Living the High Life!

Here are some pictures of Duncan, he sure likes to sleep next to people.


Here he is ready for the beach!

Furever Home

Duncan and his new family, Reidar, Karen, and his new fur-sister Cornelia, and don't forget the two kitties waiting for Duncan at home.

Duncan's Last Night in Foster Care

One last game of fetch down the hallway before Duncan makes his way to his furever home!

Duncan Sportin' his Doggles

Duncan is ready to spend the summer with you...won't you take him home?

Up Close and Personal

How Cute Am I???

Look at my happy wagging tongue!

Yay for Summer! Come take me home so we can enjoy this warm weather together. :)

Answers to Common Duncan Questions

How is Duncan with other dogs?
He has gotten along fine with the dogs I have introduced him to thus far and does well with my dog.

How is Duncan with Kids?
I have only had Duncan around children that we have passed on walks, I don't have any kids of my own, but he seemed fine with the children on his walks. He is not jumpy or hyper so he would not knock over little kids, and he has no qualms with me manipulating his body, I can pull his hair and tail, push him, poke at his face and he just wags his tail. :) So even though I have no direct experience with him living with kids I think he would do fine.

How is Duncan with cats?
I don't have any cats but Duncan has been in my downstairs neighbor's house with their cat, and he just ignored it and cuddled on the couch with people instead. I am not sure how he would react to a cat that liked to initiate contact. Given his happy-go-lucky attitude I would assume he would not be mean but I don't know that he would want to play, he would probably just walk away.

Does Duncan like to go on Furniture?
Duncan could learn to accept not going on furniture, but he lives for being as close to people as possible and if you are on the furniture he loves to come squish up next to you, or rather, on you, so maybe you could make an exception for him????

How is Duncan with fences?
When Duncan first arrived at my house he tried to jump, climb, and dig under the fence. I only corrected him verbally a few times and after the first couple days he has never tried again, but I still do not leave him in the yard unattended. I think a 5ft fence would be a minimum for him and he would have to be supervised in the yard for sometime before he could be deemed safe to be left in the yard alone for any period of time.

How does Duncan do on leash?
For the time being he walks like an angel on leash but we'll see if he maintains that once he is feeling better, so an easy walk harness or a gentle leader may come in handy later on.

Is Duncan crate trained?
Currently Duncan will go in to his crate willingly to sleep at night, but we don't lock him in, he is ok being locked in if he can still see you, but will bark and cry for hours if left crated alone while you are away. That being said, Duncan does fine with free roam of the house, no crate needed. He had free roam for the weeks leading up to his HW treatment and never disturbed a thing, since his HW treatment he is on bed rest, litterally, I leave him locked in my bedroom on my bed, and he has never made a fuss about staying shut in their all day and never disturbed anything in there either.

How Does Duncan respond to correction?
Duncan needs a soft-handed trainer. On the few occasions I have had to correct him, a simple "Duncan, Ah-Ah," is enough to send him cowering to the ground. So a light verbal correction is all this boy needs to mind his manners.

How Trainable is Duncan?
To be honest I haven't spent any time formally training him because he really doesn't need it. He walks nice, doesn't get in the way at home, doesn't get in to anything, doesn't bark, doesn't really do any undesirable things so I just let him be. If you are looking for a dog that will learn shake, roll over, and sit-pretty this probably isn't the guy for you, but he will be well behaved regardless. The only thing he needs to work on is not barging out of doors in front of people....and we are making progress on this with a "wait" (at the door) command.

How old is Duncan?
Because he was a stray his age is a mystery. He acts like a fairly young dog but his teeth say otherwise. His teeth are very worn and discolored. I am guessing that his former life was harder on his teeth than normal, and his teeth are worn beyond their years. My guess at his age is 4-7 years old, but it truly is a guess.

Bath Time

"Why me? I don't like being wet."

Duncan made it through his neuter and Heartworm treatment. Now with just a little more R&R and some more weight gain he should be feeling as good as new. To help him to that end he got to have a bath last night. He did not enjoy this one bit but he did not put up a fight, he just stood still in the tub and looked up at me with those big puppy dog eyes as if to say..."why are you doing this to me." Kya, his foster-sister was watching from near the toilet laughing....little did she know she was next in line for the tub!! Here are some photos of Duncan recovering from his bath.

"First I try shaking the water off...."


"Then I try licking those pesky beads of water off...."


"Why aren't you helping, can't you see I'm all wet?"


"Go for the roll you say? Ok this seems to be working pretty well."


"Ok, dry enough for me."

FOSTER CARE AT A SPA?

Duncan Relaxing at the Spa with his new friends.

What a day.
Just when I thought that I was settling in to a new home, I find out that I am going to the Holden spa in Lake Geneva.
This is a nice place and I should be very happy to be here, but I am not.
I miss Bridget, Brian, and Kya.
I hope that I will be going back home soon.
Maybe someone in Madison will adopt me.
If you are thinking about it, you should just do it.
I have a lot to offer.
My great eyes.
My hugs.
The love that you know I have for you.

You know who you are.

Anyhow,
This afternoon, I wandered around the yard, took a swim in the pond, dang fish, (I do read the other blogs from the dogs that visit the spa), and made 4 new friends. They are Libby and Sherman. This is a fun place. They showed me all around the yard and house, told me the rules, and introduced me to the dogs next door. Their names are Lucy and Charlie. Boy are they little.

After all of the touring we decided to take a nap.

I hope that tomorrow is as much fun.

Duncan

A Typical Day in the Life of Duncan

Duncan Sleeps.


Duncan gives up on his hardwood bed and moves to a more comfy spot with his buddy, Kya.


Duncan finds an even more comfy spot to lounge, on a human bed.


Duncan decides he needs some fresh air, and lies down on the deck.


Duncan can't stand not being near me so decides to sacrifice comfort and lie back down on the hardwood floor near me.

Duncan gives up on the hard wood floor again and decides that Kya has the right idea, and hops in bed with her.





As you can see from the pictures, Duncan, is still very much in recovery mode. He spends a great deal of his time lounging or sleeping, giving him plenty of time to heal. His respiratory infection is still hanging on so it will be a little while yet before we start his heartworm treatment but the good news is he gained 6lbs in the last 4 weeks. Way to go Duncan!! He still could use at least another 6lbs or more but hey, that's progress. He still can be a bit of a finicky eater but apparently he is eating enough to boost his weight.

He is such a joy to have around. He is a really easy dog. He has/had two minor flaws, one, he thought marking indoors was fair game when he first got here, but he quickly learned that was only appropriate outside and hasn't marked in the house for over a week. He even held back when we had another male dog stay with us for a week. His other issue is his lack of enthusiasm for his crate. He will willingly go in to the crate on his own and is actually pretty good about being locked in it when we are home with him but he barks if left home alone in his crate. Easy fix, we just let him have free reign of the house and he hasn't disturbed a thing. I will work on crate training him once food becomes more of a motivator for him and I can leave him with a kong in his crate but in reality he doesn't really need a crate.

He isn't allowed to go to the dog park (because of his bedrest restrictions) but he has had the opportunity to meet at least 5 dogs while he has been here with me and has done really well with them. He does seem to be top dog but is not at all pushy, he just has a very stoic way about him and other dogs seem to immediately pick up on that and leave him to rule the roost. Case in point, Duncan stayed at my parents house with me this past weekend. My parents have an off the wall hyper 9mo old bischon puppy. Normally little Beans (the bischon pup) will not sit still for a second but with Duncan their he miraculously turned in to a calm dog. Duncan never did any growling or any correction of any sort but Beans could read by the way Duncan carries himself, in his calm-assertive manner, that Duncan was the law and little Beans walked instead of ran and laid down instead of jumping up on every living thing and my mom was floored. We nick-named Duncan the "Regulator" he really helped Beans become a balanced dog, even if it was only for the short time that Duncan was in his house. My mom told me later that Beans seemed very upset after Duncan left. Duncan is a very special boy and anyone would be very lucky to have him as a member of their family.

Duncan is moving.....going to find another comfy spot to lie down at.


"Hey, you're in my way, I'm trying to find a place to sleep."

Morning Photo Shoot

Duncan Explores the backyard.


Duncan Looking Regal.


Duncan says, "hi."


Duncan and Kya playing.


Look at Duncan's nice playbow.



Here are a couple of shots of how skinny poor Duncan is, and this is after 3 weeks of beefing up at his temp. foster home, he was much skinnier when he was pulled from the shelter.

Duncan Arrives in Wisconsin

Duncan's new foster mom here.
(Thanks Deb for all you did for him as a temporary foster mom.)
Duncan arrived in Wisconsin on Sat afternoon after a long hard journey. He was transported in a van with 30, that's right, 30 other dogs, all the way from Kentucky. Needless to say I think he was relieved to get in to my car and where he could stretch his legs a bit and enjoy some peace and quiet. He settled in at my house instantly. After greeting all of the people and dogs in the house and doing a quick sniff survey of his surroundings he wandered in to my bedroom and climbed right up on to my overstuffed chair, laid down and gave me a big doggy smile.
Duncan seems so grateful for everything we offer him, I suppose in contrast to his former life everything seems golden here.
Duncan is still very thin so we are working hard at putting some weight on him. He still needs a little big of encouragement to eat. I made him a big bowl of dry dog food mixed with rice and cooked burger on Sat and he only ate a few bites even with all my cooing and hand feeding. Sunday was a different story though. I think I found the magic ingredient....CHEESE!!! Duncan seems to be a Wisconsin boy at heart, as soon as I sprinkled a little bit of shredded cheese in with his food he gobbled it down like there was no tomorrow. He is also partial to peanut butter sandwiches which I feed him laced with immune system boosters. That combined with his daily antibiotic stuffed hotdogs should help him beat his respiratory infection in no time and then we can tackle the heartworm. His cough is almost gone and he seems to be getting perkier by the hour.
Duncan loves to stand out in the backyard and watch the birds and squirrels, he has attempted to get a little closer to the wildlife by climbing my short (4ft) fence so I would recommend that he go to a home with at least a 5 ft fence. He also enjoys short walks and is pretty good about not pulling on leash, unless of course, he sees a bird. He is beautiful to watch outside. He holds his tail high and has a very regal prance. I can only imagine how handsome he will look once he fills out to a normal weight. This morning, for the first time ever he initiated a little bit of play with Kya (my 10 mo old IBR setter mix). He is not allowed to get to worked up due to his heartworm condition but I did let them have a brief go at each other and Duncan just lit up. He looked so happy with himself. It is wonderful to see that he is feeling well enough to want to play again. Things are only looking up for this happy boy!!! :)

Beautiful Duncan

Duncan Update

Our little man is making progress. He is eating very well, we are not using any canned wet food. He likes my cooking best anyway. Spoiled baby but he deserves it. We are doing chicken, rice and well cooked beef with some dry food. His sides now look a little thicker. He is still coughing but trots around exploring everywhere. He is happy and affectionate.
3/18/07
Debora

Duncan is in recovery mode...

Meet sweet Duncan. He came from a Kentucky shelter and got very sick with a respiratory infection. Duncan is also heartworm positive and will have to undergo treatments.
IBR was so lucky to found a compassionate rescue angel that got him out of the shelter, so that he could get special loving treatment at home, so that he can get well enough to be transported to a regular foster home. Debora---we THANK YOU with all our hearts!

Here's Deb's update on how Duncan is doing:
Duncan`s appetite is better this afternoon got about 800 calories of people food into him.In small amounts. He seems happy to be fed by hand the good stuff.He doesn`t seem to want Puppy Chow with wet food right now. I just want it to be as easy as possible for him to eat ,his nose ( and mine ) is so congested ..poor baby is coughing like crazy. He is a true southern gentleman, he is not spitting every where!!! He shallows it so I`m sure that is why he doesn`t feel like eating. Very common with people also when they have drainage that runs down. What I see on occasion run out is either clear or white. He is drinking good and sniffs around outside when we go out. He is affectionate. His eyes are clear no green drainage.He has only pooped one time since he has been here.. big but only one.. He has not had any vomiting. He stool is loose from eating canned and different food than he is used to to but he does not have diarrhea. I think he knows now that I know he is sick and he is trusting that he will be handled gently.

He is crate trained.. no issues there. He is easy to walk on a leash. Just a very wonderful dog. I didn`t know anything about him until Delana called me when he was HW pos and sick. I said I would take him to get him out of the shelter.. if we didn`t have 7 dogs I would be begging you to let me keep this guy.. I would pay you to keep him, he is that sweet. You are going to love him and so is the family that finally gets him. You couldn`t ask for a more beautiful boy either. Deb