Monday, August 23, 2010

Finnegan's Great Adventure Begins

Thanks to the skills of Arleen Rooney, founder of St. Anthony's Canine Rescue, a team of 4 women sprung into action to get Finnegan out of the Baldwin Hills shelter last week. He was neutered and delivered on 8/22/10 to his foster home in Palos Verdes. I'm Diane, his foster mom. (Photos below were taken at the shelter last week).

He arrived underweight, with a dull thin coat. He has clearly been stray for some time, and has expressed a dislike of dog kibble but is happy eating Natural Balance semi-moist dog food (cut into small cubes). His spirits are high and he has been cautious and polite but very sociable. He is very sweet and wants to play with my other dogs. He needs a bath rather badly, but we're waiting a few days until his neutering stitches heal.
The only glitch we've had is we discovered he knows how to shimmy up the side of an ex-pen and get out. He climbs up it like a ladder (did I mention that he is very smart?). My husband Dennis had left him in the ex-pen (not crated) for a few minutes while he went inside, and when he came back out Dennis was shocked to discover Finn walking up the driveway looking for everyone. As Finn went over the top of the 3.5 foot ex-pen and fell down the other side, he cried out once in pain (which is what made my husband come out again so quickly). He seems fine (and we hope his neutering stitches are all OK- we did put him on the table and examined him) but we will not let this happen again. At the moment he is crated in the shade in the same area where my dogs lay during the day, so he can be with the group but cannot escape. Once he's a bit more healed and we're sure he doesn't have kennel cough we'll give him more backyard freedom. But for now, we're keeping him safely crated with frequent potty and water breaks.

He walks nicely on a leash and is nonreactive when other dogs go by (even when those other dogs ARE reactive to him).

He is adorably cute, and extremely sweet, and photos and video will come soon. Stay tuned!

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