Emmett Chocolate Labrador Retriever Male 18 Months Old

December 31, 2018

It hard to believe the big goof has been here for 9 days.  Everyday things get a little better as Emmett becomes more comfortable.  Yesterday we had just about a perfect day with this chocolate sweetheart. We started the day by taking a short walk through our neighborhood and playing in the tennis courts. We then left for a meeting with his trainer and her group of dog walkers at Lake Nockamixon.  We arrived early so we could work on the proper way of introducing Emmett to other dogs.  The trainer and her dog Zion (Brookline alum) worked with us for almost an hour and by the end we had a successful intro with Zion and the other 5 dogs. We cannot thank them enough for taking the time to work with us. We then went home and the dogs took a long nap. We went for another walk later and by this point we had some tired puppies. Our neighbor stopped by and he and Emmett had a lot of fun wrestling and playing. Yesterday was the first day that Emmett did not get mouthy.

We are very happy with Emmett’s progress, in the past week he only had one additional accident and we were able to stop him and take him out to finish his business.  Fingers crossed I think he gets it now. We can leave the room without him getting upset and he has been able to settle and relax. He has earned our trust so he now has free reign of the house and we no longer use the crate at night. He gets along great with our resident Lab and they have started playing. Emmett would play all the time but our Ozzie is a little more guarded. It is very amusing to watch Emmett and Ozzie play chase, they take turns being chased and Emmett does all this with at least one ball in his mouth. Emmett is very food motivated and training is going well.  He has sit, down and give paw down pat, we are working on his stay and off.  He will stay for short periods but you can tell this will be a challenge since he always wants to be near his people. We are also trying to work with him on boundaries, but he still thinks he is a puppy and will walk on us or Ozzie to get to the spot he wants.

Overall, we are very happy with his progress, he gets more comfortable each day and you can tell he now trusts us and is not worried about being left alone.  We can get up from the couch and go to another room without him following (unless he hears food, LOL). This guy is going to make someone a great companion.

December 25, 2018

Emmett is adjusting well to his new foster home.  He has had no more accidents and really enjoys going on walks.  Emmett has claimed his spot on the sofa and will be curled up with one of us at all times.  He still doesn’t know his weight, he thinks he is a 78-pound lap dog. His barking has declined and he is just one big sweetheart.  There is not a mean bone in his body.  He can be a bit defiant, but he will eventually drop the shoe or toy he has stolen.

We crated and left him yesterday for 5 hours and he did great. He made us feel so guilty when we were leaving. We had a camera on him and he slept almost the whole time we were gone. When we got home he was excited to see us and we went for a long walk.  Emmett walks great on the Gentle leader collar and loves playing ball in the tennis court.

He is a bit leash reactive towards dogs he doesn’t know, he barks when he sees another dog but does not lunge or growl.  I think he is just excited to meet other dogs, we will test him either with the trainer or if we run into a dog we know. We are still crating him in our bedroom at night and he will wake us up if he needs to go potty. If he continues to progress we will let him pick where he sleeps. Overall, Emmett has adjusted very well and we are 100% certain he will make someone a great companion.

December 23, 2018

Meet Emmett a gorgeous neutered chocolate with the most unique eyes, his eyes are bluish green near the pupil and then turn yellow. He is big lovable lunk who has never had any structure in his short life.  We are the 6th location in the past year.

He can easily jump a three-foot baby gate.  He has shown no aggression towards our resident lab Ozzie. He loves to play ball and tug of war.  He walks very nicely on a Gentle Leader collar, but he is hard to control on any other collar.

He eats very well and is extremely treat motivated.  He crates easily and will allow us to clean his paws. He always want to be near his people.

Things we need to work on, he will bark if he wants attention or if we leave the room. He will eventually settle after 10 minutes. Today we gave Emmett and Ozzie a high value treat, Emmett devoured his quickly then stole Ozzie’s. We were unable to retrieve the treat from him because he is so very good at keep away. He has had one minor accident in the first hour he was in our house but none since. He does need to learn that he is not a lap dog. He loves to climb in your lap and at well over 70 pounds he is too big. We will be working with a trainer to get this boy some much needed training so that he will be ready for his next home to be his forever home.