Meet Rondo

We were dogless for a little over a week, but now we have this new guy.  The timing was actually brilliant because Chiquita was adopted on a Sunday, then my family arrived for Thanksgiving on a Tuesday and stayed for a week.  Then we picked up Rondo on Wednesday.  So while we were without a pup for a while, we avoided having to put one through the stress of having a lot of people around in a new environment.

Rondo was found as a stray and taken in by Animal Control in Manchester-by-the-Sea, MA.  Our group was able to save him on his last day at Animal Control, so we're really happy that we could be involved in saving this guy.  He's a little over 2 years old and pretty mellow.  He's part Pit Bull, part Great Dane.  Apparently that means you get a dog who's lazy and has a big head and big paws.  He's very gentle and just wants to be near you.  We're pretty lucky to have such a laid back guy.  We had no idea how much work Chiquita had been until we spent our first evening on the couch with Rondo on the floor sleeping soundly the entire time.

He's pretty well-trained already. He knows basic commands and even knows to go to his bed when we tell him to go lay down, which is awesome.

The only issues we've noticed are his disgust with crate training and he's not that great on a leash.  He's a big guy (about 60 pounds) and our crate just isn't big enough.  After struggling and eventually tricking him into the crate a few times, we decided it would be better for everyone if we gave him a room.  So we dog-proofed our office and when it's time for bed or if we need to leave the house, we put his bed in there with a blanket and toys and viola!  A happy dog with room to stretch, but safe from any bad situations.  This also alleviated some mild separation anxiety which we think was directly tied to the crate.  I hate to think of what happened in his past involving a crate.

As far as the leash training, well, we're working on it.  Dave's been training him in the yard and got him on a few brief walks. There is some improvement, but he's so strong and it's hard to regain his attention when he's been distracted.  I can't walk him at all yet.  Last night I just took him out on the front yard to look at our Christmas lights and he wrapped the leash around my legs and almost knocked me over.  But we're getting there.  We decided against the gentle leader and opted for a harness instead, since it worked so well for us with Chiquita.  Hopefully after some consistency with Dave, he'll be walking properly. The good news is that he's so lazy that he doesn't need hour long walks like Chiquita did.  We can get away with just playing fetch in the back yard and he's completely worn out.

If you'd like to adopt Rondo or know someone who could give him a good home, visit All Dog Rescue for information.