SF Dog Blog: Back to the dog days of summer

It's good to be back from vacation! While I was away, I had to get my dog fix from the puppies prancing on the beach in Ocean City, MD, and from Cameron, a black Lab retriever adopted from the shelter in Denton, TX, who now lives with Dottie, his human, in Rockville, MD. Look for an exclusive post-adoption follow-up interview with Dottie in this space in December...

After spending some quality brother-sister time on the East coast last week and hanging out with 2 of my favorite brother-sister Siamese cat adoptees, there were 2 brother-sister boxer/mix puppies, Steffi and Andre, waiting to greet me here at the SF/SPCA. OK, maybe they weren't really waiting for me per se, as they were sound asleep the whole time, but they're here, and they're beautiful!

Launching right back into my exercise program, I walked/ran Travis. He's a pleasantly fiesty 1-year old Hound/mix. Right now he's roommates with Sweet Pea, featured here back in June. Getting ready for his walk, Travis was basically bouncing off the walls. I rewarded him for each successful "sit" and eventually leashed him up. Continuing this anti-jump training will be crucial to Travis' future success in his new home, wherever that may be. He definitely knows how to sit--he just requires the repetition to positively re-enforce the behavior. But he's on the right track. And he already gets along fine with other dogs, as evidenced by his abstaining from leash-pulling or uttering a peep when we passed various other dogs in and out of the shelter. He's very affectionate with people as well as dogs, and he practically purrs when you pet him...Travis is an all-around sweet guy!

Photo evidence, exhibit A...Going in for the kiss:

Also affectionate in his own way is Harvey, a black and white Lab retriever/Border collie mix featured here last month. Happily, Harvey's now an Academy dog, complete with his own trainer who works with him daily on behavior and advanced training, so he's steadily improving. He "checked in" occasionally during our walk, looking up and making eye contact with me, but the Border collie in him urges Harvey to scan the horizon continually for objects and beings to herd. While he didn't lunge at any dogs we passed, he is in our dog-reactive category simply because he loves to herd, corral, and cordone off other dogs. He's a social butterfly like Travis, happiest around people and other dogs. Harvey is 5, but he could easily pass for a young pup of 1 or 2 years on account of his energy level. And yet here he is, sitting like a lil' angel (after some proper exercise, of course).