Brandon

[Eliza Nardone]

Brandon is a 2yo male, cat safe.  He's a litle on the small side but very adorable.

 

 

 

 

 

[Eliza Nardone]

Just started a new blog for Brandon http://pupswithoutpartners.ning.com/profiles/blogs/brandon-just-home

[Eliza Nardone]

I'm not sure why the blog post isn't coming up, so I'll just post it here.

Brandon, Coming Home

Well we just picked Brandon up from the vet's office. He was the last dog in surgery today and he is *very* groggy. He can't walk a straight line, more like he's trying to do a half pass http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLTOmF-vnvo . But he's very cute. He didn't know what to make of riding in the back seat of my sedan at first but eventually he laid down. Brought him into the house and put him straight into his crate. The other dogs came over and sniffed him through the bars then he collapsed. Now he's snoring. (I should note that this is not how I would recommend introducing a new dog into a home but my guys are used to having fosters in and out and Brandon is in no shape to go for a walk.)


It's always funny seeing dogs fresh off the track. My guys have good muscle tone but next to Brandon it's obvious that they are very used to retirement. I'm sure Brandon will learn to enjoy his retirement too. But until he finds his forever home he's not going to learn that retirement = a cushion on the couch, which Malibu is taking greyt pleasure in now.


Ok I just couldn't help myself. I had to take a couple of quick pics of this cute lil boy. Look at his dreamy eyes

[Eliza Nardone]

Brandon spent most of yesterday passed out in his crate. When he woke up this morning he wasn't too sure how he felt about his new temp home. He kept coming out of his crate, walking around, sniffing and then going back in and laying down. He was especially interested in his own reflection in the glass doors of the entertainment cabinet. We had to go to Stratford to pick up the last two foster dogs (Mary & Lee Ellen) and deliver them to their new foster families, so it was locked in the crate for Brandon. When we got home this afternoon he decided he was done with his crate. He came out, walked around and found himself a cushy dog bed to lay on
He's made himself very comfortable, very quickly.

One thing he still has to learn is treats. He wouldn't take one from my hand earlier, but I put it down next to him (while David distracted our three) and he sniffed it and licked it until he finally decided to eat it.

He was very curious in my as I cooked dinner. He stayed in the kitchen almost the entire time sniffing the air. He also made a couple of moves to sniff the counters but a quick rebuke and he backed off. It won't take him long to learn how good human food is!

[Eliza Nardone]

Well the first hiccup came last night. The first night Brandon spent in his crate in our living room (he was so out of it from the anaesthesia I don't think he noticed when we went to bed). But last night Skyy & Malibu did NOT want to go to bed and made a big fuss. Brandon had been sleeping in his crate but they woke him up and he cried when he was left downstairs all by himself. We brought him upstairs (which he does fairly well) and he spent the night in our bedroom. He got up several times and walked around, checking things out and waking us up. He also woke us up at 6 whining at the door. That I don't mind, much better to wake up and let him out than have a mess to clean up. He's actually been very good about house breaking, he hasn't tried to mark at all. And, in my experience, if they don't right away they usually won't. Which is excellent. We'll probably just bring him upstairs with everyone else tonight. Once he gets used to the routine he'll be fine and sleep through the night. They all do.

[Mike Volkmar]

Love it! Thanks for posting this. I wish more foster parents would do this. Makes a great info dump for the future adopters as well as let us know what's going on with our pups!

Your blog post didn't show up right away because I had to approve it before it posted. One of those things I had to do so we don't get spammed to death.

[Eliza Nardone]

Oh ok. It was the first time I tried to do a blog so I thought I messed up. I'll probably just keep posting here.

And for those interested Brandon slept through the night in our bedroom last night (yay!). But then he started a group roo this morning as David was leaving for work :( Puppies.

[Eliza Nardone]

A much better night last night, he went to bed just fine and slept through the night again. Woke up and went out early again, which is fairly normal. Gordon gets up and goes out when David wakes up every morning too. Skyy & Malibu have learned to sleep in though. I don't think Skyy moves when David gets up, and the only thing Malibu does is jump in bed with me (if he wasn't there already).

Brandon had his first 'showing' last night. We went on a home visit to meet some new adopters. They had expresed an interest in a girl, so he went more to get experience going to new places and meeting new people. He did fabulously, meeting another dog and being comfortable with her, meeting the people and being cute, exploring the house a bit but not causing trouble, etc. He even laid down in their dog bed!

He's funny about getting scritches. He won't necessarily come up to you for attention, but if you start lovin' on him he won't move and his eyes kind of roll back in his head. He did that a couple of times last night. I'm sure once he settles into things he'll be much more forward about seeking attention. It's amazing to think that just two weeks ago he was in a kennel in Florida. He's adapted so well to his new life. He is a very intelligent pup.

[Eliza Nardone]

It's official, Brandon is not getting adopted (now anyways). The family we did the home visit for fell head over heels for one of our other fosters. Not that I was expecting otherwise, but I've got this guy for a little longer anyways. We'll be at Petco North Haven next weekend, maybe we can give him away there :)

And he doesn't need to go right away either. He's been a gentleman and fits in well. The other dogs don't mind him so much (neither do I) and he's quiet and polite. He'll make someone a wonderful dog someday.

[Eliza Nardone]

Just a few goofy pics for today

[Eliza Nardone]

Brandon's decided that dog biscuits are worth taking from somebody's hand. They are good! He'll even beg for one.

[Eliza Nardone]

Guess who started playing with toys? I ran for my camera and he immediately dropped it and stuck his nose in my lens!

[Eliza Nardone]

Brandon's really coming out of his shell. He's not shy at all about coming up for scritches (although when I gave him a nose kiss he looked at me funny). And forget it when the people food comes out he is not shy about begging. All in all he's rounding out into a very nice dog. We'll take him to the Meet&Greet today and see if we can find him a new home!