| MEET: KOVU |
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| STATE: PA
AGE: 5 years DOB: Unknown WEIGHT: 61 lbs SEX: Male NEUT/UTD: Yes/Yes COAT COLOR: Fawn DOCKED TAIL: Yes CROPPED EARS: No CHILDREN UNDER 4: No CHILDREN OVER 4: teens + SEPARATION ANXIETY: No OTHER DOGS: Yes CATS: Yes CRATE TRAINED: Yes HOUSE TRAINED: Yes LEASH TRAINED: Yes OBEDIENCE TRAINED: Basics MICROCHIPPED: Yes ADOPTION FEE: $320 ( includes $20 microchip fee) |
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| UPDATE 8/14/10 - Kovu is a wonderful dog with our family. He continues to struggle with strangers coming near him. We think he is up to 14 people that he allows to touch him. The thing that is amazing is that out of the 4 immediate family members Kovu will allow us to do anything to him. He now rolls on his back to get a belly rub. He is just wonderful as a family pet. He is loved so much here. We just know that we need to be careful with him when we have visitors.
I am also a foster home. With our last foster I decided to see how Kovu would be to be the first of our 3 dogs to meet and greet the new dog. As I thought, he was wonderful....he is great with animals and enjoys their company. We have now decided that he will be the first greeter for all incoming fosters. He is very kind to the newbies but he also keeps them in line. We could almost rename him to "Sargent". Kovu was brought to us through fate. We were not looking to add to our family but there was something about him.....the way he moved into our home and "claimed" my family as his....Kovu is where he needs to be. He is enjoying life. 5/13/10 - Kovu has been adopted! 4/5/10 - We had Easter dinner at our house yesterday. A total of 14 people (no children other than my own)...... The plan was to put Kovu in the bedroom to keep him away from the guests while we wait the 6 to 8 weeks for the prozac to do its thing. I tried....I put his crate in our room and turned on some relaxing music. Kovu wasn't having it. So I brought him out with everyone and told them to ignore him and DON"T touch him. He did better than I had expected him too. One person did reach for him and then changed their mind and pulled their hand away quickly, which did cause him to snap.......it was just a warning, and he wasn't trying to "get him"....so one of his triggers is definitely things/hands moving quickly.... Other than this minor issue, he was extremely well behaved, and I think he actually enjoyed being with everyone and my other two dogs showed him how to greet everyone and get some lovin'. He would go under the table and lay there. At the end of the gathering. Kovu was allowing people to give him a scratch as long as they went "SLOW" he was perfectly fine. I think the prozac is definitely getting him over the hump....when people were leaving we had NO ISSUE with him going after them as they went out the door. I love this little guy......he wants to do the right thing and you can see him looking to us for guidance.....I believe he is learning that he can trust us when we say that it is ok........two steps forward, one step back......All the dogs then fell asleep for the rest of the night, they were worn out! 3/30/10 – Kovu started Prozac about 3-1/2 weeks ago. I am told that it will be 4-6 weeks until we see the full transformation that the medication can do. So far we have had a positive turn-around. On Saturday (two weeks into the medication), we had a person come into our home to do some work. I kept my eye on Kovu and he was better behaved. Kovu had a couple episodes of “scared” barking at the stranger. I told him to stop a couple times and then put him in his crate when he refused to do what I was asking. This solved this problem and he settled down. I would then leave him back out after a bit. I would repeat this as necessary. By the end of the day, the worker was able to give him a scratch. Kovu needs a lot more time than other dogs to warm up to new people in the home….(even if they are returning guests). He seems to sense people that are more unsure of how to approach him and this can set him off, but so can being too fast with the hand. He does much better with the approach of “No Eye Contact, No Touch” – this way he will come up to the stranger when he is ready and then get a good sniff and then let them know when he is ready. Easter is coming and I am due to have a houseful of guests. Kovu will be spending Easter in our bedroom with his crate and some music playing. He can’t handle more than a couple strangers in the house at a time. Maybe when the dinner is over and most of the guests go home, I will bring him out to see how he does….he will be on a leash, just in case. On the positive side, Kovu has been greeting other dogs on the trail where we walk. I walk both my Boxers on one leash with a coupler that splits into two for the dogs. He has been well behaved in this area. I really think that the person that adopts Kovu should already have a well-behaved, stable dog at home. Kovu thrives in this situation. I often find him looking for my Boxer boy and he is happy to just be with him. This dog is just a love…..he wants to love and wants to be loved. He loves to talk to us first thing in the morning and his tail is going like crazy…..he is still learning his boxer wiggle but he does his best! He needs time and patience. We have had him for 3 months now and his personality is still immerging. I don’t know what this poor boy has gone through in his first 5 years of life but he deserves the best life has to offer. He needs a furever home that is patient and kind but will not let him get away with doing as he pleases. 2/16/2010 – Kovu continues to be a really good boy for us as a family. We refer to him as our circus dog the way he jumps and spins in the air. In the past week he has started to play with toys. He now gives occasional kisses to family members. Kovu continues to be excited as the family arrives home throughout the day from work and school and is in the middle of the mix saying “Welcome Home – we all missed you”. We are trying to work on the one thing that is Kovu’s issue and that issue is that somewhere along the line he learned the phrase we all teach our children…….”STRANGER DANGER!!!” He is very scared of new people and it does take him a long time to settle in. We do allow him to go with the other dogs to the door depending on if and who we are expecting. “Any physical behavior requires learning and practice to perfect. Each step a dog makes on its own is a step learned and accessible to them the next time they need it.”(Taken from the Fearful dog blog). We practice “No Touch, No Eye Contact” when people come in. We are working with returning guests to give him “special” treats as they come in and this has been working out well. We are hoping that he will learn from the resident dogs that visitors are awesome and always welcome into our home. He does get a leash put on when we have visitors and must stay with me until his demeanor calms. At this point he can say hello but we are trying to teach him to keep “four on the floor”. After his “hellos” he is asked/told to lie down next to me where I keep an eye on him during the rest of the visit. Kovu gets along with the 2 resident dogs and the cat. He is just the greatest little guy – sometimes we call him “Peanut” because he is the smallest of the three dogs. He just wants to be loved. Kovu needs to be with someone who can handle stubbornness and can be a strong leader. He needs someone that will not allow him to ignore commands. There are times I call him and he tries to pretend that he can’t hear me so I have to go and get him and bring him to the spot where I had called him too. I learned that he does trust me and allows me to roll him backwards onto my lap while watching tv. I do this by sitting on the floor with him…..I sit with my legs open and Kovu would sit in between my legs facing away from me. I grab his front legs and pull him backwards into my lap…sort of like cradling an infant to one’s chest…..he just glides back and lets me hold him when he gets to heavy I just slide his hips down and let his head on my leg. I was really surprised that he allowed/trusted me enough to stay so calm; my dogs would have gotten upset and fought to get off their backs….. He continues to be a great sleeper. Even with all this snow not allowing us to get out and walk with the dogs, he sleeps while we watch evening tv and then I have to wake him to head back to the bedroom for the night. He curls up in his bed and each dog is covered with their own blanket. He sleeps until the sun comes up! 2/4/10 - 2/3/10-Kovu is on a hold for being adopted right now. He has been having some behavioral issues with anyone but his foster family. We are trying to work through these problems so he will be able to be adopted. 12/31/09 - Hello - Kovu here - I can't wait to tell you everything I have done and learned in the last week. This last week has been wonderful. I have settled in with the family and made friends with the two resident dogs and the cat (I think the cat and I are only acquaintances not friends). I get to play with the boxer boy but the cranky old Rottie just wants to lay around, so I just say hello to her every so often as I pass by. She seems to like that I leave her alone, but every so often I will lay with her and share her bed.....she doesn't mind. I like to be around other dogs. It just takes me some time to warm up to them. I went for two walks since I have been here. FM says if the weather would cooperate we could do a lot more walks. FM says I am the best little guy on a leash. I love to walk.......the first walk was 5 miles. That made me tired, but I had so much fun looking at all the squirrels and other dogs that I didn't complain. The next walk was only 4-1/2 miles. That was the perfect walk, I walked with my fur-brother and met a fur-cousin that walked with us. I did not show any fear towards the new dog. We all just did our thing and enjoyed ourselves. I went to the vet. When I got there, FM said I was doing so well. I started out trembling but calmed down as we waited. Then this big, mean snarling dog came out and was looking for trouble.....I was so scared, I started trembling again. The doctor said I am a handsome boy. She said I am definitely a bit scared but that is understandable and that I should settle down in a bit. I just need some consistency. I loved my car ride!! And happily greeted everyone when I got back home. I am currently learning to sit and wait for my food to be put down and be dismissed to go and eat (I almost have this mastered). I can sit on demand. I am learning "down". FM always has to pull my front legs to get me to go all the way down. Stay is my downfall when I can't see FM .......I can't help it, I MUST know where she is! I can stay if I can see her though. I am also learning to sit and wait to say "Hello" to the family when they come home from work or school. I have not learned to wait to say "Hello" to guests because I am still nervous with new people ,so I prefer to stay further away from them. I am a dream on the leash. I now sleep in the bedroom at night on my own bed . I sleep through the night and make only "sleeping" noises. I also like my crate. Sometimes I go in there with the door open just to take a nap or watch FM prepare dinner and wait. I do bark a bit when FM leaves....no worries, I am just barking "good-bye" and then curl up and go to sleep. Some of my favorite foods are: of course my kibble, then cat kibble (I get yelled out for eating that), then treats, and finally SNOW! I just love snow, I eat it by the mouthfuls.....the best news is that it snowed again today.....Yeah, more snow to eat!!! Thanks, for reading about my adventures, why don't you adopt me and let me entertain you and your family! I promise, I am the one you are looking for. 12/24/09 - Kovu arrived at our home late last night. Last night he was a scared little dog. Today he is really warming up to us. Amazing what a good night sleep can accomplish. He slept through the night and I only heard a whimper every so often. I got up this morning and gave him breakfast. He is a little thin, so we will work on putting a couple pounds on him. Kovu spent the this morning at the "spa" getting cleaned up. He got a nice bath, and let me tell you, what a wonderful little guy! He was so well behaved during his bath and while being dried off. He then had his nails trimmed. Again, I thought that there was no way this guy was going to let me clip his nails, but Kovu sat with his FD while I trimmed away. Of course what spa treatment is complete without a nice little doggie cookie! He has meet is two fur siblings and everyone is getting along. I will continue to feed Kovu in his cage just to be safe for the next couple days. According to the owner who surrendered him, Kovu is good with small kids and we're waiting for them to send the paperwork showing that he's up to date on his shots. This guy could be ready to go sooner than later! Get your apps in now! |
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