Handsome 12-160 for four days. We were able to introduce Duke to Handsome slowly and then we had no problems. Well, unless you consider non-stop wrestling a problem! J

I want to share some of the photos we have taken over the past week. Duke still likes hanging with our dog Ally. He loved wrestling with Handsome, which gave Ally a break. Duke spent most of his wrestling time on his back swatting up at Handsome. Mr. Handsome even pulled on Duke’s ears and bit his legs. Duke didn’t correct Handsome for the rough play, so we broke up the wrestling, so Handsome didn’t pick up bad playing habits.

Of course, I also included a picture of Duke sitting next to me on the couch. He is so cute and loves, loves, loves to have attention from “his” people.

We have had Duke for a few weeks now and feel we know more about his needs.

We feel he would do best in a fenced yard. We think this will not only keep him from wandering off, but it would also keep strange dogs from wandering into the yard. He will also need frequent walks. He could easily take a 3 to 4 mile walk twice a day, however one will do. Duke walks nicely on a leash when we use the harness, but he will pull if just hooked to his collar. He has a lot of energy and we think he may make a good running partner.

Duke responds well to his name and will follow you all around the house. Outside, he seems to have more trouble with remembering his own name. J However, inside, he is somewhat a Velcro dog, so you will never be too far from this four legged furry supervisor!

Duke seems to like other dogs, but we are not convinced he needs to live with another dog. He has met female and male dogs and has been very friendly. If he were around another dog he would definitely want to play with the other dog. We have not allowed him to play with unneutered dogs or recently neutered dogs, since he still wants to react toward them. The good thing is Duke is giving very clear signals to his humans, so we know when we should remove him from a situation or at least cross the street. J He is such a good boy with good body language and vocals. He has been one of or easiest fosters we have had. He is the first foster to get our resident dog to play!

Thanks to a wonderful RAGOM volunteer we were able to “cat test” Duke last weekend. He passed the test, but I would still say it might depend on the cat. The cat we met was the boss and was not afraid to swat at the large dog. Needless to say Duke was afraid of this cat! J

Duke does not resource guard his food or treats from us or our dog. We have be able to trade the high value treats for another treat if we need him to let go. He will grip a bone tight, but does not growl at us. (Our resident dog does the same thing…she will develop lock jaw, so she doesn’t need to give up the bone.)

Only barking he has done so far is at unaltered male dogs. He also barked this last week when I came in a different door. However, once he saw me he stopped barking.

Duke LOVES car rides! He is so good in the car. I could see him being a good dog to take with you a lot of places.

We haven’t tried to take Duke swimming yet, but on walks near creeks and ponds we have to keep him from exploring the water and possibly jumping in. Duke seems to have a high prey drive for birds. Ever since we walked through a swampy area with ducks we have noticed he is always on the lookout for birds.

This guy has done really well with the thunderstorms rolling through. Our resident dog is afraid, but the storms do not seem to faze him one bit. He actually seemed a little perturbed with our dog that she wasn’t willing to play anymore during the storms! J

Duke has been trusted with limited free roam since day three. We usually shut off the kitchen, bedrooms and bathroom just to remove some temptations and so far so good. I do not think the dogs do anything, but lay around while we are away. When we get home it is a free for all wrestle mania time! We have not left him alone yet, he is usually with our resident dog.

We have only caught Duke “counter surfing” a few times and he is not doing it to get food…he is getting a better view out of the window.

Duke has been known to “de-stuff” a toy after it has lived out its purpose. We often find brightly colored fur in his stool. The only inappropriate chewing he has done has been socks. It is a good reminder to us to make sure our socks make it into the laundry hamper.

He is a pretty typical dog, that just needs to be managed just like any dog by removing the temptations.

First off we want to thank all of the RAGOM volunteers who planned the Chuck and Don’s event on Roseville on Saturday. We really enjoyed the outdoor event! Also, special thanks to Devon TT for taking such nice pictures of our Foster boy, Duke!

During the event on Saturday we learned Duke might still have some hormones in him since he has a tendency to be more aggressive toward non-neutered or recently neutered male dogs. Duke barked at several of the other male dogs, and quite frankly was not showing his best side. We thought maybe we should go, but before we did Julie brought Littilin/Leo 08-608 over to meet Duke. Duke had no problems with Leo, tail wags only. We decided to stay, but keep our distance from the other male dogs. Duke barked at Handsome 12-160 and reacted to Fuzzy 12-181. Neither Handsome nor Fuzzy provoked Duke in any way; their only offence we suspect was they were recently neutered. We are hoping this is a passing phase; Duke’s hormones need to pass through his system which will take some time.

Cute things we love about Duke: When you ask him to sit on the wood or tile floor he slowly slides down into a laying position, because his slippery paws don’t have good grip on the wood floor. J

He has picked up a couple cute habits from our dog. When we come home from work we are greeted by two wiggle butts, both carrying stuffed toys with some shallow whining expressing their happiness we are home. The stuffed toys often end up going immediately out in the backyard, when we let them out. They also carry a stuffed toy and pace back and forth when they are ready to go out potty.

Duke is a great walker with a harness (he will pull too hard for a standard collar leash and make his own breathing too labored). We have not been able to work on “heel” with him during our walks yet, but with some obedience training he would be an even better walker than he is now. He sits at intersections when directed to and generally goes the pace of the walker, with the exception of needing to lead the walk out front.

Hey, Duke here. I just wanted to send special thanks out to the RAGOM volunteers who brought me all the way from South Dakota to Minnesota. Rona and Kathy I miss seeing you two, but really appreciate you visiting me and getting me groomed. According to Foster Mom, I am the first dog who came to her ready to go, whatever that means!

Kathy and Kris thanks for the fun car ride, on Sunday. I might need to convince Foster mom and dad to take me for another ride. I have been getting a lot of walks here, but I really like the car. My Foster parents keep saying, I am going to find my forever home quick, not only am I cute, but I am ready. What do they know? They keep calling me “Duke of Squirrel.” Why would they make a short name longer?

Anyway, thanks again Rona, Kathy, Kris and Happy Dogs Hideaway; for taking care of me and helping to get to my Foster home. So far so good! My Foster sister finally started to play with me, so I better run off and see where she is…let the games begin!