Boomer

Boomer was found as a stray and spent about a month in a local shelter, where he was estimated to be about 12 years old and with some mobility issues—likely a mix of arthritis and a degenerative disorder—along with a skin condition. Like so many of the dogs who come into Old Dog Haven care, we don’t know his history or how long he was a stray but he is perfectly house trained and knows basic commands. He may have spent a significant amount of time kenneled as his teeth are very worn—possibly from chewing on bars.

Boomer’s move into his Final Refuge home was a little stressful at first as his only way of communicating a need or desire was through herding and nipping. Limited hearing likely played some role in that behavior as well as his breed mix, but with helpful advice and support from ODH and consistent obedience training (including a period of hand feeding) his people report that the behavior has curtailed significantly.  They tell us, “We think he can hear some things, though it does seem like his hearing or lack thereof is selective at times. So we’ve taught him basic hand signals, which he picked up super fast!” Boomer has his own little idiosyncrasies. His family tells us, “This fellow loves…and we mean LOVES…food. All. The. Food. Every meal, every time food appears he acts like he’s never eaten in his entire life! He’s also not a big fan of being physically manipulated, which makes visits to the vet super interesting. And by that we mean challenging. But the vet and techs have been wonderful with him and we make it work!”

His new-to-ODH family tells us, “Boomer is a sweet sweet pup and we simply adore him. He loves walks and his midday walk in particular.” While they’ve had to limit his activity a bit while they work out the cause of some front limb lameness, they say, “He’s a huge fan of attention and will keep motioning for more and more pets—he would love nothing better than to have you lay down with him and pet him non-stop! He’s also a huge fan of car rides—it does not matter where we’re going!” His people also recently discovered that he’s a bit obsessed with tennis balls and would play fetch all day if his body would allow it.

Thanks to your support of Old Dog Haven, Boomer has a new lease on life, a great vet team to care for him and a loving, attentive forever family to keep him engaged and as active as he can be. He also has a big basket full of toys that he visits throughout the day, pulling out new ones to play with and fling about in his ongoing quest to remove all the guts from them. And tennis balls…lots and lots of tennis balls!

Update:  After truly enjoying his new home, Boomer’s health finally failed him and he was sent on his way with so much love.  Boomer will be greatly  missed.