Ranger #3 Black Labrador Retriever Mix Male 1 Year Old ID#3395

Meet Ranger.  Ranger is a handsome 11 month old black Labrador mix who was surrendered to a shelter by his family when they could no longer care for him.  The shelter staff said he is sweet, and friendly.  Please read his blog from the bottom up to learn more about him while in foster care.

January 8, 2024

Since my last update, Ranger is still available for adoption and hasn’t had much interest. Please don’t let his shyness scare you, Ranger has so much potential and is such a sweetheart! He just needs to be shown it’s ok to be a dog and that he can trust you. Once he does, I promise he’s worth it! All Ranger wants to do is snuggle up to his people and other dogs! That is truly his happiest!  While I was snuggling with resident pup Gunner, Ranger wiggled his way in and you can see the pure joy on his face in the photo!Since my last update in November, Ranger has improved with potty training training and only had three accidents! He is doing really well with sit and wait and we are still working on leave it and drop it. Those two are his least favorite! He has spent much more time playing with toys too! He still has his favorite spot by the front door where he retreats, but now he empties out the toy bin and hoards all of the toys in his favorite spot because he can’t make up his mind on which to play with! He loves balls and playing tug of war with resident pup Remi. For those who didn’t know, Ranger had to go to an emergency vet a couple days before Christmas because he got a little too excited (and didn’t listen to drop it the second time) and swallowed one of the resident cat’s, Harris Christmas toys. The procedure was successful in removing the toy and it goes without saying that Ranger should be monitored while playing and should not be left alone with small items! For Christmas he received jumbo plushies and he went crazy over them! Only one has survived so far into the new year! Also since my last update the food he was eating was recalled and removed from shelves so I had to switch Ranger and resident pup Gunner to new food. Unfortunately, I don’t think the current food is a good match for Ranger because I’ve noticed a change in both Ranger and resident pup Gunners coats, and Ranger lost a few pounds so I am looking into other dry food options for him and will be switching his food.I’ll keep everyone updated. Also, keep an eye out for some super cute photos to come, as My Metal Rescue sent lab metal cut outs and we will be having a photo shoot once the weather clears up!!!

November 15, 2023

I’m back with another Ranger update! Since my last update Ranger has done better with some of his training. He still gets distracted and much rather play with resident pups but when it’s just me and him he is doing really well. He gets very excited when I get home from work and it’s time to come out of the crate so I started working with him on a sit before I open his crate so he calms down and he has completely excelled with it!The resident cat finally put him in his place when he wouldn’t leave him alone and I think he learned his lesson because he has backed off substantially. I still wouldn’t recommend him in a home with cats or small animals (unless the cat is like resident cat Harris).This past weekend the Marine Corps Birthday Party was held on my block. Hundred of marines come and hang out all day. I used this as an exposure activity for Ranger and took him out to see how he would do. Ranger did absolutely amazing despite being shy initially! When we first got outside Ranger initially was fearful and shy and had his tail tucked. Multiple people came over and asked if they could meet him. I told them to give him time and he will be up for it but he has to warm up to them because he was a shy guy. Sure enough after checking everything out and smelling a few places Ranger relaxed and was meeting everyone who would give him pets. This is literally huge for him considering the day I met him he cowered in the corner and wouldn’t let me go near him!! I was so proud! And he wore his adopt me vest without issue and was quite the gentleman.

He’s pretty much into a routine with my guys and has only had three accidents in the house. Two out of three of these accidents,  he tried to get to the back door before going. He is a bit of a puller on leash because he is so excited and full of energy but when he is shy he stays close to your side. With some more training and an active family, I think he will do amazing! Ranger and Gunner are thick as thieves and I need to have eyes on them at all times because they are truly partners in crime getting into anything and everything you can imagine when they’re not wrestling around. Ranger has even completely taken part in playing with toys and plays tug of war with both resident pups Remi and Gunner. Before he would simply drop the toy if one of the other dogs showed interest and he didn’t play much so he has certainly come a long way! I think he is in a good place to become available so I will be working on that in the next couple days and he should be listed available by the end of this week!

November 8, 2023

Hi all back with another Ranger pupdate! (See what I did there lol). It’s been just about a week since my last update and sheesh does time fly!!! I thought it had only been a few days!

Ranger has definitely come out of his shell to the point where his personality is shining and he is quite the character! I can’t help but just laugh at how goofy he can be and all of his little quirks that are starting to show through. He is showing that vibrant playful puppy energy more and more each day! (And he has a ton of energy, he would definitely love an active family!). One of his funny quirks is when it’s time to eat he runs in circles where he’s at before running into his crate to wait for his meal. Within the last week, Ranger had a care package arrive to which he was afraid of, but once he saw the toys come out he got more curious. He mostly laid in his favorite spot with all of his new goodies but didn’t really show much interest in playing with them yet except for the ball. He absolutely loves the ball!I bought a new Christmas tree so naturally I put it up super early to see if it was too big for the space. Ranger did not appreciate this at all, he was very unsure of the tree but he has come since coexist well with it! Ranger has learned that the two comfiest places in the house are the couch and my bed and he loves spending time on both. He cuddles right on up and doesn’t leave your side. This boy is so sweet and you can tell he just wants to love his people and be loved back! He loves belly rubs and I realized he has a scar that’s still healing up his belly so I went back through his paperwork and realized he had a more complex neuter surgery done. The shelter had his birthday today listed as 11/7/22 so we celebrated his 1st birthday yesterday with special birthday cookies and extra toys!It seemed very apparent to me that he has had absolutely no obedience training so I’ve been treating him like a brand new puppy trying to work on holding his attention and work on basic training like sit, stay, come, wait, etc. Training has been a little difficult because he doesn’t care for toys or treats as much just playing with the dogs or snuggling with his people, but we’ve been working at it each day! I’ll post another update on his progress soon!

October 31, 2023

Hey everyone, back with a quick Ranger update!

As Ranger settles in and is getting more comfortable in his surroundings, we are seeing some more confident behaviors emerging.   One was deciding he could chase down the resident cat and pin her. Luckily, or unluckily for Ranger, my cat was raised with dogs and stands up to them and corrects them. They’ve been fine together but he certainly shouldn’t be left unattended with any cats or small pets.  He should probably go to a home with no cats.I noticed he has done much better in his crate when the crate is covered. I haven’t been able to test him overnight out of the crate because I don’t want him unattended around the cat. I do think he would be fine as he lays with my dogs and follows my guys around while we’re downstairs. He did have his first accident and I think it was mostly due to getting excited and not fully going in the yard because he went a little and then came in and went again. I’ll keep you guys posted on the potty training.He has found his favorite place to lay and oddly enough it is half on and half off the entryway step. He runs away when I try to get photos of him so I have to get them when he’s not paying attention to me.

October 30, 2023

Hi all, back with another update on Ranger! So as it turns out it did not take long for this boy to come out of his shell! Granted things still spook him and he shys away quick and has his moments of nervousness, this boy is super social and all zoomies! He pretty quickly took to my two residents labs and does not like being away from them.He does get vocal in his crate at night now so I’ll be testing him over night out of the crate to see how he does in the coming days. He is good in his crate when I run out though. He might bark a few times but settles down quick. He is super snuggly and loves belly rubs!He has shown some signs of a prey drive and has tried to chase resident cat and my girlfriends chihuahua but he took well to correction from both her dog and resident cat as well as my correction. He definitely would benefit from basic obedience training as he doesn’t seem to have any. He is super playful with my resident dogs and wants to play all day! He has even chased after a toy a few times when thrown but he does back off if one of the other dogs goes for the toy at first. He has continued to do well with potty training and hasn’t had any accidents in the house yet!Now that he’s opened up and trusts me more and comes out of his crate on his own, we’re gonna start getting more exposure to things like walks and such!

October 27, 2023

Ranger was pulled yesterday from the shelter and he is the sweetest guy I have ever met but he is super super shy and unsure of things. We had about an hour long car ride home and the poor guy got car sick so his rescued life started out a bit rocky. However, once we got home he quickly realized things were going to be much better! Initially he was nervous of coming up the steps and into the house but with reassurance and some treats I got him inside. He immediately ran into the open crate before I could even get it cozy for him.He spent the majority of the rest of the day and night in that crate. I used some chicken nuggets to show him I’m pretty cool and not scary and it certainly helped build some trust with him because he ventured out of his crate and laid next to me rolling over and showing his belly for belly rubs. He only let this happen for about ten minutes before retreating back to his crate but I’ll take it.He did get very sad when I let resident pups outside without him but he’s still so nervous and unsure even with them that I don’t want to overwhelm him so we’re taking things very slow including intros. He did all of his business in the yard last night and this morning and slept in his crate over night without a sound.I did go to work today and I’ve checked on him via camera periodically and so far he’s been really good in his crate while I’m at work. I get out early today so he won’t be in there long, I’m hoping he ventures out of his crate more. He is definitely trusting me more and looks to me for reassurance when coming out of his crate.You can tell there’s a really sweet happy pup in there hiding behind all of that nervousness and shyness he just has to break out of his shell! I can tell he wants to! I’ll keep everyone updated as he continues to make progress!