| In addition to LOVE this dog has the following requirements: | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Entered Foster Care | Fence | Kid Friendly | Another Dog | Cat Friendly | |
| 2/9/2015 | Preferred, but not required | Yes | Optional | Yes | |
| This is the most recent information available; however, it may change as we learn more about the dog. | |||||
Simon is a 3-year-old Golden/Lab/Greyhound mix. He was adopted from a shelter when he was 8 weeks old and sadly returned 3 years later when his family was moving and couldn’t take him with them. Simon was very confused with all the changes in his life and was becoming nervous at the shelter, so he was surrendered to RAGOM. He was with a temporary foster for a week and then came to live with us. He has settled in very quickly and is doing great. He is neutered, up-to-date on shots, and heartworm negative. He weighs 64 pounds, but is a little on the thin side, so we are working on putting some weight on him. Simon is house-trained and has had no accidents - he will whine or go to the door when he needs to go out. He loves walks, but does pull like a freight train on the normal martingale collar. He does much better with the Gentle Leader. He doesn’t love it and shakes his head and paws at it at first to try to get it off, but after a few minutes, he gets used to it and walks just fine.
Simon has a lot of energy and loves to play fetch. He would play fetch all day if we let him! He is great at it too - he sprints off after the ball and brings it right back and drops it at our feet to throw again. In the house, he does a great job of entertaining himself with toys when we are up doing other things, but likes to bring the toys and put them in our laps for us to throw for him if we sit down to watch TV. He does tend to destuff softer toys, so we have put those up and left out only the balls and more tough toys for him to play with. Simon gets along very well with our male almost-two-year-old resident Golden. They play wrestle and tug-of-war with toys constantly. We haven’t seen any resource guarding; they trade off toys and make sure to check each other’s food bowls when they are done eating to make sure neither missed anything. Simon has had training; he knows several commands like sit, down, stay, drop it, leave it, out, back, and shake. He does tend to jump up when he is excited, but we are working on that. He is very smart and would do great in obedience classes or agility. He would also make a great running partner.
Simon does fine kenneled for up to a full workday; he would probably be fine with free roam as long as trash and other things are picked up. He hasn’t gotten into anything here and has not tried to counter-surf for food (he did to get a ball off the table). but he is very curious about the trash cans. At night, he has free roam of our bedroom and usually ends up sleeping on the armchair all night. He does settle down and loves to cuddle; he leans into us for pets and attention and climbs up on the couch so he can lay right by us.
In his previous home, Simon lived with children ranging in age from 3-16 years old, and he did very well with our younger neighbor that he met, so at this time, we would say he would be fine with children of all ages, as long as parents understand that he is energetic and a smaller child could get knocked down when he gets excited. Simon does not need a fenced-in yard; he has excellent recall and always comes running when we call his name. He is reportedly good with cats also, but we have not tested him yet. He could live with another dog (preferably a playful dog) or he could be an only dog, as long as his family is committed to getting him enough exercise. He would love a walk each day, as well as somewhere he can run around and play fetch. Let your placement advisor know if you would like to meet Simon!
| Golden Retriever | Born: February 2012 |
| Male | 67 lbs |
Status: Adopted
| In addition to LOVE this dog has the following requirements: | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Entered Foster Care | Fence | Kid Friendly | Another Dog | Cat Friendly | |
| 2/9/2015 | Preferred, but not required | Yes | Optional | Yes | |
| This is the most recent information available; however, it may change as we learn more about the dog. | |||||
Simon is a 3-year-old Golden/Lab/Greyhound mix. He was adopted from a shelter when he was 8 weeks old and sadly returned 3 years later when his family was moving and couldn’t take him with them. Simon was very confused with all the changes in his life and was becoming nervous at the shelter, so he was surrendered to RAGOM. He was with a temporary foster for a week and then came to live with us. He has settled in very quickly and is doing great. He is neutered, up-to-date on shots, and heartworm negative. He weighs 64 pounds, but is a little on the thin side, so we are working on putting some weight on him. Simon is house-trained and has had no accidents - he will whine or go to the door when he needs to go out. He loves walks, but does pull like a freight train on the normal martingale collar. He does much better with the Gentle Leader. He doesn’t love it and shakes his head and paws at it at first to try to get it off, but after a few minutes, he gets used to it and walks just fine.
Simon has a lot of energy and loves to play fetch. He would play fetch all day if we let him! He is great at it too - he sprints off after the ball and brings it right back and drops it at our feet to throw again. In the house, he does a great job of entertaining himself with toys when we are up doing other things, but likes to bring the toys and put them in our laps for us to throw for him if we sit down to watch TV. He does tend to destuff softer toys, so we have put those up and left out only the balls and more tough toys for him to play with. Simon gets along very well with our male almost-two-year-old resident Golden. They play wrestle and tug-of-war with toys constantly. We haven’t seen any resource guarding; they trade off toys and make sure to check each other’s food bowls when they are done eating to make sure neither missed anything. Simon has had training; he knows several commands like sit, down, stay, drop it, leave it, out, back, and shake. He does tend to jump up when he is excited, but we are working on that. He is very smart and would do great in obedience classes or agility. He would also make a great running partner.
Simon does fine kenneled for up to a full workday; he would probably be fine with free roam as long as trash and other things are picked up. He hasn’t gotten into anything here and has not tried to counter-surf for food (he did to get a ball off the table). but he is very curious about the trash cans. At night, he has free roam of our bedroom and usually ends up sleeping on the armchair all night. He does settle down and loves to cuddle; he leans into us for pets and attention and climbs up on the couch so he can lay right by us.
In his previous home, Simon lived with children ranging in age from 3-16 years old, and he did very well with our younger neighbor that he met, so at this time, we would say he would be fine with children of all ages, as long as parents understand that he is energetic and a smaller child could get knocked down when he gets excited. Simon does not need a fenced-in yard; he has excellent recall and always comes running when we call his name. He is reportedly good with cats also, but we have not tested him yet. He could live with another dog (preferably a playful dog) or he could be an only dog, as long as his family is committed to getting him enough exercise. He would love a walk each day, as well as somewhere he can run around and play fetch. Let your placement advisor know if you would like to meet Simon!
Simon was adopted this weekend! He will get to spend his days playing fetch and swimming in the lake. Simon also has a new fur brother to play with who just happens to be his actual littermate! Congratulations to the N family; we miss Simon already, but we are so happy that he found the perfect home.
Simon is still here and doing great! We have noticed that he is a little protective of our house and yard; he will bark a couple of times at people walking by and when the neighbors are out back, but he quiets down when we tell him to stop. He is also much better once he meets someone; he never barks at the neighbors anymore that he has met. His recall has gotten better now that he is more bonded to us - one of our gates was accidently left open the other day and when we let him outside to go to the bathroom, he promptly walked outside the gate to sniff and do his business, but came right back when we called him.
We have been going on a lot of walks and trying both the Gentle Leader and the Easy Walk Harness - he does decently with both, but would definitely benefit from some more training to be a better walking/running buddy. We have noticed that Simon does well meeting other dogs while on a leash, as long as he can properly sniff them. When another dog is in his face and he can’t reach to sniff them, Simon seems to seem a little threatened and will let out a warning growl. As long as he can get a quick sniff in, though, he has zero problems and will happily hang out with other dogs on leash.
Other than that, not much has changed. Here are some pictures of this sweet guy! If you are interested in meeting Simon, let your placement advisor know!
I can’t believe we have had Simon for two months already! We are enjoying having him here and he has definitely settled in, his sweet personality has really come out. He gets cuter and cuter, always so happy to see us even if we just go out front for a minute to get the paper and come right back.
Simon went up to Ames this weekend for the Meet & Greet and had a great time. He had a lot of fun meeting some other dogs and a lot of new people as well - he even got to pick out a couple of new toys and some treats when it was time to go! Thank you to Treats on a Leash for having us! Simon was so exhausted afterwards, he was trying to keep his head up in the car on the way home, but his eyes kept drifting closed.
I have forgotten to mention that Simon LOVES car rides. When we go out front for walks, if we have a car in the driveway, he will try to pull us over to it and sit next to it, hoping we are going to go for a ride somewhere. When he first arrived, we weren’t sure if he liked car rides or not as he cried for the majority of the time in the car. As we have had him longer and gone on more and more car rides, we have noticed the anxious crying greatly decreasing. The more comfortable and secure he feels with us, the less anxious he is in the car, so now the crying has gotten to the point where it is pretty much just right before we stop somewhere as he is so excited to have gotten to a new place.
With the recent thunderstorms, we are happy to report that Simon has no storm anxieties and he isn’t bothered at all by any loud noises. He is very good for baths and loves to be brushed; he will lean his whole body into me as he is being brushed! We have also noticed that Simon enjoys sunbathing. He can often be found lying by the patio door soaking up the sun. He has also been hanging out with us working on various yard projects and is very good company; he just sits right by us, observing what we are doing.
If you think this silly dog could be the right match for you, let your placement advisor know. Simon would love to meet his forever family!
Simon is still doing great in his foster home. He is continuing to put on weight and looking awesome. He is starting to cuddle with us more and more. We discovered he is a fantastic soccer player too, so if you are looking for a dog that would love to keep you company outside and will entertain himself playing, Simon is the dog for you! We also think he could make a really good hunting dog; he has a pretty high prey drive, excellent retrieving skills and already knows a lot of commands.
Just a recap of what Simon needs in his forever home:
Simon is a great dog who is pretty low maintenance; all he really wants are some toys to play with and a family to snuggle with when he is done playing!
Simon is still doing well in his foster home. He has really settled down quite a bit and is such a sweet dog. He still loves to play fetch outside and run around, but he is much better about being calmer inside and playing on his own without bringing us toys as much. He is doing well with commands, much better on his "stay," and he loves to shake! He still jumps up, but it is getting better; he is actually very gentle about it and is almost just trying to say "hi" and then gets down. We have been going a lot of walks lately since the weather has been so nice and Simon is loving it. He is doing excellently with the Gentle Leader, and he has run into several kids and other dogs on our walks and does great with all of them. He does get excited when he sees other dogs and will whine a little and pull to try to go see them, but if you tell him to "leave it," he will go on without a problem. We did discover today that Simon will counter-surf if given the opportunity… he snagged a couple of fresh baked cookies off the counter when I ran outside quickly to grab something. So, lesson learned: he will not be left alone with anything tempting on the counters! He has never tried to get on the counters if we are in the house with him, though.
We do have a couple of updates to his requirements as well. He was cat tested the other weekend and he did great! He sniffed the cat a couple of times, and the cat told him to leave him alone, and Simon just ignored him the rest of the time and focused on playing with a toy. We also do think Simon needs a fenced-in yard. He loves to run and is very fast. If he decided he wanted to run off after a squirrel or something, he would be impossible to catch. It is possible he could do okay going out on a leash or tie-out as long as there was some place he could safely be off-leash to run and play fetch each day, so if that is something that you could do, we would be happy to discuss and see if it would work. If you are interested in meeting this sweet, goofy dog, let your placement advisor know!
Simon has been with us for about two weeks now, and he is doing great! He has definitely gotten more comfortable with us and is becoming a Velcro dog. He follows us everywhere, but is really good about lying down out of the way if you don’t want him underfoot while you’re cooking or something. Simon has a tendency to inhale his food, so we just put a couple of balls in his bowl to slow him down. So far, that has been working very well, and it looks like he has put on a pound or two! He has also started to snuggle a lot more; he now sleeps in the bed every night with us, and crawls up on us in the mornings to say hi. He really is adorable and very sweet. He always lets out a little groan before going to sleep. It has been so cold lately that Simon has not been getting any walks the past few days. He has actually been doing just fine with this; we just do a little play time in the yard and he wrestles with Leinie, our resident dog, a bit. He is so smart too; he picked up within a day that he needs to sit outside the laundry room door and wait to be fed. Leinie is a little bit of a spoiled only child, so whenever Simon brings us a toy and drops it by us to throw for him, Leinie comes up and takes the toy for himself! Simon caught on to this pretty quickly, so when Leinie takes a toy that Simon really wanted to play with, Simon will go get another toy, wait for Leinie to steal it, then take back the toy he had originally. He is a silly guy. Let your placement advisor know if you would like to meet Simon!
