Charlie is a loving, happy-go-lucky, five and a half year old neutered lab mix. He has the kind of tail that goes “thump, thump, thump” when he wags it against your chair or the floor – you will hear that sound a lot! He loves to be petted, and getting his back scratched might be best of all.

Charlie weighs 81.5 pounds and is up-to-date on all vaccines and heartworm prevention. Charlie came to House of Hounds because his elderly owner was hospitalized with a serious illness and was unable to continue caring for Charlie.  Charlie is well house-trained, responds to some commands, and walks very well on a leash. He is food-motivated and eager to please. Charlie is accustomed to living with cats and does very well with them.  He also seems to like most dogs. On walks, Charlie is eager to meet other dogs but he’s also cooperative if asked to ignore them. He even likes the yappy neighbor dog that set off all of my other foster dogs. Oddly, when riding in the car, Charlie sometimes barks at dogs he sees on the sidewalk—but he doesn’t do that on walks.

Charlie needs an hour of exercise every day (e.g., going for walks, playing fetch, playdates w/other dogs). He doesn’t “self-exercise” in the backyard; once he’s cleared out the squirrels, which takes about 5 seconds, he’s ready to come back inside unless you are in the backyard too. He likes to be challenged with mentally stimulating tasks, like puzzle toys. Because of his size and exuberance, Charlie is probably too much for families with small children. The first week in his foster home, Charlie was hyper at times and wanted to be with his foster mom all the time. After a week, he relaxed a lot. He may need some time to adjust in his new home as well. At his foster home, Charlie has been working on not putting his paws on his person, and not being mouthy. He is doing well on these things and will need continued consistency in his new home.

Charlie came to House of Hounds with a DNA chart that lists one grandparent as a Labrador Retriever and another as a Lab mix, a third grandparent as an Australian Shepherd, and the fourth grandparent as a cross between American Staffs Terrier and Chow Chow.

Here are a few things I’ve learned that help keep Charlie feeling secure and relaxed:

Sleeping in bed with his person at night

Resting in his dog bed right next to his person, when his person is busy working at the computer (he has a nice dog bed that he will bring with him)

Getting a toy and holding onto it while I pet him and scratch his back

All animal breeds and ages are a best estimate