Snowy Play Date

Last Saturday our old foster Blitz (now Ronin) came over with his big brother Henry for a play date with Dash.  We were happy to hear that Ronin is settling into his new home.  He gets along well with Henry - they even lay together sometimes!  Aside from chewing a stair railing and the odd accident he's been pretty well behaved. 

We got about 4 inches of snow the night before which made the event all the more exciting for the pups.  Dash and Ronin got right to wrestling; it was like Ronin never left at all!

Once in a while they'd take a short break from chase and wrestling to just play in the snow.  Dash liked to lay on his belly and pull himself along the ground with his front legs while dragging his back legs behind him.

This is Henry, Ronin's big brother.  He wanted to get in on more of the chase and wrestling action but one of his knees is bothering him (he's already had surgery on it once), so he had to be kept on a leash most of the time so he wouldn't play too hard and hurt himself.

 

Ronin and Dash would sometimes have a little starting contest before leaping at each other.  A lot of the time they would be standing on either side of a tree so they couldn't see each other.

Every now and then Dash and Ronin would come play over near Henry, so he would try to jump in.

I just like this one because it looks like Dash is telling Henry a secret about Ronin.

The dogs also found a really big stick in the yard to play with, so that kept them occupied for a good long time!

At one point Henry got a hold of a big stick, too, but in true little brother form, Ronin came over and stole it

So Henry ended up chewing on a tiny stick, even though he was the biggest dog.

By the end of the afternoon all three of them were tuckered out and covered in snowballs!

We had so much fun seeing how Ronin has grown (he's taller than Dash now!) and letting the dogs have play around and get some energy out!  The first of many playdates!

Blitzed Out

I guess first of all, it turns out Blitz isn't a Leonberger mix.  A guy from the Leonberger rescue came out to meet him and said that he's not a Leo at all.  So we're going to go with Shepherd mix.  I still think he's got some Giant Breed dog in him, though.  So my new best guess is that he's a Shepherd and Newfoundland mix.  I finally got a chance to weigh him and at about 6 months old he weighs 60 pounds, but is definitely still underweight by 5-10 pounds.  Really, it doesn't matter what breed Blitz is or isn't.  What we do know is that he's going to be a very large, very awesome dog.

The weekend before Halloween we had a party where we invited friends to come over and carve pumpkins.  We always carve pumpkins in our screen room, which is essentially in the backyard, so of course we let the dogs run around and play while we played, too.  I knew our friends Meaghan and Eric would love Blitz because they love big dogs and his personality was right up their alley.  While we were carving pumpkins Thomas and I could both see how taken Meaghan and Eric were with Blitz. 

Later that week I talked to Meaghan about perhaps babysitting Blitz for us in the near future, that is, if he wasn't adopted the following Saturday.  She said she'd talk to Eric about it, but to definitely, definitely, text her after the adoption show to let her know if Blitz got adopted.

Saturday morning rolls around and as I'm driving Blitz to the adoption show Eric calls me.  Here's how it went down:

Eric: Hey, where's that adoption show you guys are at today?
Me: It at such and such roads in such a city.
Eric: Cool.  We'll be there in a few minutes.

And so just a few minutes after Blitz and I arrived, so did Meaghan and Eric.  They immediately filled out the paperwork; they said they just couldn't let anyone else adopt him.  So that was that and I sent Blitz home with them.

Blitz is now named Ronin and is getting along quite well with his doggy brother, Henry.  I'm so excited that Meaghan and Eric adopted Blitz.  They are really amazing dog parents; few people would go to the lengths that they do for their pups.  And on top of that this also means we'll get to see Blitz grow up and Dash will get to have play dates with him.

Here are two pictures of Ronin from his first weekend in his forever home

Pretty sweet, isn't it?

It's Blitz!

On Tuesday afternoon I was supposed to pick up our latest foster dog, a six month old Golden Retriever.  I called one of the foster coordinators to let her know I'd be late to get him when she told me that he'd actually been adopted out already by one of the surgeons at Chicago Animal Care and Control.  I was thrilled that he'd already gotten adopted and this also freed up some time in my afternoon so I could relax a bit and eat lunch instead of rushing about like I thought I would have to.

Shortly after I got home the foster coordinator emailed me asking if I wanted to take a Leonberger puppy that had come in as a local stray instead.  I was super excited; I had actually seen his picture in an email the night before with the other new dogs coming in that needed foster homes but couldn't take him since I was already supposed to be getting the Golden puppy.  As a double bonus, this dog didn't need to be picked up for a few hours, so I had time to get things in order before picking him up.

So here's Blitz!  He was neutered on Tuesday morning, so he'll be sporting the Cone of Shame Destruction for the next week or two. 

He's about 6 months old and is nearly as big as Dash, but his paws are bigger and you can tell that he's still got some growing to do.  Blitz should probably weigh about 50-60 pounds right now, but when you pet him you can feel his ribs and spine (the fur is decieving!), so I'm sure he's far under that at the moment.  Luckily he's a great eater so I'm sure we'll have some meat on his bones in no time.

One thing is for sure though, this puppy is cute!  He has that innocent expression on his face that tells you he's still just a baby. 

Blitz appears to be house trained, knows a few simple commands and is a ham for the camera.  As soon as I started taking pictures of him he got up to pose for me; I had a hard time getting pictures of his full body because all he wanted to do was sit pretty and look at the camera!

Leonbergers are a relatively rare breed, so the fact that Blitz was found wandering about is kind of surprising.  But at the same time, this probably means he'll be adopted quickly, because dogs like him usually get snatched up in a millisecond (supply and demand hard at work!).  Leos are part of the Giant Breeds of dogs, in the same class with Saint Bernards, Newfoundlands and Great Pyrenees.  The story is that Leos were bred from these other dogs to resemble a lion like the one on the coat of arms for Leonberg, Germany

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I totally see the resemblance, don't you?