Ash Black Labrador Retriever Mix Male 2 Years Old ID #3417

January 18, 2025

It’s hard to believe Ash has been with us for a week! He’s definitely started settling in and decompressing, and has been showing us a little more of his playful side. He was thrilled with the recent snowfall and demonstrated first-class snow-zoomies form, and he’s continuing to enjoy playing fetch both indoors and out.

Ash got to experience his first time left home alone. We gated him in the kitchen with his food, water, comfy bed and a stuffed Kong, and we recorded him while we went out on some errands for about 90 minutes. Ash whined and paced for less than ten minutes, then settled down on his bed and went to sleep. Before he settled down, he did pop his front paws up on the countertop once or twice, but didn’t attempt to reach anything, even though there were bananas and a bag of kibble within stretching reach. He got up once after about an hour and did another whining reconnoiter for a couple of minutes, then laid back down. He was very happy to see us on our return, and we praised him. He was so good that the next time we left him by himself we gave him the run of the house, and his only transgression was choosing to sleep on the sofa instead of on his own bed.

We also gave Ash a bath with some anti-itch medicated shampoo. He was super good for his bath—he hopped into the tub himself, with just a small assist, and calmly stood, sat and turned as needed while he got washed, rinsed and towel dried. He is a bit frightened by the hair dryer and we didn’t push it—no need, really, as his undercoat isn’t thick like a PB lab’s—but I bet he could get acclimated to it if we worked on it. The bath seemed to help a little for a few days, but he’s still showing a concerning level of itchiness. We’re continuing to use an anti-itch spray on his paws after each time he goes outside, and sensitive skin wipes on other areas that seem to bother him. We’re also going to try adding fish oil to his diet.

His clicker training is going well. He’s learning ‘touch’ and off-leash heel (in the house only), and we’re using the clicker training to start getting him acclimated to the gentle leader. In the meantime, we’ve tried walking him using a Martingale collar instead of the harness. He pulled significantly less during undistracted walking, but still got very excited and jumpy when walking by other dogs. We’re working on finding his threshold and training him to walk nicely despite the presence of other dogs. It’s definitely a work in progress.

January 14, 2025

Ash is a two-year-old neutered black Lab mix. He came into a Philly shelter in April 2024 as a stray, and at just 37 pounds he was emaciated. Ash was quickly adopted and his owner took wonderful care of him until having to surrender him to a shelter in New Jersey in December. We have full veterinary records for Ash since his April stay in the Philly shelter. Ash is up-to-date on all his vaccinations, has tested negative for heart worms and intestinal parasites, and his current weight is a nice, healthy 72 pounds.

Ash got his rescue ride to his new foster home January 10th, and he has settled in quickly. He loves long snoozes near his people, getting treats, playing fetch, going for rides in the car and shopping at the pet store. He has been very trustworthy in the house—no accidents, no counter-surfing and no attempts to chew on anything that doesn’t belong to him.

Ash seems to know some basic commands—he’s pretty good with sit, down, wait, leave it, and drop it, and so far, he has always come when called. We’ve started working on stay and find it, and he’s been happy to discover that going to his mat or his bed gets him praise and treats. This is serendipitous for him because when nothing much is happening his bed is exactly where he wants to be.

Ash’s leash manners need some work. He is totally at ease with his harness going on or off, and on a walk around the neighborhood his pulling is manageable. On the walking path where we encounter lots of other people and dogs, though, all bets are off. He locks onto every human or dog passing by and pulls or lunges toward them in excitement. We’re going to try him with different collars and leads to see if they help reduce his pulling, and we’re going to be working on his focus and teaching him to heel in the days ahead.

Ash also seems to have itchy paws and hindquarters. He’s going to having some soothing anti-itch baths and, if those don’t help, we’ll get him to the vet to have the itchiness checked out. On the positive side, Ash is virtually non-shedding!

Keep an eye on this space for further updates on Ash’s adventures…