UPDATE: 1/22/13 GUNNY IS READY FOR HIS NEW HOME! He has done well here over the last few weeks. He loves our Golden and get along with most of the dogs. He is posturing a little with our Alpha boy. He does get possessive sometimes for our attention. He wants all the attention he can get. he likes to cuddle and will lay on our lap. He had discovered several toys he likes and will toss them around. he loves roaming the fenced yard, so I promised him (I know it sounds weird) a fenced yard so he he can roam all he wants. I can’s test him with children but we don’t see him acting out aggressively, but caution will need to be supervised for a while with small children. I busy household may make him nervous. He has adapted very nicely to his crate. He may get bored with daily long term crating but 4-5 hours would not be a problem. He reportedly would sometimes pee in the house, but not once here in 15 days.
I’m cute, but have a dark side
Gunner is 2 years old, still intact but will be neutered prior to placement. He is being re-homed due to he is getting more possessive about his ome. Basically he needs obedience training and socialization. He has not had much of either. He can sit, lay down, and several other commands but needs leash and recall work.
Because of his lack of experiences he puts on the brakes when going places sometimes, like to the vets. He has shown aggression/defensiveness to get his way which again is a sign of needing more experiences. He jumps on people when entering the house so he was gated off where he then gets defensive and nipped someone over the holidays. He did not break the skin but gave a nice bruise to some fingers. Due to this he will need a fenced yard and a home with fewer visitors. He will need a committed owner that will be willing to show him that the world is not scary. Gunny loves the water but not boat rides. He likes small dogs but we are not sure about larger ones. He is not yet in foster and is due to arrive on Sunday, 1/6/13, so we will know more once he arrives. He was hit by a car when he was young but shows no adverse reactions and likes care rides but not being left alone in the car. He is very loving to his family.
Our initial impression is that he neeeds a home where he can have room to approach at his own pace and learn some control on greetings.
UPDATE 1/21/13:Lily is ready ot be adopted. She needs a home where people are around the home most of the time as she gets a little insecure, or if she could go to work with he new owner, she would love that. She will definitely require an above average fence due to her Houdini like abilities to find her way out. Not to run away but to get back with er family. She has grown quite a bit confidence wise and is a super sweet companion when in her comfort zone. Quite the cuddlier. Still a little stand offish with men due to her past abuse.
I can be happy, I just need time to adjust and learn about you.
UPDATE 12/1/12
At home, Lily has blossomed into a super sweet, affectionate girl. She sleeps in bed with her foster mom every night and follows her around the house. She is clicker trained and has learned a miriad of behaviors includingsit, come, down, stay, leave it, wait at doors, touch and will ‘play dead‘. Lily is an avid learner and will do ANYTHING to make her person happy.While Lily has improved tremendously she does still struggle with seperation anxiety. Her crate must be completely secured or she will bust out of it. Any prospective adopters need to understand Lily needs time and patience to warm up to you.This process may take a week. Once you have earned her confidence, you will have the most loyal and devoted of companions. Lily needs a home with at least one other confident dog to help be her guide. Lily’s main phobia is of strangers so she would NOT do well in a city or somewhere where she would be meeting a large number of strangers in an uncontrolled environment. A home that has a lot of people walking by the house or a large number of visitors would be too stressful for this sensitive girl. Any potential adopters must be dedicated to taking positive training classes with Lily to help her become more socialized. Lily’s main goal in life is to be with her people as much as possible. Hence we would like her to go to a home where she can go to work (which she does with her foster mom) or a home where people work from home. Lily is still very much a baby and will celebrate her 2nd birthday on December 26th. She is spayed, heartworm negative and up to date on vaccines.
Lily is 2 years old and just got spayed and updated on her shots on 10/4/12. She is a VERY shy girl and reactive when afraid of something. She is just into the rescue program and her evaluation time will be slow as she has to learn to trust. She was never socialized and allowed to let her fears.anxieties fester to the point she is at now. She is loving with her old family but any new introduction would send her off in fear. If she feels threatened we think she may act out to protect herself, but has not bitten anyone.
So far, due to her history, she will require and at least 4 foot high fence as she will try to get away if scared. Because of her nature, we advise a quiet home, which would mean not a lot of new people coming and going. We would be cautious with children due to her fears, although there were kids in her first home.
We expect Lily will take a while to evaluate, amybe months. We will update on her as we learn more. She gets along with other dogs, so a confident companion would be good for her.
UPDATE 10/23/12
Now that Lily has bonded with her foster family, her true personality is beginning to emerge. She is a smart, silly, sweet girl who ADORES her family. She will snuggle on the couch, climb up in a lap and gives lots of kisses. She is also excellent at sitting on feet. With any visitors, she is still extremely fearful and can be mildly reactive. If the visitors completely ignore her and let her approach at her own pace than she will slowly warm to them and they may be able to even pet her. However, Lily could easily fear bite if she was chased or cornered. While she has made a lot of progress, Lily is still prone to panic attacks if she encounters something novel or different. While not destructive, Lily also has some separation anxiety. She wants to be with her people at all times and will try to escape her crate or the yard to get to her people. She can be left alone in her crate if it is secured tightly with clips.
Lily’s foster mom is a Veterinary Behavioral Technician who is working with Lily to gain confidence and the necessary coping skills to be a healthy, well behaved member of society. Lily is now clicker trained and knows sit, shake, down and to wait at doors. Lily is also on anxiolytics (anti-anxiety medication) to help her learn appropriate coping skills. She will need to be on these inexpensive medications for at least the next year. Lily needs a home that will be dedicated to continuing to work with her anxiety and slowly socializing her. Lily strongly looks to the other dogs in the household for cues on how to behave and will need to live with at least another confident, calm dog. She will need to be enrolled in positive training classes (preferably clicker). Lily is spayed, up to date on vaccines, and heartworm negative.
If you are interested in learning more about this wonderful, challenging girl, please e-mail fer foster Mom at [email protected]
Bodie came from IL and went directly to his new home in a pre-arranged home. He got to us with the help of several people willing to drop what they were doing and bring him all the way to us. Bodie is shy of men but will adapt with understanding and patience. He is a hansom boy that is about 18 months old. His old owner had to relocate and could not keep him with them. He is adjusting well going on lots of trips in the car with his new Mom and new buddy, Rockey.
Berkley has been with us a month, was intact and again, not to sure of men. She will turn 1 on Christmas day. She was returned to her breeder because, again the family had to relocate and could not take her. Berk was going to go to a home that we had placed with before but due to medical emergency reasons, the time was not right for adding another dog and not have the time for her. So she became available. The very next day we were contacted about an 8 month old boy named Parker. We arranged to get him that day, again with assistance of helpers. He was on craigslist and we wanted to make sure he did not fall into the hands of someone that might not have his best interests in mind. His owner had just gone through some hard times and wanted what was best for Parker and agreed to work with us.
I'm just so darn cute! Berkley
When asking for help in transport of Bodie and after it was underway, we were contacted by the family that adopted the 2 older heartworm infected dogs a few years ago, Eli and Caleb. Eli passed this spring. They were interested in Bodie but he was already on his way to his new home. So when we found out about Parker, I contacted them to see if he might fit. The timing was perfect and they wanted to adopt both Berkley and Parker. We could not ask for a better, caring home. So on Oct 26th, they will start their trek to Kansas with the help of a very dedicated helper, willing to drive them all the way to IL.
All these dog are an example of why we need to have applications on file. When the dogs don’t need much if any evaluation time, the placements go quickly, as they had homes prior to coming into foster or placement on this list. THis is why we advise to send the application, keep us updated that you are interested. The more we know about a home, the more we can understand what you are looking for and what will fit your lifestyles. When filling out the applications, feeel free to add any thing that will let us know you better. Picutres of the yard, playmates, all help us.
Bentley is a courtesy posting. He is currently in Cleavland Ohio. He is young, 1–2 years old found at a shelter. He will be neutered on 9/7. For more information call his foster Mom, Melinda at phone is 330-354-5138 and email is [email protected].
He will be available around Sept 10th after neutering. A re-homing fee to cover medical costs will be required at time of adoption. Bentley is good with other dogs and people, he is children friendly. A fence yard is preferred as he was found at a shelter and may have run away prior.
Here are some comments fron his foster Mom: I work at a community college near Cleveland in the Vet Tech department taking care of the animals they house for the labs (learning purposes only!) Two weeks ago we got our new round of dogs and cats for the year. I immediately fell in love with a Bernese mix we named “Bentley”. He is sweet, playful, kind, smart, and over-all a wonderful dog. He has been with me about two days now. He is a delight, very sweet, does not growl at any human we have come into contact with on (and there have been many since we live in the city) The only aggression I see in Bentley is towards my cat.
Great News!! T-Bone’s blood work has finally leveled to normal. So he is now ready to go to his new home but with the understanding that he will need to continue the treatment for another 2 weeks and then get retested 2 weeks after that to make sure the levels are holding.
T-Bone has a little different type of personality. He is very loving and cuddly, but can get snotty when there is a lot of excitement with the other dogs like when we arrive home. He gets into a fight with our Bruno and holds his own. He does not do this to the females we have had, so it mat be best that he go to a home with a female dog companion. He has also gotten a snappy a few time when we pushed him off because he was trying to climb up when not invited. He only did this a few times and we were not sure if it was related to pain or not as it was a few weeks ago. For this reason we want a home without small children. He is about 70 pounds and we expect he will stay about that size, so he will be a small Berner. We believe it may be from being malnourshied for so long. He is nicely marked. He has learned to play with toys and his best buddy is our Golden. He had a great time when we too him on vacation. Not a swimmer but learned that the water was nice to wade in.
Buddys!!!
UPDATE 6/11/12
T-Bone got neutered today and is doing well and up to 65 pounds. We have x-rays done and his hips look good. His spine looks better as the vets thing he has some sort of a spinal infection, and his reactions are mimimal now. He will have more bloodwork done Friday to see if we are making progress.
UPDATE 5/17/12
T-Bone will not be available for awhile. His medical issues will require long term treatment, up to 2 months. Feel free to contact us for more information as we will still be interviewing for potential homes.
T-Bone as we are calling him was found starving and turned into the pound. He weighed 38 pounds. It was thought he was 1.5 to 2 years old but we think he is more like 10 months.So we are picking his new birthday as Cinco de Mayo, May 5th, 2011. He still has puppy hair on his head and is not lifting a leg yet and not too developed. He is a very small Berner for a male. This may be due to malnutrition for an extended period of time. We don’t think he was on his own for log, so the neglect must have started in the old home. He knows sit,shake, speak and some other commands.
He is an affectionate boy and likes to crawl on our lap. He then falls instantly asleep as he finally feel safe. He is crate trained and seems to be housebroken. He was good with a small child but with his reactions to being startled or stepped on, small children might not be the best choice for him. Because of his being on the loose, he knows about running around, he he will require an above ground fence.
T-Bone likes other dogs but again if they touch him unexpectedly, he screams. He does not know how to play yet. We are hoping that he will relax with our gang and learn to enjoy himself. We got his medical reports back and he has Giardia and some sort of major infection. So we are getting him medication to start him on his treatments. His white count is very high, so we need to see if that comes down or find out why it is not coming down. He will need to gain about 10 pounds before we can neuter him, so we expect he will be here for a month or so, before he can go to his new home.
Update 3/20/12
What a difference 10 days make, His hips are feeling mush less boney and his spine is not so pronounced. He is a snuggler. We think because he has never had much attention, he loves getting on our lap. He is a wiggle worm though. He is still acting starved at feeding time. He has had a few accidents but is usually in front of the door as we missed his asking. He last few days he has even scratched on the door to go out.
UPDATE 4/6: Mr. “T” is improving and his blood values are getting better but still not right. We are hoping hey will continue to improve. He was negative for heartworms and negative in a tick panel. We will repeat his treatment for Giardia starting next week and then after about 1o days, have his blood done again. Because of all these tests, T-Bone will have a larger than normal adoption fee. But when done he will be set for a while on vet care, hopefully. He is learning to play with toys more each day. He will need a home that will let him come up on your lap and nap with his head under your chin, he loves that. We think he my be younger than first thought as he has gotten taller here. Plus he has gone from 38 to 51 pounds in less than a month, but he had a lot of catching up to do.
I really like it here, I feel so much better!!!
UPDATE 4/26/12: T-Bone has gained more weight and is over 55 pounds now. We also believe now his is younger than first thought, so we think he in just now about 10 months old. He has grown several inches since being here and just yesterday started lifting his leg. So we are changing his birthday to July 4th! What a better day to have a “T-Bone”! His blood levels are still off showing some sort of infection still. He is getting another blood test and other tests Monday 4/30. Due to his poor condition at arrival his vet bill are more than most. So his adoption fee will be more than normal. That amount is still unknown as a total as once we get the blood issues identified and resolved, he will need to be neutered. We feel we need to know what potential issues health wise before he is placed. We want his new home to be aware of any potential expenses in the future.
Lexi will be arriving into foster Monday, May 28th.
Lexi turned 3 on April 19th, so she is still young. She has spent her life either in a crate or tied to a tree. She has not seen a vet since puppy hood. Hopefully she will be HW negative. I will post a picture of her on our web site so you can see how pretty she is. Her story is that the owner finally decided he did not have time for her so he gave her to a lady with 2 Berners, and 3 is tooo much for her home. She has had her 5 weeks and she has really blossomed. All she wants is to be with the people which she had little of in the past. Follows her temporary Mom all over. She like other dogs and loves to play, that all I know though. So we will see how she does. IF she is reactive or T-Bone is too much for her, we may have to foster her somewhere else.
She is intact and nees to be spayed and brought up to date on all her shots. More to come……
Molly will be 3 this April. She is spayed, up to date on shots, and gets along with other dogs. She is a bit timid and seems to be weary of hands over head or coming at her from above. She is a little overweight and isa slower eater and is easily distracted when eating. She just came into foster on 2/23/12. She is now starting to play with the other dogs. We think she never really played before, so she is learning. She is playing chase but is a little scared when it comes to wrestling. She is scared of loud noises abd will not do stairs more than just a few, She will dig if she gets bored. She also sometimes eats stool.Molly would do well with a friend to learn to be more confident and due to her timid temperament and likes to spend time outside, she will need an above ground fence. We think the shock style invisible fence will frighten her as will the sound type warning. She is housebroken and like to be petted and cuddle once she has become comfortable with you. She is starting here after just a few days.Update 3-12-12Molly has become very loving and seems to like us. She loves our Golden and they play regularly. Molly also loves the outside, she will stay out for hours in the yard. That is another reason she needs a fenced yard at her forever home.Update 3/20/12Molly really loves being outside and will stay out all day in the shade and chewing on her bone. She is very content doing that. Shy is still shy but likes us, she seems to be hesitant about coming in, we think in her old home there might have been negative reactions which is why she is hesitant. She wants to play when we go out to her, she pounces and runs wanting us to chase her. She will do OK as an only dog but likes some company in the yard and will play with the golden as long as the others leave them alone.UPDATE 4/26/12: Molly has become a very happy girl and fits in well. We have come to the conclusion that she LOVES being outside. She is just happy out there. She plays with Abe and T-Bone, especially “T”. She wants and enjoys attention. She is not really that shy, she likes women but has become very attached to me.and want my attention. I think I am her first nice man and she, like Abe are finding the male attention new and enjoyable.Grass!! It just does not get any better!
I'm a very nice boy. I just get into trouble sometimes!
Adopted!!! 5/10/12 He now lives in Connecticut with his new Golden brother.
UPDATE 4/26/12 Abe is doing great. We have found toys that he CAN play with and not eat or destroy. He has really enjoyed being part of our family and getting attention when ever he wants it. We think that is new for him. He loves to play with T-bone, Molly and Charley our Golden. He still gets bored and will find something to chew on, so we have bones and such fo him to use. He will grab a pillow off the couch and take it outside to play tug with, so we have to “trade-up” to get it form him. Abe is a very loving boy and has really warmed up to me (Bruce) wanting to be with me all the time.
UPDATE 4/5/12 Abe definitely needs a home that can be completely puppy proof. He WILL eat/swallow things if given ANY opportunity. For this reason he should not go to a home with kids or laxidasical (like us) house keeping. He will very quickly grab anything he can swallow. If not controlled he WILL end up killing himself by eating something. When he can here his old owner said he had vomited up 4 kids socks, then that night here he did a 5th and 4 day later pooped out the matching sock. So 6 socks in just 1 day! He will just need a home that will give him the time he wants to be part of a family and a close eye if he gets bored. If he got lots of excersize her most likely would be tired and not get into as much trouble. He does like hard bones and hard toys, balls, soe he can have things to play with.
Abe turned 1 on March 15 and is still all puppy. He’s a big boy that has no clue on his size. He needs some basic training on rules and manners. He was given up because of these things and we are sure they can be easily corrected. In his old home we believe he was very bored with nothing to do because of the young children and his clueless of his size. He got into trouble being too rough and excited with small kids. He even ran through a invisible fence to grab a child’s fur coat wanting to play but scared the child and parents. Seeing a big black dog come running would concern anyone. He has been here for 4 days and is already dong better because he has playmates and has something to do. He is ver sweet and cuddly, wants to crawl on your lap, so you will need a lap that can support 110 pounds of love.
Abe will need a home without small kids or a home that in not puppy-proof. He will eat socks, towels, stuffed toys, at least he has in the past, maybe he was bored, maybe not. He will need an above ground fence since he has run through the invisible style. He will also need a friend to play with. He loves other dogs and plays well. He is crate trained, house broken and knows a few commands. He will grab food given the chance, also paper napkins or the like. He is very family orientated and likes to be in the same room, like most berners do.
Sophie is such an amazing dog! At nearly 4 yrs old, Sophie is house trained, crate trained, comes when called, and knows how to sit and shake. Her temperament is excellent and she would make a great therapy dog. She is good with kids although she may be too much for really small children. Through no fault of her own, Sophie has been bounced around from various homes and recently came into rescue when her previous family inherited a dog aggressive German Shepherd who was making her life miserable. Sophie has fit right in with her current foster home’s six other dogs without a single scuffle.
At just over 80lbs, she is the perfect size for snuggling on the couch and would love to keep you warm at night! Sophie is heartworm negative, spayed, up to date on shots and passed her vet check with flying colors. She went to the DKC show at Cobo and wowed everyone who met her. With all the chaos of a dog show she met everyone with a smile and a wag.
Sophie will make a wonderful companion. As you can see, she will make herself right at home.
Update 2/22/12 Ocoee blew her ACL and has now had surgery to correct it. So she is once again available, please contact the numbers below. Ocoee is now close to 2 years old.
Update 12/04/11, Ocoee has an injured knee and will need to be evaluated to see if any damage was done. So she will not be available until that has been determined.
Ocoee is not part of the HMBMD rescue program and this is a courtesy posting for the owner. The contact information to find out more about Ocoee is, Ann, e-mail is [email protected] phone; 616-866-7241
I'm so pretty, I like a quiet home without a lot of activity
Ocoee is a 20 month old girl, that is spayed and is housebroken. She does know some basic commands. She will do best is a quite home without small children. She is timid and needs an understanding family that will keep working with her on socialazation so she can become more outgoing in new situations. Due to her timid nature, for her security from running away from a stressful encounter, she will require a physical, above ground fence of at least 48 inches high. She is seeking a West Michigan home if possable so she can keep in touch and maybe she her from time to time.
