Dallas, Black Labrador Retriever Male, 8 years old

JUNE 11, 2018: He really can sleep anywhere in any position. He is even snoring. Sometimes it sounds like someone is cutting logs. Hahahaha! I don’t know how this can even be comfortable.

JUNE 10, 2018: Dallas’ tail is healed and there’s only a tiny little scab at the very end of it.  He got his first bath today since the surgery in April. We will be scheduling his one-month follow-up shortly to see if his new diet is helping bring his levels down in his urine.  Enjoy this video of Dallas’ bathtime:

June 9, 2018: Dallas gets more amazing the longer that he is with us! He is a trooper. He has been through a lot. We tried everything that we could to save his tail. We kept it wrapped and padded in nice bright colors so that we could see him at night. He didn’t really appreciate the hot pink color but mom insisted so he just went with it. He was on several different antibiotics, pain medications and allergy medications but all was in vain. It just wasn’t working. Mom was really upset and felt like she didn’t do enough to make me better but the Vet said there was nothing else she could have done. Mom and the Vet are in agreement that he had most likely broken his tail at some time in the past and he just couldn’t feel it anymore and that is why he kept injuring it and the reason it would not heal. He had to have most of his tail amputated in April. He now looks more like a Pointer from the back end! Mom thinks that my tail looks cute and she calls it a “nub” whatever that is? Dad says it looks like a gear shifter in a car. Not sure what that is either.

Now that he has a shorter tail he wiggles his whole rear end like no tomorrow when he is excited. So now he is not only the “curly shuffle” master but a “wiggle butt” master! Sometimes we think that he is going to fall over he is shaking his rear so hard.

He still drinks………. A lot and therefore STILL pees………..A LOT. He has had a few accidents in our house (probably our fault for not getting him out fast enough…. remember he does drink a lot) but there has been no intentional marking and he will not pee in his crate. We are working with our Vet to make sure that this “Peeing” problem isn’t actually a medical problem. He did have some struvite crystals in his urine on April 11. His protein, PH and albumin were also high so we have changed his food to a lower protein content food as per the Vet’s recommendation. He eats Science Diet 7+ now and he will be having a follow up appointment soon to check to see if these levels have come down. He also had increased cholesterol and fat levels in his blood which we will also be following up on. None of this at all changes the fact that he is the most amazing black lab EVER! He also has been prescribed Apoquel for his itching and it seems to be working really well.

He still doesn’t care about the cat. I don’t even think that he knows we have one.

We have been working on some training lately with him and our other dogs. He goes to his crate on command and he now will stay in his crate until he is allowed to come out of it, even with the door open. He has to hear the release word to be allowed out. He is also doing a sit and stay before he can have his meals and also will not go through the outside doors of the house until we say the release word “FREE”. He will stop licking when we tell him to now but he is also on medication for itching which has helped a lot. He knows when bedtime is and knows our routines well. He definitely knows the word “treat” (what dog doesn’t).

He doesn’t eat in his crate any longer, we don’t think that he needs to but he does eat separately in the kitchen away from our dogs.

He still sleeps with our daughter in her room for part of the night; the other parts he rotates between our room and his crate. We call it the circuit.

He still likes to know that there is someone in the room with him. Sometimes it is as if he is your shadow. It was worse right after his tail surgery, but he has gotten better since then.

He still thinks he is a lap dog and he has no concept of personal space. He will sit on you, stand between your legs and walk all over you (literally). My feet always hurt from him stepping on them.

He can sleep literally anywhere in any position and once he is asleep he stays that way. Please don’t think that you will be able to move him once he has settled in. It just isn’t going to happen.

He still loves stuffed animal toys and he absolutely LOVES tennis balls. He will even bark with it in his mouth. It is the funniest sound in the world to hear a dog bark with a ball or stuffed animal in his mouth.

He loves to ride in a car. All you have to do is open the door or the back of your SUV and he will just jump in. He does take a little time to settle down and loves to put his head out of the windows for a good breeze. He loves to stand in the middle with his paws on the middle arm rest so a seatbelt would be best for him. It really is safer for him and whoever is driving the car.

He is absolutely amazing in so many ways. I just don’t know how to explain it. You fall in love when you first meet him your heart just melts. He has that wonderful frosty white face that older labs get but he doesn’t act like he is older. He has the energy of a 2 year old and loves to run and play. He will give you a run for your money both with your heart and your energy and ability to keep up with him.

Foster mom, Cheri

MARCH 31, 2018: Dallas is very agile for an 8 year old. We are quite surprised at how fast he is. He loves walks but needs some training. He is a puller! We are working with him on this. We live somewhat in the country and have lots of wildlife running through our back yard. The first squirrel he saw drove him nuts. He also found the deer path and goes crazy just sniffing at it. He loves the country life. You can almost hear him saying “Any good smelling wildlife will be mine; I will catch it!”

He is a “Curly Shuffle MASTER!” When he gets an itch, he will roll onto his back and wiggle back and forth forever! It is pretty funny to see.

He drinks…… a lot…… and therefore PEES……. A LOT! The only thing I can compare the length of his peeing to is a character from the Revenge Of The Nerds II (Nerds In Paradise) movie. A character named Ogre peed for an extremely unusual length of time in one of the scenes; you would have to see it to be able to appreciate the joke here I suppose, but we laugh at it all the time.

He does very well with other dogs and integrated into our pack very easily, which surprised me. I thought our small female was going to be difficult, but she was surprisingly gentle, even for her. We think that he would probably benefit being with another dog, or more, rather than being an only child.

He doesn’t care about the cat. He……. just……..doesn’t…….. care. He walked right past her the day we got him and he didn’t even notice her. “Cat, what’s a cat? Never heard of that before.”

We have given him a middle name. All of our children (dogs) have middle names. His full name right now (until he finds his furever home) is Dallas Stevenson Daniel. It just doesn’t feel right having a furkid without a middle name and we think that it added to his personality! As with all kids (non-human and human), we give nicknames to them. Dallas has several, the first I already told you about earlier, Ogre, and you already know why. We have also given him the nicknames Big-D (I don’t think I need to explain this one), Dude (because, well, he is a dude ) and finally Gumby because he has no front teeth. Well, most of them are either gone or worn down. He has his upper canine teeth but they are either broken or worn down diagonally, and we are pretty sure his roots are visible. Along with that, all of his upper front teeth between the canines are gone. His lower canine teeth are almost completely gone and we think the roots are also visible there and all of his lower teeth between those are gone also. We think that he was probably chained out a lot and chewed on the chain. Poor baby.

We are working on some training (sit, stay, wait, crate, outside, potty, inside). We are also trying to teach him to shake paw (because it is cool), to stop licking (he is getting better on that one), bedtime, treat and some others. He is very smart and learns quickly.

He sleeps with my daughter in her room…….. on her bed. Yup, he has learned what furniture is and LOVES IT! My daughter says that he is a bed hog and that he lays in funny positions (usually on his back with everything hanging out). I guess that means he is happy and comfortable here and that makes us very happy.

He is easy to bathe. All you have to do is put him in a bathtub and tie a collar to the bar and he doesn’t move. I think he actually loves it.

He likes to know that there is someone with him. He is never very far from us. In fact, if we are all here and one of us goes outside for something, he will sit at the back door and wait, with his stuffie toy in his mouth, until they come back in. He is such a lover! He follows us around like he is our shadow and we love him for it.

He eats politely in his crate. We did this to separate our dogs at meal time. He doesn’t mind at all, and when he is done, he barks so we can come let him out.

He is a very gentle, loving dog with a gentle soul. I don’t know how else to explain it. When you look at him, you know his soul is very gentle. You always hear that if you look into a dog’s eyes you can see their soul, and I truly believe it with him.

As with all labs, he thinks that he is a lap dog. They just don’t seem to notice that they are as big as they are. He also love his belly rubs and will roll completely on his back for them. He has no shame…. see curly shuffle section above

He doesn’t bark much at all but he does grunt. It is that “I have just laid down and am now the most comfortable I have ever been in my life” grunt. He does this all the time. It is the most adorable thing ever!

He loves stuffed animal toys. We don’t let him have bones or anything hard due to his dental issues. He has a couple of favorites. He has a pink penguin, a pink flying pig, or a small penguin that he always has with him. He doesn’t really chew on them, he just carries them around and shows them to us. Such a cutie!

He has “happy tail” which unfortunately does not seem to be healing. We will be having the Vet look at this this coming week along with some other lumps and bumps and other things like his teeth and skin and ears.

Almost nothing phases him…….. not a car door, vacuum, other dogs barking, etc. He is one of the most laid back and easy going dogs ever.

He loves soft music and he also likes opera. I was playing the sound track to Phantom of the Opera and he just laid down and fell asleep. He also likes it when I sing to him. He especially likes when I sing Perfect Symphony by Ed Sheeran and Andre Bocelli. He lays next to me and puts his paw up and will keep doing that until I hold it. He stays like that for the whole song. I am going to try to get a video of this soon.