We adopted Oliver just about a year ago today, after he been cared for by his fabulous foster mom Beth McFadden, and he's made so much progress; we definitely wanted to share his success story!
Oliver (formerly Biscuit) is about two years old, and was surrendered to the Philadelphia SPCA because his former owners said that he 'couldn't be trained or housebroken.' He's deaf, and he has a few minor orthopaedic issues that affect his gait, and he definitely had some dental trauma early in his life -- his teeth are clean & healthy, but many are broken. House-training was never an issue ... he'll reliably ask to go out, and will go with the other dogs, too.
We had a rocky start with Oliver -- he didn't take to our resident Boston instantly, and is sometimes a little too much of a puppy for our 11-year old Schnauzer mix. We were patient and persistent, though, and after working with a great trainer, taking obedience classes with both terriers, and a LOT of love and tennis-ball throwing, we can't imagine our family without Oliver.
He now knows how to sit, lie down, wait and a few other things -- all with signs. So much for not being trainable!
He's such a busy little dog, and he's brought so much energy and entertainment to our home. He's definitely starting to grow out of being a puppy, but there are still times that we never know what he'll be up to next. He loves sleeping under the covers, and we often wake up and find that he's squashed himself between our pillows. He loves sitting on the screened porch with us, watching the other dogs play in the yard, but he's still not sure about spending much time outdoors. His best friends are our friends' 18 month-old son, and their 90-lb. German shepherd mix; it's fabulous to watch him play with Jonas (the baby) and Cooper (the shepherd).
We're about to move to a house with 3.5 acres, and are super excited to have more space for the boys to run and play!
We're including some pictures -- it's hard to catch him in some of his funniest moments, though!
Katie & Erin
