Finley Yellow Labrador Retriever Male, 7 Months Old

August 25, 2018

I can swim!!

August 13, 2018:  Rainy days and Mondays certainly don’t get Finn down.  He had a ball with today’s storm. https://www.facebook.com/deirdre.blackburn/videos/10156568917049805/?t=1

August 9, 2018:  Finn is enjoying his temporary freedom from his cone. Once he has his surgery on 8/16, he’ll be back to living in a cone for 10-14 days. Finn is your typical puppy. He has bursts of energy and craziness throughout the day, but he also can settle once he has been well exercised. He loves to chase balls and do zoomies in the yard and play with my dogs.

He does need to be monitored when he plays because sometimes he gets a bit too rambunctious and over the top, especially with my 10 year old female. I’ve started feeding Finn half of his kibble each meal in a Kong Wobbler to challenge him mentally and help to tire him out.  He is very food motivated and caught on quickly.

https://www.facebook.com/deirdre.blackburn/videos/10156560258624805/?t=2.

Finn also loves to eat grass and dirt.  What is it about Labs and their love of dirt/mud! https://www.facebook.com/deirdre.blackburn/videos/10156560304524805/

August 6, 2018: HAHA Foster Mom! You thought I had no interest in toilet paper. Shame on you! Well, FM is ready to admit that she was wrong about Finn!

July 28, 2018: Finley was neutered on 7/24/18 and is now back to being himself. He is not thrilled about wearing a cone and he is vexed by his exercise restrictions.  However, since he does try to lick his incision, cone it must be! His eye surgery at Metropolitan is scheduled for August 16^th, following which he will have a 10-14 day recovery period and a follow-up exam.  At least he’ll have a short period of time before that surgery during which he can be cone free and play.

For a farm dog, Finley’s leash manners are impressive. He pulls slightly, but not much. He still is only sleeping about 6 ½ to 7 hours at night, but he seems to be mostly house trained since he waits until I get up to walk him to do his business outside! He has a stubborn streak and will not move if he doesn’t want to. He loves to snuggle on the couch with me and is so sweet about it (at least until he starts nibbling on me). He still has puppy behaviors that need work (mostly jumping and mouthing) and he is an accomplished thief and counter surfer.

He loves to steal towels from the bathroom and laundry from the hamper, and enjoys pulling the threads one by one out of my bathroom rug! I have a feeling he could easily be trained as a service dog since he is always turning on the light switch in the bathroom that is at a level he can reach. He’s a pretty smart dog, having easily learned to sit as well as sit and wait for his dinner.  He knows exactly where the treats are kept – when he comes inside from a walk, he sits in front of the cabinet that the treat containers are sitting on until he gets a treat. He is also a thinker. I can see him mentally processing anything I ask him to do.

Finn will be attending the Meet and Greet event scheduled at the Orvis store in Haverford, PA on August 11 from 11 AM to 3 PM.

July 24, 2018

Finn was neutered and microchipped today at the Brandywine Valley SPCA Clinic.  All went well, but he is totally zonked right now and sleeping it off.  I’m taking advantage of that to gate him in my laundry room to see if I can get him comfortable being gated.

July 23, 2018

Finley was seen by an ophthalmologist at Metropolitan Veterinary this morning. Although the farmer indicated that the problem with his right eye was probably due to some type of trauma, the ophthalmologist indicated that his condition is genetic and is different than the entropion we are all familiar with (where the eyelid rolls inward). First, Finn’s nasal iris is connected to his cornea. Although that is not treatable, it is also nothing that is likely to cause him any vision problems going forward. Second, he does need surgery (to both eyes, not just the right eye) for “multiple distichiae,” which are abnormally placed hairs that can cause corneal irritation and ulceration. The surgery to remove the distichiae involves destroying the follicles so that the hair cannot regrow. He will need to be monitored post-surgery for several months to make sure no eyelashes regrow.  It appears Finn will be with me a bit longer than the 2 to 3 weeks I anticipated.  He is still scheduled to be neutered and microchipped on Tuesday (the ophthalmologist saw no reason to cancel that surgery).  Then, once the BAC approves his eye surgery, I will get that scheduled.  In the meantime, I have a moisturizing lubricant to use in his eyes twice a day to help reduce irritation.

Finn is an absolute joy!  Yes, he is still a work in progress, but we are making progress. He is now walking well on a collar and leash, clearly knows sit, and is almost there with “sit and wait” for his dinner. He is definitely a “thinker” and processes everything I ask him to do. He is not 100% house trained yet, but we are getting there. He needs a lot of exercise, but he is also capable of chilling out. He was a difficult patient and squirmed a lot during the exam today but he never once reacted negatively in any other way. When we arrived home from his appointment, my neighbor’s 3 dogs were waiting in my driveway for us and all 3 tried to jump into the back of my vehicle with Finn.  He was startled, but again did not have any negative reaction to their extreme enthusiasm.  When I finally got Finn out of my car, they all got along well. One of the dogs is a 7 month old male Lab and seeing Finn next to him made me realize that Finn may very well be a big boy when he is grown as he is the same age and already several inches taller than my neighbor’s puppy. My heart melted when Finn curled up on the couch next to me last night and laid his head on my chest to sleep. He is so sweet!  Stay tuned for more updates.

July 20, 2018

Finn (AKA Finley) has been here for 4 days and is adjusting well to being an inside dog. He has slept through the night (6 hours) for the last 2 nights without being crated and without having any accidents. YAY! He’s getting lots of exercise and is now comfortable enough to take some naps throughout the day. With his comfort level increasing, I thought we should start some manners training. Autumn described his leash behavior as that of a “bucking bronco” since up until Monday he had never worn a collar or been leashed. I used my Thunder Leash because I thought fitting a harness to him might be too difficult since he bucks when I put on his collar. I took him for a ½ hour walk on my street and was pleasantly surprised. He walked calmly alongside me and didn’t pull. He does enjoy stopping for sniffs everywhere. We also started working on a sit in front of me and he is starting to get the hang of it. Tonight we tried “sit” and “wait” for his dinner and while that may still take a little time, he’s smart and seems to readily understand what he is being asked to do.

He is occasionally weird about doorways as you can see from one of the attached photos when he sat inside and refused to come out. I’m not sure what that was about since most times he readily goes in and out.

He LOVES to play ball in the yard and is pretty good about returning the ball and giving it up to be thrown again. He has tried to take away Buzzy’s soccer ball and Gracie’s marrow bone, and they both let him know with a low growl to back off, which he readily did.

I’m including a photo of him crashing with Gracie tonight just because I thought they looked so sweet together. He is a thief as I found out when I got out of the shower and had no towels since he had moved them to another room. He also took the cover off the sofa to play with and steals the remote controls from my husband. Finn is a diamond in the rough and will make some family very happy if they are willing to commit to training him and giving him all of the love and attention he lacked in his first 6 months! He is seeing an ophthalmologist on Sunday for what appears to be trauma to his right eye and will be neutered and microchipped on Tuesday. Please send MOJO his way that all goes well!

July 18, 2018

Finley is so adorable when he is sleeping.  However, Buzzy is not happy about the fact that Finley stole his spot – that’s Buzzy’s private air conditioning duct that Finley is hogging!  Finley was a bit more settled today and took a few short (very short) naps, but it was better than his being the energizer bunny all day long.  I’m hoping he will sleep at least part of the night tonight.

July 17, 2018

Finley was calmer yesterday and is starting to settle in.  I replaced his crate with a stronger one to keep him from pushing his way out, but he still would not sleep in the crate; he made too much of a ruckus when I put him in.  I kept him up until 12:30 AM and closed him in the bedroom with me.  He slept well until 6:30 AM and didn’t potty overnight. YAY! He still isn’t eating well, but I guess he’ll eat if he gets hungry.  He is a very grabby puppy and is auditioning to replace my paper shredder, even things I think I have put out of his reach. He loves the printer, which just feeds him more and more of the paper he loves! He hasn’t try to steal toilet paper yet, but I have a feeling that day will come! He enjoys playing fetch and has totally gotten it now, realizing he must bring the ball back to have it thrown again. He is very jumpy, slightly mouthy, and doesn’t know a single command yet. He is a typical high energy puppy, but I think he will be easy to train with someone who is willing to work with him and teach him manners.  He does come if you whistle for him and I think he is starting to learn his name.

July 16, 2018

RESCUE RIDE for Finley, a 6 month old farm dog. He is sweet, friendly, energetic, and very stinky! We already gave him a flea bath which has helped with the fleas and some with the smell, but the eau de farm is strong on this pup! Welcome to the Brookline family, Finley. We’re looking forward to learning more about you as you settle into foster care.

Everything is so new to him – he’s curious about everything!  He thoroughly enjoyed playing in the dog pool and running around the yard. He will play fetch although he doesn’t always give the ball back.  He’s also intrigued by Buzzy’s soccer ball. I am hoping he has an off switch because he has not stopped moving since he arrived. I tried gating him in my laundry room to give him some alone time but he wanted no part of that. I’m not sure how he’ll feel about the crate tonight but I guess we’ll have to wait and see. He is drinking gallons of water and has Gracie’s unpleasant habit of digging all of the water out of the bowl (even in the raised feeder)!  He loves electrical cords, so I’m going to have to toddler proof the house.  He thinks the floor mop is the greatest toy ever and enjoys chasing it as I try to mop up all the water he leaves behind after drinking!  He counter surfs every chance he gets but it seems as though he will be responsive to corrections. He seems to have very little sense of personal space and I need to watch for him since he is often underfoot.  He seems to know what toys are and enjoyed digging through the toy box and taking out at least a dozen toys.  I introduced him to a large deer antler and he seems to be enjoying it and knows what to do with it.  Of course, Buzzy stole it (even though he doesn’t have much interest in deer antlers).  So far all is going well.