Golden Russell

We had decided to get a dog. A lot of the shelters around her won’t adopt dogs to military familys. Because, sadly a lot of military families abandon their dogs when they get sent back to the states to avoid having to pay to fly them back.

So we had been looking though the military paper’s website. There we no dogs close to us that would work for our family. We finally found a golden retriever in Vilsick (about 1 hr away). She had been around kids both Eli and Caelyn’s age. House-trained, crate-trained, well-behaved… the perfect dog. So we drove all the way to pick up the dog. We were about 5 minutes away when Ryan picked up the phone to call her to tell her we would be there in a couple of minutes. As soon as he was dialing the phone she sent us a text message saying that she decided to keep the dog. I was more than a little disappointed.

We ended up sitting in Graf (right next to Vilsick) for a couple of hours trying to track down another dog so the trip didn’t have to be wasted. No one called or emailed us back and it was getting late. So we drove all the way home and ate dinner.

Just as we were finishing up dinner the phone rang. It was someone returning a call about another dog… also in Graf. Pack everyone back up and drove all the way back to Graf. We got there about 8:00pm (2000 for the military minded).

This dog was a Jack Russell that someone had left at their friend’s house while they went back to “visit” the stated. After the original owner got to the states she call to say that she wasn’t coming back. The couple that agreed to watch him for her both worked full time and were out of their house most of the day.

Jack Russells are a very hyper breed and need a lot of attention and exercise. “Rusty” wasn’t getting either. When we first got there the new owners were across the streets at their friends house and Rusty was locked in his cage in the house. When she let him out he was extremely hyper. That dog can get some air! He was jumping at least chest high.

It took Caelyn a little while to warm up. It seemed to scare her at first when he was really hyper. But after he was out of his cage for awhile and settled down she started to warm up to him.

Rusty



Update 9/8

Rusty is doing much better. He loves being out of his cage all day. We go outside a few times a day and let him run around. He has chewed up a few of the kids toys. He has a bone and a rope but our PX is very limited on what they carry so we will have to wait until this weekend when Ryan is off to get him some more toys.

Eli and Rusty are best buds. Even when Rusty is running full speed in the yard and Eli walks in front of him. Rusty avoids hitting him. He can turn on a dime. The dog does have some speed. If he every gets out of the fence or off his leash we won’t be catching him.

There is one little spot that he might be able to squeeze out of under the fence so we will have to get something to put in front of it. He has tried escaping a few times but stops as soon as you tell him “no”.

Caelyn tends to yell at Rusty a lot. She still doesn’t like it when he gets super excited but she is doing much better.

He definitely needs some more training. Walking on a leash is a biggy, he is always pulling. But so far he seems like a good fit for our family.