Date Adopted: March 31, 2017

Age at adoption:  1 yr2 months     DOB:1/5/16

We first met Zeke when he was just 8 months old.  His owners had left him at a shelter, saying they had tried to train him using a remote training collar but could not manage him.  He was one confused young dog and needed a lot of help.

One of our volunteers had lost her senior German Shepherd and was waiting for a young male; she offered to foster Zeke in hopes of eventually adopting him.  The first hurdle was passed when he met and was accepted by the other family dog, a female German Shepherd mix, Georgie.

After a few months, it became clear that love and good intentions were not going to be enough to turn Zeke into a well-mannered family member.  His foster Mom began attending obedience classes with Zeke at a training facility that works with all kinds of behavior issues.  In addition to these, he attended a “boot camp” during the day while she was at work and stayed with one of the trainers for a week.  He was gradually transforming from being mouthy, resource-guarding, easily startled and snapping at people, into the kind of companion he had the potential to be.

Zeke is no longer resource-guarding and shares toys and attention with Georgie.  He waits for permission to start eating after his food is set down, he’s walking on a loose leash and will go into a “down” on command when someone stops and wants to chat with his foster Mom.  He’ll continue to attend day school two days a week and evening class with his foster Mom once a week, for now.  As we know, the training at home never stops!  Zeke’s foster parents have shown that they are committed to helping him succeed and are ready to make his adoption official.  We are so pleased to introduce Zeke and to say that he has found his forever home.