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

source

I totally see the resemblance, don't you?