We adopted Schatzi about eight months ago when he was just a couple weeks over a year old. When I think back to those first few weeks and look at where he is now, it’s amazing! He had many fears (even to the rustling sound of his food bag), but now he’ll even get within three feet of me when I’m vacuuming! I tutor full-time in my home, and he quickly learned that I would allow him to alert bark each time a new student came in, but then he had to be quiet behind the gate in the kitchen while I tutored. (The student and I sit right where he can see us the whole time.) He still is a bit of a challenge when we have visitors at other times of the day, and he’s not behind the gate, but we’re working on it!
Schatzi has been to obedience classes and has earned the Good Citizen Award. At Christmas time, he traveled to Virginia with us, which included visits to the homes of our children/grandchildren, staying in a motel, etc., and he adjusted beautifully. Recently we took our first camping trip with him. I wasn’t sure how he would do in the confined area of the trailer, but he behaved wonderfully, even with the other dogs and different people that were around when we were outside. The most fun we had with him on the camping trip was when we attempted to play tennis while he was in the court with us. Of course, he thought he had to chase every ball because we play with tennis balls a lot with him at home. We had to stop after a short time because we didn’t want him to get overheated, but I wish someone had video-taped it! While we were playing, a lady came over who had recently had to have a lab put down, so we told her about Rudy’s!
Schatzi is definitely a retriever. When we play with him, he usually will put at least two toys in his mouth at once. Outside he can hold a stick, a Frisbee, and a rubber bone in his mouth all at the same time! One day he was barking furiously at the ground outside. When I went out to see what the problem was, I found a poor, little, petrified bird who must have fallen out of a nest, opening and closing his mouth, while this huge lab barked three inches from its beak. Schatzi didn’t hurt it though; I rescued the bird on a piece of cardboard (to put it outside our fence), and Schatzi settled down immediately.
We adopted Schatzi a couple months after we had had to put our two older dogs down for two different types of cancer. Because Schatzi is so much younger than our two older, thoroughly trained dogs were, we’ve definitely had challenges; at times, he can act like a rebellious teenager. However, there’s no question he’s firmly entrenched in our home! A special thanks to Rudy’s and his foster family (who gave us tons of support through the first few months) for giving us this opportunity!
