Rover Update

We’ve had a great time 

getting to know Rover these last ten days. We decided to foster him here in Sewanee so he would be ready for the 4th of July Mutt Show. This English Setter mix has infused us all with his zest for life and his desire to please. As those of you who attended the Mutt Show know, Rover is quite the cutie and pretty darned well behaved for a dog who’s been at the shelter for so long.

 After the Mutt Show many have stopped us to ask if Rover was adopted as a result of his good performance at the dog show. The popular consensus was ultimately positive. People really like Rover and Rover likes them. But so far no one has adopted him.

 To many of us this just doesn’t make sense. Rover has everything it takes to make a great family dog. He’s great in the house, is housetrained and very clean, likes his crate, loves people of all ages, including toddlers, gets along better with other dogs than most people. His sanguine personality is a ray of sunshine in the household. He’ll even dance for a hot dog. He almost never barks, even around our loudmouth aussie Monk.

Rover is young, about 1 ½ years. He runs like the wind and loves to chase balls and Frisbees. With his kind of speed and his lightweight body he’d be a shoe-in for flyball or agility. He has the temperament of a therapy dog, though he still gets excited in a crowd. With age and training you could take this dog anywhere. He is also a natural bird dog, full of English Field Setter blood. We’ve seen him track, point and flush birds out of boughs behind the School of Theology. Image what he would do in the field. Because of this bird hunting drive, Rover needs to have a fenced yard, as he will run a very wide circle in search of birds if you let him, but he always comes back just as you decide he’s made a break and headed for Cowan. This means that if you have chickens and the like, he wouldn’t be the dog for you

 Since he’s been at our house he has learned to sit, down, and come to his name. He got in my one man kayak with no problem and sat bold upright as we paddled all over Lake Cheston. He knows how to swim too, but doesn’t volunteer yet. At first he was afraid to get in the car, now he’s the first one in, even before our weimeraner Pearl, who will run to the car when she hears the sound of it unlocking and sit waiting for me to open the door. Last evening we walked the campus and met with many young writers, all of whom were taken with Rover’s affability. Even surrounded by young adoring women, Rover kept his feet on the ground, never jumping on anyone. He drank up the attention they showered on him, his long whip of a tail supercharged with wag after each encounter. He’s learning not to charge out the door and if I tell him “easy” and I can now carry a cup of coffee in one hand, a leash in the other and arrive at my destination with coffee intact. This is a lot of progress for 10 days.

 Rover still needs a home. Our home is too small for three dogs full time and we don’t have a fenced yard. As much as we love Rover, three is a crowd. He would be happier with a family with children, happier with lots of room to run. Is Rover the dog for you? For more info about Rover please see Animal Harbor’s page on Petfinder.