Champ
Champ is a blessing from heaven. After losing Maggie, one of my three Labs, in November 2024, I was ready to adopt another Lab shortly after the new year 2025. I currently have my other two Brookline girls, Halo and Nestle. I had my home evaluation, was approved, and began my search. I was open to male or female, but leaned more towards the former farm/breeder dogs, like my Maggie.
I saw and read Champ’s foster blog from the beginning, but didn’t realize that he was “the one” right away. I was looking at the age range of 2 – 5, and Champ was 7. Time and time again my choices were not working out, and after five, I became frustrated and sad. I knew Maggie was working on selecting the perfect match and I needed to be patient. All the while, I continued reading Champs blog.
The day he was posted as available, I had an instant feeling that he was “the one”. I applied, was
selected and got Champ all in a week’s time. Due to his former life on the farm, he was very scared of people until earning their trust. I was prepared for him to take a couple weeks to warm up. Nestle and Champ became BFF’s almost immediately, but it took a bit longer for Halo. She is the oldest and set the rules that she is the alpha, and Champ respected her space.
To everyone’s surprise, Champ gave me his belly within 24 hours and became my velcro boy. Every day our bond grew stronger and he opened up more and more. It took a few days for him to do the same with my roommate, Kim, since she worked the day after he arrived. I took a couple days off from work to help him adjust. When I went back to work, Kim took a couple days off. This was their bonding period, which was successful.
Champ joined us on February 22 nd , and I’m writing this on March 27 th. Each week more and more of Champ’s personality shines through. He discovered that he loves balls and it’s hard to take it away from him. He is quite athletic jumping in the air and chasing the ball when I throw it. He is such a happy boy. We are working on getting him out to meet people, which will take some time. I took him to work with me one afternoon on his fourth week. He did well and seemed to be relaxed under my desk on his dog bed. My coworkers gave him his space and did not force contact. I will continue this once a week in the hopes that eventually he will learn that most people are good.
During his third week, Halo initiated play with him, which made me so happy. She has now let him in the pack. There were no issues with Champ adjusting in the house while no one is home. His day is broken up by me coming home for lunch and he has free run of the house with the girls. In time, I will wean off of coming home at lunch. He does great living with three cats, and never chases them.They adjusted to him pretty much immediately. Champ is respectful of everything in the house and is not a barker. He loves being outside or anywhere that I am. We are working on playing with toys, but he likes to pull the stuffy ones apart.
I could not be happier with Champ and his progress these last 5 weeks. He is the sweetest boy, and I love his morning snuggles when my alarm goes off. He is great walking on a leash with no pulling and does great in the car. It could not be more clear to me that the others didn’t work out because Champ was the perfect fit. Thank you to my Maggie and Brookline Lab Rescue.
Heather S
