King Golden Retriever Mix Male 9 Years Old ID #2942

July 12, 2021

Hi everyone! King here! Just wanted to update you all on how I am doing! I am feeling really good these days! The doctors say I don’t need any more treatment for now. That’s really exciting because I was getting sick of going to the vet. They did say it is possible that the annoying lump they removed from above my eye could grow back, but no way to tell for sure. So, I am not going to worry about it. I am enjoying life too much!

It turns out July 4 is a special holiday, and also my foster Grandma’s birthday so we had a nice little picnic in the yard, and I got to meet some more new family people. I was a really good boy and they all thought I was pretty handsome. I was happy to hear that because I was a little worried about how I would look with my new scar. But it turns out, everybody still thinks I’m cute! That makes me happy because then I get a lot of pets and that’s my favorite thing in life. I also got to have a little taste of Foster Dad’s special homemade burgers and they were so yummy!

My foster parents say I am ready to find my forever home now. I am a really easy boy to love, and I hope someone picks me because I have a lot of love to give! I am very affectionate, love to cuddle and I am really good in the house by myself. My favorite hobbies are taking walks and taking naps. I love to lay outside in the grass in the sun on a nice day. My favorite very special treats are hot dogs or vanilla ice cream. I would do best in a home with no cats (because I like to chase them), and with only older children who are gentler with somewhat older guys like myself. I have lived with other dogs before, but I am picky about dogs I want to hang around, so if you have any others, we would have to meet first.

I will wait patiently for my perfect match. I hope to meet you soon!

June 28, 2021

It has been about two and a half weeks since King’s surgery and we can tell he is feeling much better these days. King did a fantastic job of not scratching at his face and allowing the incision to heal nicely. He has finished all his post-surgery meds with no complaints. Staples have been removed and he is back to being his goofy loving self with lots of smiles. We discovered he even sometimes smiles when he sleeps.

King is a happy boy and enjoys his laid-back lifestyle and his daily excitement of exploring the neighborhood on his walks. We have been working on the command “Wait” on his walks as sometimes King is so excited to cross the busy street in the neighborhood that he is ready to go before the traffic is clear. He has definitely picked up the meaning of the word, and quite possibly understands almost everything we say. We just have to work through his stubbornness at times. King does get a bit excited when he sees other dogs along the way, but we are usually able to talk him through it. However, he is still not a fan of small dogs that bark at him and he has a lot to say about that. But King spends so much time with his nose to the ground while we walk that sometimes he doesn’t even notice other dogs, or even deer grazing on a lawn several feet away.

King also loves to spend a little time hanging out in the backyard. When we brought him home, he was not extremely interested in the outdoor life and would mostly make quick trips in and out. But now it seems like he really enjoys laying on the patio and basking in the sunshine on a beautiful day and would prefer to have his humans hanging outside with him.

We are still waiting on more information from the vet regarding the mass that was removed above his eye, but hoping to know more about that shortly.

June 14, 2021

Our boy King is currently recovering from surgery to remove two benign growths and a mass over his left eye. The vet said he did well with the procedure, but it was a little more in depth than they thought. They also figured out before he even left the office that King was not going to tolerate the plastic cone. Shocker.

Luckily, I had already predicted this and found a Comfy Cone we had saved, and the vet said that was probably the best option for King. The good news is, they said if we were home and watching he does not need to wear it as long as he is not bothering the incision…just overnight and any other time he is unsupervised. So far King has been doing great and not bothering his eye at all, but we are watching him like a hawk since these things do get itchy when healing.

Poor guy was definitely very uncomfortable for the first few days. He whined and whimpered through most of the first night. And pulled off his Comfy Cone three times. I assume he thought that was the end of it, so the second night when the dreaded cone was wrapped around his neck again, he got a little panicky. He did finally calm down when we helped him redirect the cone so he could still see us. Over the past couple days, we can tell King is on the road to recovery because he is getting his loving personality and shining smile back.

During the day King is doing a good job of staying quiet and resting, and …. big news…. he is currently taking all his post-surgery meds in hotdogs with no argument!

We are working short walks back into his routine which King greatly appreciates. He really wants to keep going but we will work back up to that. King is accepting all Pawsitive and Healing thoughts so his foster parents stop attaching this ridiculous thing to his head and also so they stop touching his big boo boo with cream. But he does appreciate all the hot dogs.

June 3, 2021

King had a nice laid-back weekend and had a few house guests for Memorial Day. He enjoyed receiving some extra attention and some new treats from his Foster Grandparents, and he was happy to hang outside and show off his sweetness. My sister was the first to greet him while he was relaxing in the bedroom …  when His Majesty, the King is comfortable, he doesn’t always feel the need to get up and greet whoever is at the door. I think we can kind of scratch watchdog off the list. And then when she left the room, he just laid on the bed and let out a few loud barks until we came back into the room. When he wagged his tail, we realized he was saying “Hey you! Why’d you leave? Come back and scratch me some more!” Not too spoiled at all.

Today King had a follow up with the vet for his ear, and miraculously, his infection has cleared up! It must have been all of those pills that he spit back on the floor until they were little white clumps of slime, or the drops of liquid cleanser that ended up in his ears…in between the squirts that landed on the walls, the sofa, the floor, and of course, us. But, hey, a win is a win, and fortunately no more drops and no more pills…for now.

King definitely has been having some discomfort in his front leg, which seems like arthritis because he is limping, but mostly when he gets up after laying down for a while. He usually works it out, and when we go for walks, he still has his happy trot almost the whole way through. We purchased some glucosamine tablets which will hopefully help in a couple weeks, and since he doesn’t spit those all over the floor, it’s actually a possibility. When the vet checked out King’s leg, she agreed that arthritis is most likely the issue and hopefully the tablets will help. She also said we should definitely continue regular exercise, because losing the extra pounds will help the most. Ah…a prescription for all three of us!

As of today, King has successfully lost about 7 lbs. which is another miracle in the Mahoney household. Good for you, King! Hopefully we keep the good news coming!

May 29, 2021

King is still enjoying his time in foster care, but would prefer it if it didn’t come with all this medical stuff. Especially the pills. If one morning King easily accepts pieces of steak with pills in the middle, the next day he will be very suspicious of those same steak pieces and instead will eat all the meat and spit the pill back on the floor. But what else do you expect of a dog that shoves his head between two pillows when he knows it is getting close to ear treatment time? This poor boy is not going to get much of a reprieve either, as he is going to need to get a growth over his eye removed for further testing. This procedure has been scheduled for June 10.

King has definitely not felt 100% over the past week or so, but one thing is for sure… he always has a smile for his foster dad.

He is a very loving dog and an equal opportunity snuggler, but when Foster Dad is home, King will gladly walk in circles to follow him around. And when Foster Dad is not home, sometimes King just looks sad, or he takes a good long nap.

We have been taking short strolls during the really hot days, just to get the legs stretched out. You can tell King is not all about enjoying his adventures in the heat and humidity, and who can blame him? But once we are done with dinner and clean up, King stares at us in anticipation of our evening walk, and sometimes gives Foster Mom’s flip flops a few side glances or sniffs at the sneakers sitting nearby. We had our first real thunderstorm this week, and King did not seem overly nervous or frightened. He was very curious about seeing the lightning flashing through the skylights. He is also not refusing to take a quick trip to the yard in the rain so far, which is good because we are getting a lot of it. It looks like it is going to be an uneventful start to the summer for us this weekend. We think King will be ok with that.

May 21, 2021

King had a rough week this week. A day after suffering the torture of being poked and prodded at the vet, he came down with an earache on Sunday night, which he made known to us by shaking his head frantically for an hour and a half straight around 1 am and flopping down on his foster dad with a pitiful look that said “Please…HELP ME!”

By Monday night, King seemed fine again, but on Tuesday at the vet, after the doctor scoped his left ear and found nothing, she put the scope in the right ear and he WAILED. More torture. Since we were allowed to stay in the room with him for this experience, he just kept glaring at us, so betrayed that we would allow this to happen to him. After further examination, it was determined that King definitely has an ear infection and we were sent home with an ointment and assortment of pills that we just couldn’t wait to figure out how to give to a sick and grumpy dog.

King came to us with an exceptionally selective palate for a dog, which he expresses on a daily basis. After his first few days with us, we learned he only wanted that lovely mess of stuff from a can. But even then… “Chicken and Rice…Yum! …Chicken and …. what is this? Vegetables? You can’t be serious.” Each dish of food is thoroughly inspected. Pieces are tossed on the floor so he can pick out the good stuff and the rejected pieces lay there in small drops of gravy…. or sometimes he just shoots us a dirty look and walks away. He’s even fussy with human food, including the classics that make most dogs salivate with big, beautiful, begging eyes staring up at you. No… apparently this guy’s motto is “If it’s not meat or not sweet, why bother?”

OK, now let’s add pills. Let’s just say this has been experimental. Here are the tips and tricks that we tried over a couple of days: Stuffing them in chicken, covering them up with squares of cheese, rolling them in ham slices, folding them into a piece of english muffin and peanut butter, and of course the favorite, open the jaws, stick on the back of the tongue, and try to soothe him into a swallow. Each method resulted in King dissecting the food to eat around the good parts and spit out whatever this horrible thing was we were trying to poison him with.  And the open the jaws option simply got Foster Mom in the dog house for the rest of the day.

So, Foster Dad was the hero of the day in all this because he found chicken meatball treats. The first attempt was again a failure, resulting in another slightly mushy pill on the floor surrounded by crumbs of the meatball snack.  The next attempt involved pressing each pill in the center of half a meatball, and then reforming it into a tasty treat, small enough to bypass all inspections.  We started with one piece -no pill, and then each little reformed ball was enjoyed one after another. Success!!! I was able to feed King his breakfast afterwards with such relief that we found something that might work so we can get this ear infection cleared up pronto!

Then King proceeded to lose his breakfast all over the floor. So now we will be dividing the doses over breakfast and dinner and get to play this fun new game twice a day with some ear washes in between. And now King is very suspicious of all of his meals and snacks. And chicken. Poor guy.

It’s not all as bad as King may have you believe, however. He is soaking up all the extra attention, and loves the car rides along the way. Regardless of where the road leads, he sure does enjoy the ride!

May 15, 2021

King is still doing great and is so wonderful to have around. He starts every morning with a big smile and lots of kisses. He is our first foster that doesn’t join in on virtual meetings. However, as he waits patiently to have your attention back, it is possible his snoring may be heard in the background.

King has become so excited when it’s time to go walk that we had to train him to sit first before bursting out the door. Now, we barely have to tell him, he just plops down and sits still while we put the leash on and waits for the door to open. His energy seems to have increased, so he likes to keep a steady trot for most of our walks, aside from his stop and sniffs. For the most part, King simply enjoys the adventure of a walk peacefully. If he sees another dog, he might give an excited whine or yelp as he passes, but sometimes he doesn’t even pay attention to them. However, he does take exception to smaller dogs that start barking at him first without letting up. He will start barking back excitedly at them, and this will rile him up for the rest of the walk to the point where he becomes reactive to other dogs that he would normally pass with just a glance. We think this is something we will be able to work through easily, though. He needs some coaxing to just continue on and sometimes we stop and sit a minute to get back on track. Generally, we feel he is much easier to walk than we expected since we were not sure how long it has been since he was regularly walked on a leash. He is also happy to interrupt this time for his adoring fans when spotted on the streets. The golden curls are irresistible, as it turns out.

We have been trying to get some play time out of King, and at times we do get a few hops of joy for a toy, and he may run over to it if you throw it for him, but mostly he turns around and comes back without it, then sits and leans into your leg for pets instead. However, he does chew on his Nylabone occasionally and has found that his toys make great cuddle buddies for naptime.

King mostly does not try to grab household items that do not belong to him. However, he will occasionally find a receipt or a random small piece of paper from somewhere and run away with it like he scored the ultimate treasure. So basically, paper is his thing, and he likes to chew it, but not eat it. We make sure to take it away and tell him no, even though it makes us feel bad. He asks for so little in life! But it’s something to keep an eye out for to keep him safe…and it’s less cute if it turns into tearing up paper that might actually be important.  Recently, King has had to stay by himself for some periods of time while foster parents have had to run errands and make visits. We started with short outings, but he has been left home with free roam for up to four hours with no incidents. We are pretty sure he enjoys a good nap in our absence. He has not touched anything while home alone, and when we return, he is happy to see us, but does not seem frantic, jumpy, or upset in any way. He may, however, demand some extra pets at night if he has been left alone.

King has a follow up vet appointment tomorrow morning. Another update to come soon!

May 6, 2021

King has now been with us for two weeks and he is still a loveable, huggable, sweet ball of golden fur. Although truth be told, you better really like that golden fur because you will find it everywhere. There’s no stopping it. You can vacuum, and shortly after you dump a mini golden retriever from the tank into your trashcan, you will find it accumulating again and floating through the air like blonde confetti. But between the snuggles, kisses, and smiles from this loving boy, it’s totally worth it. Plus, I find his neutral coloring totally matches all our decor, and King is fairly good at sticking to his assigned sheet on the couch anyway.

King had an exam at the vet, and will be going back for a follow up visit with a couple tests. All the ladies loved him. They said he was super cooperative and sweet, and from the front lobby where we waited, we could hear them all fussing over him in the room as he got his microchip and last shot needed. Normally they will use a peanut butter Kong to distract dogs through these procedures, but The King turns his nose up to peanut butter, among several other things that most other dogs would typically enjoy as a special treat. Thankfully, pets and rubs and sweet talk really are the best way to his heart, and he will eat that up as long as you let him.

King continues to be a great companion for working at home. He will be a little nudgy when he wants to be paid attention to, but he also loves to curl up for a while and take a nice nap. Not much bothers him, but we have found a few things that he could live without. The first being the loud wind and rain storms we have been getting. Not a fan. He doesn’t really get too worked up, though. Mostly, he will look around and listen intently, and if he’s not too sure what’s going on out there, you may find him stuffed between a table and a chair waiting it out. Next, the vacuum. He would apparently prefer that we leave all that golden hair on the floor where it belongs. And the most recent thing we found out just this morning, the thing that really gets him going… the one and only thing that we have seen him become obsessive about… the neighbor’s cat. At approximately 5:50 AM I awoke to hear King’s nails running and sliding across the floor, back and forth, jumping on the window sills and letting out the most pitiful whine we have heard from him so far. My husband looked outside just in time to catch the offender running from the front patio. King spent the next half hour moving from window to window to door trying to catch a glimpse of the unwanted guest. I think it’s safe to say that the note in his original paperwork about cats is probably accurate, and King would most likely do best in a cat-free home.

King is looking especially royal in his new red accessories and is grateful for his goody box from Brookline. We are going to try to work on some ball playing skills. Meanwhile,

King is still enjoying his walks which is good because the vet says he’s a tad overweight. Here’s some video of King enjoying his evening walk, and his cute wiggle as he slows down on the home stretch.

April 29, 2021

Foster Teddy Bear King has been with us for one week now and so far, is nothing but a joy to have around. I was informed before he arrived at our home that he almost looked like a teddy bear, but now I think he actually believes he IS part Teddy Bear, and that he was put on this earth simply to be pet and snuggled. I am sure he is confused as to why we spend hours a day staring at computers when we could be joining him on the couch for a snugglefest. I do tell him on a daily basis that if I could sit and pet him 24/7 I would. But he does quietly and patiently wait during the day on his doggy bed close by while we work, and soaks up all the love he can when we break for some hugs and kisses.

He will also spend some time gazing out the door and watching the world go by, with only a soft whine or whimper when other dogs are within his view. While he does have times that he will attach himself to your leg while you are trying to walk around the house, his independence is growing as he gets more comfortable.

King has grown increasingly excited, at a certain point during the day, we grab the leash to go for his walk. For a dog that most likely was not walked much recently, he does pretty well. If you have a narrow walking path, it is easier to keep his leash short to prevent tripping over some zig zags. However, he pulls very little and only at the beginning of the walk when he is excited to get going, so as long as he is not pulling, we allow him to take in all the scents as we walk, while directing him to the grassy patches away from lawns. We are working on trying to convince King that he does not need to water mailbox flowers, and he is catching on quickly and learning to water the grass and telephone poles instead.

Wednesday we knew would be the hottest day of the week, so we went for an early walk so King would not have to tolerate the hot midday sun. This is a much more popular time to walk in the neighborhood, so lots of new sights and sounds to take in. King will often just glance and maybe let out a whine when he passes dogs on the other side of the road, as long as the other dog isn’t making a huge fuss. When we circled back to the bottom of our street, we came across a very sweet young beagle mix, who upon seeing King stubbornly pulled on his leash, and then proceeded to lay down with his head between his legs…flat on the ground in a puddle of cuteness. As we approached, the two dogs met in the middle for a few sniffs of each other until a car needed to get through. But all went well with the impromptu meet. After the car drove by, King turned around to see where his new little buddy went and let out a couple of loud yelps as if to say “Call Me!”

I don’t think King will have a problem getting along with other dogs, but may be dog selective. He has lived with dogs in his former life. However, we think a high energy dog that wants to play all the time might end up being an annoyance to him. He can be a little bit of a grumbly old man when he is tired. He would most likely do best with a relaxed dog like himself. However, we do have a neighbor who has a high energy dog diagonally from our backyard, and the fence lines do not meet. When King sees him come outside, he suddenly finds his youth and sprints across the yard to have a playful conversation. The neighbor does not seem to enjoy it, as the dog gets worked up and tangled in his lead while trying to climb the chain link fence, and then is quickly redirected into the house. Then a slightly dejected King will come trotting back to us for more pets and hugs.

Since King is already gaining some more pep in his step, we are working in a second walk to get those legs stretched out. More to come on this handsome sweet boy!

April 24, 2021

Day Three and King continues to be a fantastic house guest. Except he does happen to be the pickiest eater to ever step foot in this house. We are still experimenting with that, but we did make some progress with wet food today. He definitely would have preferred the barbecue ribs, though.

I am sure King was a pretty good counter surfer once upon a time, but at this stage that term sounds pretty strong…. I would call him “counter curious.” So that means make sure not to have food and dishes right at the edge. And definitely don’t leave something cooking on the stove unattended. He can also be a bit curious about what might smell so good in the oven.

King has started really enjoying watching the neighborhood activities. Not much of barker, but he will let out a little whine from the front door when he sees the kids or dogs walking. We went for another walk today, and still no pulling on the leash. King is happy to walk along with us, and will let us know when he wants to slow down the pace. He also loves to take in the sounds and smells in the backyard, but is not a stay outside all day kinda dog. In fact, when he’s had enough, King will whine a little at the door to go inside and then make a beeline to the couch for a good snooze and proceed to snore away.

And he’s a snuggly guy too, so he won’t mind if you join him.

April 23, 2021

Happy Weekend, All! Foster Dog King here to report on the second day of my new life! Today I got to go on some adventures and see the world! First, after my Foster Mom was finished her work, we went for a walk around the neighborhood with Foster Dad, too! There was so much to smell and it was so exciting, but by the time we got to the end of the street I was a little tired from zig zagging around and decided to stay in my lane. But I still got to smell all the mailboxes and telephone poles and grass and flowers…. everything just smells so GOOD around here. I was glad, though, once I realized we had circled back to our street. Otherwise, I was going to start looking for a tram car. My Foster parents said I was such a good boy because I didn’t pull at all on the leash.

Once we got back inside, I got to take a little power nap and then off to our next adventure. I got to go for a fun car ride and then we ended up at this building where only Foster mom got out, and Foster dad said she had to go get a shot and we would wait. I was fine waiting in the car…I got my shots yesterday, and I wasn’t really in the mood to do that again.

Mom was back in a jiff and then we went for some ice cream. I even got some licks of vanilla soft serve and it was one of my favorite things I ever got to taste.

Speaking of tasting things, this new lifestyle is pretty sweet so far…but I think we need to have a conversation about this kibble. No matter how you dress it up, it’s still kibble. I was thinking we could try something different…Chicken…or steak…something to talk about after my nap.

April 22, 2021

Today was a busy day for this handsome new arrival. Meet King, who was surrendered to Brookline today! Thanks to some wonderful Brookline friends he met along the way, King arrived to his new foster home a little after noon. We spent the rest of the day getting to know this sweet boy. King was not able to get all the attention he needed in his previous residence….so we are going to do our best to make it up to him. This boy has very enthusiastically accepted all the pets and rubs and scratches he could get this afternoon. If for a moment we paused the action, he would look up at us to see what happened.

We went outside on several occasions to explore the backyard. However, it was not the best outdoor day and when the winds started gusting, King headed right for the door to signal that he preferred the comfort of the warm house. Even as I write this, I am still feeling the light nudge of a nose on my arm. It is so obvious King is tired, and so far, he has not closed his eyes for more than a minute or two at a time. Hopefully this means a good night’s sleep is in order!