Biography

Last Updated: 05/03/2016

Meet Champ, a perfect mix between the silly sweetness of a Lab and the watchful intelligence of a German Shepherd

Champ has been with us since July. He was originally brought into the rescue as a hopsice dog where we planned to keep him comfortable and loved until he passed. It was quickly recognized that he had many years of life left in him, and with a little medical care, he would recover fully. Since that time he has gained almost 30 pounds, recovered from heartworms and Lyme, and has been enjoying the process of learning how to live in this new comfortable life he has.

His illness was only one of his challenges. He also needed to learn to live in a home. In many respects, he was a puppy in the house, learning where not to go to the bathroom, how to behave around human food, how to eat with manners with his foster sisters, how to sit, lay and stay. Learning anything at all was a scary challenge as it was clear that prior to VGSR, there had never been humans around to care for him or teach him. Once he got the first lesson down, it was apparent that this dog is pleased as punch to get approval and the treats that follow. We had one happy pup sitting at every chance in hopes for a "good boy" and a treat.

He has been with me since August and healthy enough for adoption since late November 2015. He has also been my most excellent sidekick for all adoption events as he is the one dog who adores meeting new dogs and people, and generally relaxes and lays on the floor smack in the middle of the chaos of adoption events or in the center of the busy convention hall. He is still quite shy as all of this is new, but he is my favorite guy to take to any event with full trust that he can beautifully handle anything I throw at him.

We are still working on trust and he communicates when he is nervous and when he is happy. He still eats each meal like it is his first. We work on items like paw touches and belly rubs, and although he is forever wary, we have over the months built a trust between us where he knows that I will listen to him when he tells me he is uncomfortable and trusts that I will not hurt him. And although his is still quite scared of things like cars and new places, he has come exceedingly far from the first days, and turly is the easy going dog that I can quite literally take anywhere and put in any situation and trust that he will react calm and cautious.

Going forward, Champ needs a family with other dogs as he still takes most of his cues from his own kind. He is more male friendly than female, so he generally adores his foster father even though it is his foster mom who does the most feeding! He does not have a high prey drive and does not play much with his foster sisters, but he doesnt quite like cats much unless they are calm and non-dominant. I think he is actually scared of dominant cats! He does great with calmer dogs, and small dogs. He is not food agressive... in fact, he tries to share food much to his foster mom's chagrin. He is scared of thunder storms and passing cars as his eyesight is quite poor, but on normal days one would never know that he is almost blind. He is quite intelligent even though at dinner time he barks at his tail and spins around like a doofus in pure joy. His hearing and sense of smell is excellent, and at the end of the day, he is just an amazingly sweet dog. He only needs someone who will take the time to understand him and build on the foundation of trust. Each day still he makes progress which is rewarding for everyone to see. This dog has an amazing future and many many years left in him. He has such a complex, dynamic and wonderful personality, he will make an incredible life-long friend.