Blog / Random thoughts and musings.

Winston

Winston came to us April 28th. He has a pretty unfortunate story. He was an LRR dog rescued from the shelter about 6 years ago. They placed him in a great home who loved and spoiled him. Unfortunately, his owner had a terrible accident and broke her back. She was able to keep him for almost another year and a half because her daughters still lived at home and took care of Winston. However, when her youngest daughter went to college, she had no choice but to return Winston to LRR since she could no longer take care of him.Poor Winston was devastated. He was totally spoiled and happy in his last house, and he got yanked into some stranger’s house. We’re actually his second foster home. When he came to our house, he was very stressed. The first two days, he spent pacing, panting, and barking at nothing. He also had a few accidents in the house due to the stress. The first night he was with us, he kept us awake most of the night. However, he settled down pretty quickly after about two days.

He’s got some pretty funny quirks. We were told that he can open screen doors, and refrigerator doors if there is a towel hanging from the handle. He accidentally locked Mike outside because he was jumping up on the door and hit the lock. He also loves to play keep away. When I came home from work, he slipped past me through the door. He then proceeded to stay about 10 feet away from us. If I got too close, he would trot away, and if he got too far away, he would come back towards me. We spent about 40 minutes trying to get him back, but he was having too much fun to be caught. A kindly neighbor finally helped us when Winston walked right up to her to say hi. Needless to say, we are now very careful when we open the front door! Another quirk we discovered when we tried to discipline him. When our Quinn barks and won’t stop, we squirt him with water which quiets him down. When we tried to do that with Winston, he would eat the stream of water! He also does that with the hose when we try to water the plants.

Since he’s settled down, a lot of his cuter traits have come out. He’s such a sweet dog. He loves his butt scratches and has these great soulful eyes. He loves to give great big labbie kisses right to your face. He’s 7 years old, but acts a lot like a 3 year old when he’s playing. He does like his naps during the day though. He’s going to be a great dog for someone who’s lucky to adopt him, and I can’t wait until he’s in a solid stable home.

Update to Winston: Apr 28 – May 6th. Unfortunately Winston proved to be too much for us to handle. We only had him for a week, but in that time, he ran out of the house three times and led us on a 40-60 minute chase each time, and jumped through a screen window once. He also exhibited some agressive behavior. He mouthed Mike on the arm when Mike pulled him away from our dog’s food. Also, he growled and snapped at me when I tried to take away his rawhide treat. So we brought him back to the director’s house so she could further evaluate Winston.