Radar, Black Labrador Retriever Male, 9 Years Old

November 26, 2018

We wanted to update everyone on lovable Radar as he starts celebrating the upcoming holiday season in his festive BLRR scarf.

The last couple months have had their ups and downs for Radar.  Radar’s mobility, which had been stable, had started to decrease again.  He also began showing signs of pain, which was new for him.  The flare up resembled his previous symptoms before being put on a steroid for his spinal/cervical condition. We consulted with his vet and made a few medication changes. We have discontinued the steroid and are now trying a combination of an NSAID and a pain pill.  It has only been about a week, but I can say that it seems that Radar is more comfortable. He is more excited and willing to get up and come greet us now when we come in, but it is still a bit tough on him to get up if he is lying on the wood or tile floor – which is where he usually is no matter how many runners I put down!!

Radar is also playing more with his toys which is a good sign. Our walks are still brief, and he does still stumble forward sometimes, but overall, he loves to go for a walk. He is keeping up with us a little bit better too. We are still in the evaluation stage of making this medication change, but we are hoping that this will get Radar back to his stable point, where he is happy and most comfortable.

We are limiting him to our first floor of the house.  This is to keep him off the stairs due to his decreased mobility in an abundance of caution.  Radar has never been much for sleeping in any of the dog beds around the house, so I was shocked to hear him get up on several occasions in the middle of the night to curl up in one of the dog beds!!

Radar is just a big sweet lug! And if Santa doesn’t bring Radar a new family for Christmas, he will have a stocking on our mantle and presents under our tree.

October 29, 2018

Greetings from Radar –  as he tries to decide whether to be Bob Marley or the Easter Bunny for Halloween.

Radar continues to be a sweet, adorable pup and we enjoyed celebrating his 9^th birthday with him on October 13^th.

Radar was such a good boy earlier this month when we went away for a long weekend.  My son (21) was the designated pet sitter for Radar and Koda. And, since he had to hang around the house to take care of the dogs, he occasionally had friends over and, needless to say, they all fell in love with Radar.

Also, while we were away, another Brookline volunteer kindly visited Radar to take him out for some walks.  On one occasion, she brought her Brookline alumni Colin (another handsome black male lab).  Both Radar and Colin enjoyed a nice walk together, strolling and sniffing their way around the neighborhood.

The flare up that Radar seemed to be having (with his cervical condition) has nicely quieted down with a slight (and possibly temporary) change to the dosage of his medication. He continues to be a funny, playful and lovable part of our home.

September 27, 2018

We decided to take Radar for a follow up check-up at the vet this weekend.  Even with the slight break in weather, he was still seeming to tire out very quickly on our walks and we were also seeing a tiny bit more of his forward stumbling. The doctor felt that this is perhaps just a flare up of Radar’s cervical condition, and has temporarily put him on an additional medication to keep him comfortable.

Radar is otherwise still his sweet, playful, lovable self.  He has developed the cutest morning habit of walking straight to the pantry door – in case I need to be reminded of where the dog food is kept.

September 8, 2018

Radar wanted us to share this motivational shot of him getting in his usual strenuous Saturday morning workout. This time it’s cardio with foster dad.

September 6, 2018

Greetings from Radar who can’t wait until this heat and humidity go away.  Radar still loves to go for a walk (and we’ve been sticking to early morning and evening hours) but recently our walks have been more like mini strolls.  That heavy black fur coat will come in handy this winter, but definitely NOT helping now.

Radar is still looking for his forever home.  He is a very low-maintenance, playful guy who just enjoys relaxing with his family.  He loves our yellow lab Koda and is now totally non-reactive to our 15+ year old chocolate female Jewel.

Radar still barks and gets excited when he sees other dogs and people on our walks, but it is a “friendly excited” and he responds well to a correction.

We have come to an understanding with Radar that his body just doesn’t always give him a lot of advanced notice when he has to go #2.  Our solution that has worked well is to simply do our best to get him on somewhat of a “potty”schedule and then to also be alert to his body language.  He does his absolute best to make it outside, so it’s our simple job to be on our toes and get (or have) a door open for him to help him be accident free.  With that being said, a home with someone home more often than not would be ideal.

Radar is our first foster and has brought so much joy to our home.  It will not be easy to give him up, but I know that there is such a need for us to help out by fostering again. So, if anyone comes across a family that you think will be awesome for Radar, please let us know.  Thank you!

July 31, 2018

Had to catch this cute picture of Radar just chillin right near our 2 parrots. They still do “interest” him, so we’re still always careful, but he really has come to just accept them as part of the household.

July 27, 2018: 

Radar is doing great after his neuter surgery last week (7/18). As part of the surgery his doctor was able to take a closer look at a lump that we had detected on his private area.  The doctor thought it was best to remove the lump and it was then sent out to be biopsied.  We just got the good news that it came back benign!  The doctor said that it was a very “typical” tumor that can develop in un-neutered males.  Since Radar is now neutered, this won’t be a problem anymore.  Radar’s stitches come out next week at which time we will also finalize the best long-term dosage for his once-daily medication.  

Radar has made great improvements with some earlier minor issues:

• Radar is housebroken in that he knows that outside is the correct place to “go.” But, it is sometimes a challenge for him to “hold it.” So, as long as the door is open, or someone is there to quickly open it for him, he is accident free.
• There have been some items that we found Radar to particularly like, so much so that he doesn’t want to share them with his foster fur-siblings. He would just give a grumble if one of our resident dogs came nearby when he had it.  So, some of those “high-value” items we chose to just stop giving him; other items we still allow him to have, and just give him his space to enjoy them until he is done.
• Radar has a friendly interest in dogs when we are out walking, which is the only time on our walks that he barks and pulls. But this has greatly improved, with a verbal correction, distraction and a reward for good behavior.

Radar is such a joy to have in our home.  He is so affectionate and playful.  And, that face!!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEthGhUS-X0&feature=youtu.be

Radar will also be making an appearance at Brookline’s Meet and Greet on August 11th at the Orvis Store in Haverford, PA.     He would love to meet you there.

July 14, 2018

Check out the picture of him on his way to the McGee’s pool party this weekend!

July 4, 2018

Radar continues to be a joy in our household and his mobility has nicely stabilized on his once daily medication.  Along with that, he has perfected the steps, and he now sleeps upstairs in our bedroom at night.  And, although we’ve supplied him with some different beds, he often prefers to just sleep on the carpet.

Radar LOVES his walks with Koda and expects at least two walks a day.  We switched Radar to a bigger padded harness to make it easier for us to help him up, but it is rare now that he stumbles, and if he does he is able to recover and get up on his own. This is such a wonderful improvement since he came into rescue!

Due to an unexpected change in our family schedule, Radar’s neuter surgery has been rescheduled from July 10^th to July 18^th. We wanted to make sure we were all available  to make sure Radar’s post surgery period went well.

July 1, 2018

Radar just wanted to check in on a Sunday night to say hi, and to demonstrate the Dog Days of Summer with his buddy (resident dog) Koda. (BTW – Radar’s foster home is air conditioned. The fan is just an added bonus, especially after a walk).

June 23, 2018

Radar vs Turtle video

June 10, 2018

Radar’s version of working out 🏋🏻‍♀️ with Foster Mom in the morning!

June 5, 2018

Just a quick update and picture of Radar.  Here he is doing his best impression of a bear rug !

Lately, we are finding him coming upstairs more.  So even though he is dealing with some joint issues, the stairs don’t seem to keep him from being with his foster family members. He is such a sweetheart.

May 21, 2018

Radar continues to charm us, and everyone he meets.   We are getting to know more about him and his personality every day. One of Radar’s most endearing qualities is how he comes over to you and leans his big blocky head – and sometime his whole body – into your legs for some head and ear scratches. What a love!

Radar continues to be a real sweetheart who loves company, walks, and soft squeaky toys.  And he truly enjoys his naps.   He “adores” Koda our resident yellow male, and often nudges Koda to try to get him to play and run around the yard.  Radar kindly “tolerates” our 15-yer-old visually impaired chocolate, Jewel.  He does still grumble at her sometimes if she wanders (unintentionally) too close to him, especially if he has a high value item, but responds nicely to a correction.

Radar continues to walk very well on a leash, but will bark at other dogs passing by.  He stops quickly when corrected.  He just gets really excited when he sees another dog!  We have also gradually increased our walking distance, and Radar is handling that very well while re-building up some muscle in his legs.  He has gone from initially walking a couple blocks to now walking about 1/2 mile on one of his 2-3 walks a day.

We had a complete senior profile run on Radar.  All of his bloodwork and urinalysis results were great!  Radar was still exhibiting weakness in his legs, so our next step was x-rays.

The good news is that the x-rays showed that his hind end looks good – No hip dysplasia or arthritis in that area.  We had a radiology specialist review the films.  We learned that Radar has some arthritis in his front shoulder, narrowing of his 5-6th vertebrae, and spondylosis deformans of his spine

https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/spondylosis-deformans-in-dogs

Based on these finding the vet started Radar on a low dose of steroids.  He is responding well to this treatment. We very quickly noticed a marked improvement in his mobility.  He is able to pick himself up without assistance and happily trotted to the front door to greet another Brookline volunteer.  He even jumped out of excitement when seeing her.  Normally we don’t encourage such things, but it was great to see such pep in Radar’s step!

The vet wants to us to monitor Radar on the medication and then re-evaluate in another month.

Stay tuned for more Radar updates!

April 15, 2018

Check out this too cute video of foster dog Radar and the resident African gray parrot Zuri. Foster mom Terry has been working on slowly introducing the two of them.

Click this link to watch the video of Radar and Zuri

April 11, 2018

Radar, the black lab, joined us this past Friday and has settled in very nicely.  He is a big 8-year-old boy at 96 pounds.  He has a beautiful blocky head and sweet droopy eyes.  He did not have any interest in being in a crate, but gating him in a spare bedroom on our main floor has worked well. He settles in there very nicely at bedtime and also when no one is home.  He lights up and wags his tail when anyone comes to let him out.

Radar loves our 7-year-old yellow male lab, Koda, and follows him wherever he can.  Radar is also fine with Jewel (our 15-year-old chocolate female lab). At first, on a couple occasions, he made a little grumble when she’d walk past him. Jewel has one eye and can’t hear very well, so she paid him no attention. He responded quickly to a verbal correction, and everyone is now co-existing nicely.

Radar is eating very well and after a couple little blips is also doing great with his housebreaking skills. He loves treats and likes to play with soft squeaky toys.  Radar is a charm on a leash, and loves to go out for short walks.  One of his favorite hobbies is spending time with us in our family room, napping on a blanket. He loves attention and presses his head into your thigh, or onto your lap, for some head scratches.

Radar will be going to the vet soon to have his legs checked out.  He is showing some weakness there and we want to make sure this big guy is comfortable.  Radar will also need to be neutered (sorry bud).

Radar is our first foster, and we are so happy that we chose not only to foster, but to foster this sweet boy.  Stay tuned for more updates on Radar!

For questions about Radar please email autumndynell@gmail.com.