Ernie is about 9 months old and a Staffordshire Bull Terrier Cross who is becoming a medium sized leggier dog. He didn’t have the best start in life, not that we know for sure. Ernie was abandoned tied up outside a London shop.
Though welcoming of dogs, he is not dog skilled. Building his social competencies has to be his main focus for the next year. He hadn’t had positive experiences. He tried to make friends, but was seeing dogs as a threat to his food and ‘much needed’ affection. Thank God Ernie has a foster family there for him to ‘unpack and rebuild’ these relationship boundaries, learning to trust and instill a sense of security. Now settling in, even waits under supervision for a few seconds before tucking into his dinner! That’s real progress!! Ernie mixes well with dogs outside enjoying off lead ‘frolicking’ and adores ‘hide n’ seek’ teaching him recall. We want Ernie to be homed with another confident role model dog to continue his development of pack sharing and caring. He is currently fostered very successfully with very young children.
So Ernie is a very clever boy and is coming on a treat. He has mastered ’sit’ and we’re now working on ‘down’ with the help of tasty treats. He is eager to please, but needs clear ground rules administered with firm love. He is a smashing little dog trying to shift away from difficult beginnings and is making it through, gaining confidence by the day. He is very chewy and wants to be into everything. Housetrained with rare overnight accident, crate trained for short spells of being left. Ernie is now neutered, vaccinated and chipped.
Ernie’s beauty is emergent, becoming more radiant daily. His foster family adore him, have put a lot of work in and have turned him onto a sure footing. Difficult beginnings fading, he is walking away from the ‘rescue dog’ label and blending into the dog-scape to play ‘Happy Families’ and of course is hoping to become “Complete” with his very own Happy Family soon.
Source: DogsBlog.com - dogs for adoption and rescue
Ernie - 9 month old male Staffordshire Bull Terrier Cross
