Ben in his new Playground

Ben was adopted on October 3, 2011 on a Sunday after my last show of the year.  Not knowing his habits and how he'd accept a neighbor dropping in to walk him during the day I decided to not pick him up until after the weekend show and my van was unloaded.  He has been a source of great joy and is a gentle boy even tho he must weigh in about 115 pounds with all  muscle.

He would be almost perfect if it weren't for the fact he hates moving vehicles and wants to chase and bite at the tires.  Yet he loves to ride in the car.  My son says, "...that Ben is only trying to hitch a ride".  Well I laughed at his humor but that can be a deadly bad habit which meant I could never let him loose like I could my other dogs.  My other dear boys and girls were raised from babies and well trained.  Unfortunately the previous 2 years of Ben's life he was either out loose to chase cars, deer, and whatever else, or sequestered to the basement with his older Rottie companion.


So feeling as tho he wasn't totally happy being either on the leash, inside or tethered to a tree when I was outside decided to have a fence put up so I could sit on the deck and we could play ball or just chill in the shade and breeze.  Previously posted was the work in progress of the building of the fence and here is an after picture from the back corner toward the back of the house.

And here is a picture of my boy lazing around in the shade while I'm having a glass of cabernet and hooking on the deck.

I just love this picture.  He is not rolling and scratching his back, he is belly up and chillin'.  Believe it or not, the very first time I met Ben after about 10 minutes he layed on his back to expose his belly and I knew he would be a keeper.  When a dog is submissive like that and showing their vulnerable side they are the ones I want. 

However, that is not always a 100% proven case because I can remember that Bella laid on her back and after 3 weeks she ended up biting me.   Bella lived on the street and maybe she was abused, was definitely near emaciation (as I was told by Majestic Rescue) and she put on 4 pounds since I adopted her in just 3 weeks.  So I believe she was getting her strength back, was becoming the dog she would normally be and when she laid on her back at first meeting she WAS vulnerable and thin then.  I personally feel she was turned around too fast in the rescue program after neutering, change of environment from street, hospital and enclosed area to heal and then to me, etc.  


Believe me when I say you can have great results in pet adoptions and not promoting the breeding mills because I have a wonderful dog.  But be sure to ask questions on  what were the reasons the dog being put in the rescue, was it abused, did it have aggressive behavior, was it emaciated, how was the dog socialized?


Blogger is acting up again and totally understand why some are moving.  I know there are misspelled words here and cannot get spell check to work.  AND, my last post there was white under the print and then I went in  to do an edit to put color under everything so it would look the same.  So we did the Google Chrome for THIS?


Hug your four legged companion and give it or them a kiss from me.  GO pet adoption!


Thanks for visiting..... Saundra