Arizona Golden Rescue

23-004 Oakley , a 14-month-old Goldendoodle, came to  AGR  because his owner was facing a divorce and child custody proceedings and could no longer afford the dog’s care, nor did he have time to pay much attention to  Oakley . As is typical of Golden- doodles,  Oakley  is needy and loves attention. He lived in an apartment, so he was always either in a crate or  on leash.  Oakley  had been enrolled in a 2-week board-and-train program by his original owner, so he had been taught sit, stay, down, come, heel. But when exposed to another dog, he forgot all that and just wanted to play. One of the resident dogs in the first home we placed him in just could not accept  Oakley’s  enthusiastic personality. So,we moved him to a foster couple's home for fostering. They love the Doodles – they’ve adopted two from  AGR  and have fostered several for us. They really liked  Oakley ! The foster mom said: 

He is so sweet and loving and not an aggressive bone in his body. Loves other dogs and people. He has lots of puppy energy but loves walks and running around the yard with  Bentley  or chasing balls. He’s sleeping in a crate in our room and goes right in, zero issues. No inappropriate chewing issues but he loves to destroy stuffed animals. He’s a cuddler! 

An adoptive family in Surprise agreed to take a chance on  Oakley . They had previously ac cepted  23-007 Ziggy  as a foster.  Ziggy  is quite a bit smaller than  Oakley , whom they renamed  Obi , but he is fearless and not intimidated with  Obi’s  larger size. The adoptive mom reported that  Obi  would get over-riled up when playing and was exhibiting typical untrained puppy behaviors such as nipping and ignoring commands. So we  asked the vet to evaluate the behaviors. She then prescribed fluoxetine, an anti-anxiety med, which has helped. We also referred the family to work with a recommended behaviorist and the situation has improved remarkably with the behaviorist's assistance.