Riley has found his forever home in Minnesota! He has a family with three wonderful kiddos and a very big yard! He will be loved and well taken care of in his new forever home!! We will miss him very much but we know he is in wonderful hands!
Riley 17-055
Profile
| In addition to LOVE this dog has the following requirements: | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date Available | Fence | Kid Friendly | Another Dog | Cat Friendly | |
| 4/6/17 | Required | Yes | Not necessary | Not tested | |
| This is the most recent information available; however, it may change as we learn more about the dog. | |||||
Riley has been with us for about 9 days and he has been a joy since he hopped into our vehicle when we picked him up. He needed some help getting in the back because he is a little big! He rode very well in the car and just laid down after a couple of minutes. We arrived to our home and our two small dogs were here to greet him. Riley did not even seem phased by them - he just started smelling the house and getting snuggled in.
Riley slept through the night in a large crate. He was not in a crate in his previous home but we wanted to see how he would do. He laid right down with his blanket and didn't wake until I went to get him out the next morning. He now will choose if he wants to sleep in his crate (a little cooler as the bottom of it is plastic) or in our room on his puppy bed (he gets hot even with the fan on, so sometimes prefers his crate).
In the morning he smiled when I went to get him from his crate - it was so sweet! He then went outside to potty and back inside for breakfast. He does not mess around outside - he does his business and heads right back to the door. He is a BIG boy - he seems to be a mix between a Golden and something else but if you look at his pictures you would think he is pure Golden.
For the first few days, we did crate him while I was at work (8:00-11:30 ).....he truly doesn't mind being in his crate, but our goal is to be able to allow him to have free roam of the house. He does LOVE food and so we are waiting until we train him a bit before we let him have free roam for that long. We did let him stay out when we were gone for an hour and a half this weekend and we had him on our puppy cam - he just laid on the kitchen floor. He didn't move or get curious. We think this is how he would be no matter what (as long as there is no food on the counter).We have two small dogs and he just wants to be loved by humans! Riley does very well around other dogs but really loves humans and has not shown any desire to play with other dogs. Our little 5lb pup took Riley's bone and was chewing on it - Riley went to get it and saw our pup had it and just walked away. No aggressions at all!! He is so sweet!
He doesn't chew on toys, furniture or clothes (that we have noticed). He only likes his tennis ball and his bones (we bought him some more since our dogs kind of wanted to chew on them as well).He whines when he wants to go outside but we are working to get him to just wait by the door. He is house trained!
At a Glance #17-055
| Golden Retriever | Born: June 2011 |
| Male | 85 lbs |
Status: Adopted
Profile
| In addition to LOVE this dog has the following requirements: | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date Available | Fence | Kid Friendly | Another Dog | Cat Friendly | |
| 4/6/17 | Required | Yes | Not necessary | Not tested | |
| This is the most recent information available; however, it may change as we learn more about the dog. | |||||
Riley has been with us for about 9 days and he has been a joy since he hopped into our vehicle when we picked him up. He needed some help getting in the back because he is a little big! He rode very well in the car and just laid down after a couple of minutes. We arrived to our home and our two small dogs were here to greet him. Riley did not even seem phased by them - he just started smelling the house and getting snuggled in.
Riley slept through the night in a large crate. He was not in a crate in his previous home but we wanted to see how he would do. He laid right down with his blanket and didn't wake until I went to get him out the next morning. He now will choose if he wants to sleep in his crate (a little cooler as the bottom of it is plastic) or in our room on his puppy bed (he gets hot even with the fan on, so sometimes prefers his crate).
In the morning he smiled when I went to get him from his crate - it was so sweet! He then went outside to potty and back inside for breakfast. He does not mess around outside - he does his business and heads right back to the door. He is a BIG boy - he seems to be a mix between a Golden and something else but if you look at his pictures you would think he is pure Golden.For the first few days, we did crate him while I was at work (8:00-11:30 ).....he truly doesn't mind being in his crate, but our goal is to be able to allow him to have free roam of the house. He does LOVE food and so we are waiting until we train him a bit before we let him have free roam for that long. We did let him stay out when we were gone for an hour and a half this weekend and we had him on our puppy cam - he just laid on the kitchen floor. He didn't move or get curious. We think this is how he would be no matter what (as long as there is no food on the counter).We have two small dogs and he just wants to be loved by humans! Riley does very well around other dogs but really loves humans and has not shown any desire to play with other dogs. Our little 5lb pup took Riley's bone and was chewing on it - Riley went to get it and saw our pup had it and just walked away. No aggressions at all!! He is so sweet!He doesn't chew on toys, furniture or clothes (that we have noticed). He only likes his tennis ball and his bones (we bought him some more since our dogs kind of wanted to chew on them as well).He whines when he wants to go outside but we are working to get him to just wait by the door. He is house trained!
Updates
Monday, May 29, 2017
Saturday, May 20, 2017
It has been awhile since we have had an update on Riley, but he is just such a good pup that we usually don't have anything new to update!
Riley is still as sweet as can be. He has free roam of the house now when we are gone and we usually find him in the same place he was when we left the house. He is not destructive when left out of his crate. He sometimes will go to his crate and whine because he wants to be let in his crate. He does like to get in garbage cans but ours are all in cupboards or we close the doors to rooms where there is garbage out.
He lets our little 5.5lb dog take bones away from him and has no resource guarding issues, whether it be a human or a dog. We don't have a cat so we are unsure how he would do but most likely, it wouldn't be an issue.
He LOVES to be in the water. We took him to our lake cabin two weekends ago and he got out of our vehicle and rushed us down to the water. He got right in to the water and just laid down. He didn't swim, just needed to cool down. It was so cute!
He has recently found out that he can look out our front window....he will bark if he sees people/animals outside but if you say "Riley, no bark", he will stop. He just wants to watch out for his humans in the house.
Riley will chase his tennis ball inside or outside and he loves it! If it is hot out, he will only chase it a couple of times and then will walk to the door to go back inside.
If his water bowl is empty, he will scratch at his feeding mat to let you know he needs more water.
We don't let him on the furniture upstairs (only because we don't want to train him to be on furniture when he may go to a home where that is not allowed), but we do let him on the couch downstairs. We put a blanket on the couch and he lays very nicely and then starts to roll around on the couch. It is so sweet. He just really wants to be with his humans. He will not go on the couch unless we tell him it is okay.
He is super sweet and easy going. He is easily trainable and loves his bones and his Kong at night.
Wednesday, April 26, 2017
It has been rainy here in Sioux Falls for the last day or so and we plan to get more rain. Riley does not go outside as often when it is raining. He usually wants to go outside for fresh air every couple of hours but when I open the door and he sees the rain - he just plops down on the floor!
Riley has had some more freedom in the house when we are gone and he has not gotten into anything. We usually find him in the same spot he was when we left. He will get up for a drink of water every so often but he does not venture around the house - he stays on the kitchen tile.
One thing we are working on is his barking when he sees a cat or rabbit. We don't feel he would ever harm the animal but he will bark very loudly! He also barks at people if he sees them through the window of the house but he will not bark at anyone when we are on a walk. However, you need to hold on tight because if he does see someone he wants to go and say "Hello"! He does not jump up on people but will nudge at their hands if he wants them to pet him - but I think most dogs do that!!
No other instances of food stealing. He did just that one time sneak a piece of pizza from the garbage can but like I have said before, we make him back up to an appropriate place before we handle food or get the garbage out. We also do not allow him to lick dishes in the dishwasher even though he would like to. He respects the commands when you say "back" and guide him to where he needs to be and then he will stay. When I say guide, you just walk towards him and he backs up. He does not need physical guidance. Just a family who is willing to continue with some training!!
Monday, April 17, 2017
Riley has still been such a great dog. He is able to jump up in to the back of our vehicles now - he does need a little running start but it is better than when he needed our help to be lifted in!
Since he has been at our house he has gotten in to the garbage once. I was getting reading to take it outside and he got a little piece of pizza from right off the top! We usually make him go back but he was so quick that he got by me without me seeing him. He will need a family who is willing to continue working with him on taking food.
We took him to my parent's house and they do have garbages in the bathrooms that are not under the sink (ours are under the sink in a cupboard) and he did try to get in to those but he listens when told "no" and then we just kept the doors shut. He can be trained to keep out of the garbages - he will just need a committed family to work with him!
Riley also LOVES ice-cubes. We thought he didn't because we put some in his water and he took each one of them out and set them on his mat - but he has been eating the ice-cubes we put in our dogs water and has so much fine. When he does that he looks like he is bobbing for apples. We will give him an ice-cube and he eats it and then lays down.
He also loves his Kong. He came with a Kong toy (seen in the picture) and he will eat all of the cheese/peanut butter out of it and then just go somewhere to relax. Our dogs would get near him when he was eating out of the Kong and he showed no aggression.
Again, he doesn't show interest in playing with other dogs but he gets along perfectly with our dogs and my parents three dogs as well. He loves to play with humans and wants to be by someone all the time. He needs lots of love and a family who can provide that and commitment to training him a little bit more!
Sunday, April 9, 2017
Riley is still just as sweet as ever. He is 5.5 years old and is truly a gentle giant! At our vet visit - they did discover that he has Lyme Disease. He is being treated for this and takes two pills a day. We put them in a pill pocket and he eats them without any problem!
He did try to take off after a bunny the other night so would do best with a fenced in yard. He is easily trainable and had an invisible fence in his previous home so he does learn his boundaries - but better to be safe and have him in a fenced in yard. He also LOVES to lay outside when it is breezy. We sometimes have a hard time getting him to come inside if it is nice and breezy outside.
He still has not shown any signs of eating laundry....but we don't have little kiddos so we don't have socks and other things laying around the house. He also has not gotten in to any garbage - but, all of our garbage is in cupboards so he doesn't have the opportunity to get into them. When we do pull the garbage out, we have him "back up" and he has to be in the living room on the carpet. When we are preparing food, we also have him "back up" in to the living room. He does this easily and will sit and stay.
We also found out he knows how to shake and will shake your hand before he eats. We feed him in the morning with his bowl that slows down his eating as he will eat very fast. In the evenings he eats from a regular bowl. Usually I feed him so if my husband does, Riley will come find me before he takes a bite (if I am home). I say "It's okay, you can eat" and he runs to his bowl. I am not sure why he does this but it is really sweet!
He likes to be by us when we eat, but he knows he has to lay down and cannot have his face on the table! He goes to his crate willingly unless he is relaxing on the cool tile. 
Our dogs love him and he does love our dogs but like I previously said, he does not engage in any playing with them. He would do fine in a home with dogs who are older and don't want to play or with dogs who are small and just laid back. I would not suggest a home that has another dog looking for a playmate.
