Rocky Ashwood

THE MOST FABULOUS HOME (OCTOBER 2018)

Rocky is an 11yr old Golden Retriever from Eire who has fallen firmly on all four of his paws.

He was fostered by Patrick, our wonderful serial adopter of senior citizens, and his lovely Mum so it came as no surprise to anyone when we heard Rocky was going nowhere else.

He had already found his dream home wirh recently adopted Norma and the rest of the lucky dogs who make up the Ashwood gang.

ROCKY’S DREAM HOME

Rocky is a beautiful dog with a massive heart and a lot of love to give. Everything he does is done with vigour and extreme enthusiasm! 

He would ideally suit a home where someone is around most of the time to entertain him.

Despite his advancing years, due to his sheer size and boisterous nature, he would not be suited to a home with young children, frail adults or small moving pets. 

 At the moment, without a lot of further training, Rocky would not suit a town environment where he is required to walk on a lead.

PERSONALITY

Patrick said of him “Rocky is a beautiful soul with a lovely funny character. He is simply adorable, confident, playful, happy, alert and inquisitive. He is not a “Rocky” at all.

He is a strong, boisterous and energetic energetic boy who is larger than life in every way. He does everything with great pace and enthusiasm and, in the right home with enough space, will thrive and become a wonderful addition to the right household.

Rocky loves his people and is more fussed by being with you than with other dogs.

He loves to run, explore and be free and is never happier than going for a walk around the fields and then coming in to play with his toys”.

HEALTH

Rocky seems to be in good health. Both his eye and ear conditions are now much improved. Ear infection but clearing up   Conjunctivitis but now much better  

He is physically strong as an ox and can move like the wind when in pursuit of something such as a cat, fox or squirrel!! 

However, he does really struggle on certain floor surfaces and his new owners would need to make special provision for this. He has been fine on carpet, non slip poly floor and non slip floor tiles but has got very stuck on Karndean and a slate floor and, once stuck, he really panics and is very unwilling to be helped up. He did not show aggression but was clearly panicky and grumbled when I tried to ease a towel under him. In the end, he crawled on his belly out of the room until he was on a more grippy surface. It will, therefore, be necessary for his adopter to provide rubber walkways or non slip vet bed for him to walk on.

 I am unsure how well he hears as he only responds if he is facing you and can gain eye contact. As with many older dogs, Rocky does not cope well with tight turns or small spaces. He did follow me into the toilet but could not turn his big frame round and got stuck.

SOCIAL LEARNING

TRAVEL:  He is happy and content travelling in a vehicle and is very keen to see what is going on around him. He does, however, struggle to get in the car and is not willing to be helped up. I feel he would benefit from a ramp and I will now start to encourage him up it with treats as it clearly looks too scary at the moment!. 

HOUSETRAINING:Rocky is very clean in the house

BASIC TRAINING:He seems to have had little if any training in the past and has zero recall. Any future training would need to be adapted to suit his age as too many sit to stand, lie down etc would challenge his mobility. However, I do believe he could be trained as he is very food orientated and I have managed to get him to sit for a treat.

I am, as yet, unsure if he actually hears well as he only responds when facing you and can gain eye contact.

LEADWALKING:   He is very strong  and pulls using a slip lead, halti or harness.

RESOURCE GUARDING:  He shows no evidence of resource guarding and will only chew paper items that he can get hold of, like most Retrievers.  

SEPARATION ANXIETY:He is fine to be left for a short while (he will generally bark for a bit and then settle down) but Rocky is always really glad when you come back to him and he will greet you with a lovely happy face and, of course, his favourite toy in his mouth.

His pet hate is being able to see his people and not being able to get to them ie through a window or a stair gate and this drives him quite mad (he will dance around and bark until he can get to you and have a cuddle!).

ADULTS:    He is very friendly

CHILDREN:   Rocky has not been tested with children

DOGS:    He is friendly towards other dogs  but he is really quite indifferent to them. He likes to say hello and then continue with whatever he is doing. He does, however, seem to like my elderly female Retriever Angel.

He isn’t really that interested in other dogs although he will sometimes approach a dog to say hello but, generally, he prefers to enjoy himself in his own lovely way and be left alone. He would be fine with calm relaxed dogs who would not bother him too much.

CATS:  He shows great interest in anything that moves fast be it a bird, cat, fox or squirrel and will rapidly take off after it. When chasing something in my fields, he will run it down relentlessly so he should never be let off lead unless it is completely safe to do so.