Bentley

Bentley is a gorgeous 3 year old, neutered male, Golden Retriever. He received all the vaccinations necessary to travel to the UK and was groomed before leaving Eire.                                                                    

PERSONALITY
Diane, his fosterer says of him “Bentley is a very needy dog. When he came, he was very nervous of sudden movements or noises to the extent that he would run away, pushing past to either get to someone or to get away from something which was sometimes a problem as he is quite strong.

Bentley would cower if you raised your voice to him but, if you are sitting, he will be a regular Retriever and will try and put his paws on your lap ready to climb up

After a couple of weeks, he was still nervous particularly with sudden movements and noises but mastered going into the garden, as long as either myself or Tim were with him.  A bird flying out of a bush was enough to send him running back inside.  He still would not enter the garage or the shed even when we were in there.  He would shrink away and run back into the house.

After even more time with us, he is still nervous at sudden movements and noises but does not pull as hard when he jumps. He is starting to relax a little more each day and is becoming more inquisitive of new things although he is still wary of new places.   He still will not enter an enclosed space, garage or shed but he does accept the garden now and will happily be outside with his toys as long as the back door of the house remains open and he can see us”.

HEALTH
Bentley is in very good health

SOCIAL LEARNING BASIC TRAINING: He seems to be quite well socialized and trained in basic commands. He is responding to the “sit” command very well and is getting better at “stay” and “leave”. 

He is still not interested in playing ball games e.g. fetch.  He does however, sometimes bring you his cuddly toys if you ask him to. 

TRAVEL: He is happy and content travelling in a vehicle. 

HOUSETRAINING: Bentley is house-trained.

GROOMING: Bentley loves to be brushed but does not like to have his back end, back legs or tail touched and will sit down to stop you from touching him.  He has been bathed and doesn’t mind shampoo or water.   

LEAD WALKING: Bentley loves his walks, generally three a day, although he has to be on his Halti because he is still so strong.  He tries hard to remove the Halti, particularly in the first 15 – 20 mins of the walk or when he sees another dog. 

On seeing another dog, he now pulls really hard to get to them and pants heavily which is off putting to other dog owners.  When he does get to them he is still nervous and will stand very still while the other dog sniffs him.  Bentley is really more interested in the owner. He is ok with my daughter’s Shih Tzu puppy of 4 months even though the puppy will constantly try and pull Bentley’s tail or nip his legs.  When outside, they walk well together. 

RESOURCE GUARDING: He shows no evidence of resource guarding.  He eats well  but very quickly.  He will allow us to take his bowl from him before he has finished eating.    

SEPARATION ANXIETY: There were some signs of separation anxiety initially. He cried in the first week at night but is sleeping well at night now and doesn’t cry any more.  He seemed to be more settled with a nightlight on at night.

Bentley has ripped holes in his bed at night and, now, having totally destroyed his cushion bed, we had to say goodbye to the remains. We find this strange as he always has his toys and chews at night to keep him occupied and he has a night light.

He has also chewed a few other bits but this is mainly when he is on his bed at night.  He has also started to reach up on to the kitchen work surface to take things, mainly food and has enjoyed a few extra Christmas treats!

In his second week of foster, Bentley made some good progress during the day.  I can now leave him alone for up to 2 hours, with his new cuddly toys for company and the radio on.

He is still happy during the day to be left alone as he knows now that we are always coming back to him.  On our arrival, he is extremely happy to see us and will run around the garden, which he was nervous about on his arrival from Ireland. 

He has become a lot more used to the garden and will take his toys or chews out and lie on the grass on his own.  We can now shut the door and he will stay quite happily for 5 minutes on his own.  He then comes to stand by the door to be let in. 

ADULTS & CHILDREN: He is very friendly with both adults and children. Bentley loves all people with no preference to male/female and has enjoyed lots of cuddles over the holiday period. Diane says “He has made an attachment to me mainly as I am the one that walks/feeds/cares for him the majority of the time but I do not think that there would be a problem in a forever home with male or female owners”. 

He soon showed himself to be happy with older children of perhaps 10 years plus.  Any children under that age would be at risk of being accidently knocked over as Bentley is so focused on getting somewhere he has a tendency to push. 

He is still being good with the grandchildren but when out walking, if we come across mothers with children or pushchairs, Bentley will pull to get to them, expecting stroking.  He is a big dog for small children and has to be held back.  However, he has stopped trying to put his paws up on the grandchildren’s shoulders – a little child training being helpful with that!  He is still pushy in company and wants to push his head into people for stroking, which he always gets! Bentley had a good Christmas and enjoyed having even more people around to love him 🙂 

We had visitors of varying ages and he was good with everyone.  He has been out for walks with my daughter’s puppy and been fine, just walking along but with little interaction.  He has also been out with another Shih Tsu (female) and had no problems there either, still preferring interaction with the human! DOGS: Bentley needs more socialising with other dogs and prefers their owners. He is very interested in the owners of other dogs when we are out but will freeze when the dogs start to make contact although he has made some improvement recently He doesn’t play games but is fascinated watching other dogs play.  He has made friends with two Lab x brothers and we are sure he would love to run with them.

Diane says “Unfortunately, on a couple of walks during the last week, poor Bentley has been picked on by other dogs, nothing serious but off putting for him when he just wants attention from the owners.  It seems that small Terrier type dogs e.g. Jack Russells do not accept him and seem to find him a threat.   One particular Terrier was extremely aggressive and kept trying to get to Bentley’s legs and the Boxer dog companion was trying to get to Bentley’s rear. 

Fortunately, I walk with a stick and was able to keep both dogs away until their owner caught up with them.   Bentley was very good and didn’t respond with any aggressive behaviour.   I keep trying to find bigger dogs for him to interact with but, because of his pulling and excitability, some owners are put off from any ‘hello time’ which is a shame for him”.

CATS:  He barked once since arriving at a cat on the garden fence. 

BENTLEY’S DREAM HOME
Bentley is a lovely boy I but he would probably be better placed without any young, small children as he is so strong. He would probably benefit from living with an older couple or a family with older children who will give him a lot of loving attention and security.

JANUARY 2018

Bentley went to his forever home and first reports from his forever Mum, Christina, and Dad, Dave, are that Bentley is happy and settled and doing everything a healthy Golden Retriever is supposed to do.