CJ was rescued by our friend Keri just before Christmas. She found him limping, dirty and tired while out for a walk with her dog. We didn’t have room, so he went to boarding for about a month, and then she found a temporary foster for him.
We brought CJ in to the rescue in early February. He is a lovely dog with a sweet, affectionate temperament. He loves people and wishes he were a lap dog.
CJ had an ongoing limp. Examination showed that he had a torn ACL in his right knee, and this was repaired on March 7. He is doing great, the knee is solid, and he is is now fully healed and running strongly. When diagnosing his limp pre-surgery we had his hips x-rayed, and the radiographs show that he has mild hip dysplasia. He is a mid-energy dog and can do normal activities that an averagely active family would do, but we do recommend that he do only occasional long distance hikes and he is not a candidate to be a running buddy.
CJ has great basic training. He is very smart, focused, and food motivated. He is crate trained and is also completely house trained. He walks beautifully on a Gentle Leader and is completely non-reactive to other dogs on leash. CJ is fantastic off-leash and stays close, checking in frequently. He rides great in the car, and is friendly and sweet with every human he meets.
He gets along with most other dogs, especially once he has gotten to know them. But he is much more interested in being with his people than with other dogs. CJ he does occasionally display some mild “person guarding” in the form of a growl toward other unknown dogs who get close when he is near his people, and doesn’t really want to share his favorite people’s laps with dogs he doesn’t know and like. He just warns the strange dogs off with a short growl.
CJ would be a fantastic family dog. He loves kids and is very gentle, easy going and tolerant of handling. He has mild separation anxiety and we’d love to find him a home where people are around most of the time.
