Nikki, now known as Charlie by the neighbourhood squirrels is doing very well. They appreciate the fact that he only chases them when in the backyard and no longer on his walks.

He is a big suck, cuddle monster, who has developed a rather refined taste in dog food, but could eat those in super large quantities.

He no longer sleeps in his crate, but on his memory foam, cushioned dog bed in the kitchen. He loves the cats, they tolerate him at the best of times. I think our cats are older, 10 years and up, and Charlie's enthusiasm is a bit much for them.

Charlie is starting his second and hopefully last treatment for the giardia
(needed to be repeated after three weeks of the first treatment). After the
second treatment he is going for his weigh in at the vet and another check to make sure the giardia is over. He has gained about 5 pounds, 3-5 more to go. He no longer obsesses about his food, unless it is in his snout (he ate something yesterday that I was trying to get out, with no success... the drop it command is a bugger to teach).

He sits, comes, walks easily loose leash and heel, stays when told. The "leave it" works in a controlled environment, this morning when he found a bacon wrapper (from garbage day) on his walk, the leave it worked somewhat.

He definitely is more trusting of other people outside the family, I don't think he knows for sure what to make of them. We are keenly observant of finding the medium of him slowly integrating and socializing and how comfortable he is, but taking him to the park, meeting other dog owners, etc. is helping a lot. He adores his rope and kong, better yet tennis balls (an obsession we are really trying to curb, as he will be single focused with nothing else mattering, but slow progress is made).

Charlie is starting his second obedience class September 19, he finishes his first obedience sessions this Friday. We think he will graduate, minus a few imperfections.

He also learned the new trick "find it" and loves car rides as he knows they mean hikes through the trails.

Update November '14

I thought I'd drop a line, as we passed the 3 month mark. We cannot believe we have had him for only 3 months, seems like he has always been with us.

Life is still a learning curve for him at times and there are some parts we really work with him intensively, such as ball possession (sometimes it really works well, other times, we have gotten a controlled nib from him, but we don't let him get away with it and proceed anyway with the ball ...
thus he is slowly getting it).

Our dog trainer comes by every so often still and guides us through it all, she is a great resource. He passed Advance group obedience class. He sits, lies down, goes to his bed, stays, leaves it (unless it is too valuable), does not run after squirrels anymore ... well, most of the time and most times comes, and he gives high 5.

He is a complete sweety, a big suck who adores affection and just hanging with us all. Loves to be groomed, he sees his grooming brush and will drop himself right in front of us all four legs in the air. We have jokingly realized that Charlie would make a rotten working farm dog, he does not like to get wet, he is not a morning dog (don't bug him before 7 am, we find him sleeping on his bed), he does not like the dark and he has very specific taste in dog food (no milk bones for his taste, he goes for the premium stuff only and Stella and Chewy for regular food). He has gained 12 pounds and the vet is happy with his weight.

He goes on his daily walks, the dog park is a huge hit (he has his friends there just like humans, rather comical to watch), and on most weekends he goes on the trail for a hike (see picture). He no longer attacks loud trucks, buses and joggers coming towards us (we are still working on cyclists and joggers approaching from behind ... there are a few people who I think might have had to have a change of underwear ... but it is getting better, plus he just gives warnings, he doesn't do anything, nonetheless we are working on it). A new trick ... he now sees school buses and trucks and sits down automatically waiting for a treat, as he did not chase after them, thus he believes he gets a treat, and there are a lot of school buses at 8 am.

Our Maine Coon Max and he have made their peace and they hang out together.

To all of you, thank you for getting him started, we just love him, even when he chewed through my leather pencil holder I had for 20 odd years.

Update May '15

As it has been almost a year (well July), we thought we'd give you an update on Charlie aka Nicki.

Charlie is doing well, he has developed into a bit of a princess, milk bones will not do, it is either the premium treats or nothing.

We don't know how he knows, but he knows when he is hitting the trails with us or when he is going on his regular neighbourhood walks.

We noticed that he is getting older, though he still loves the dog park, he is picky who he likes to play with and in parts we get the impression he prefers to hang out with us moreso than playing with his buddies, which was not the case for the first few months we had him.  We also knew it was very cold this winter that when he went for his morning or evening walks, after 20 min. he wanted to get back home (he usually goes an hour in the morning, 30 min in the afternoon and an hour in the evening).

None of us have any idea how he survived on his own, as he enjoys sleeping on his memory foam bed, only does premium food, hates walking in the rain (we get the sure we can walk, if you think you need to go for an hour walk look then), he is not fond of the dark at night either.

We also discovered his absolute favourite is deer and rabbit. There are subtle milestones in him, we sometimes only notice when others comment on it or we think look he did not do that last month.

He no longer sleeps in a crate, but in the office, which is close to our bedrooms on his orthopaedic bed, he checks every so often on all family members in the night. He is extremely affectionate and snuggly and sleeps with his belly up in the air, all four legs spread, head back and we get to see his set of teeth, kind of funny to watch. In the mornings that is how we mostly find him, he does not move before 0830 am, but come 0900 am he will tell you to grab the leash and it is time to go for his walk.

He also LOVES playing with the cats, who don't have the same appreciation at times, he treats them like dogs. Charlie is also much calmer, though he can get very excited/joyful about something, when he is in public he is much calmer, at ease in most situations, fewer things spook him.

Interestingly enough, one of my sisters who is a fire fighter, he has visited her a few times at the hall, where he gets showered with treats and attention, now he sees a fire truck and gets all excited, we ran into a fire crew on the street last week and he did not understand why we did not stop and say hi.

He knows his basic commands and does them remarkably well: "sit, stay, lie down, go to your corner, high 5, carry, heel" (he loves carrying his furry toys and when we go to the farmer market and he comes along he carries his buddy aka furry toy, it keeps him calm and out of trouble). As for the command "come"... the later, come he does know exactly what it means, and 80% of the time he comes, unless there is something better to do.

We do love him dearly and we also are fully aware that without your assistance, this would have never happened, thus thank you... we wanted to make sure you get to see the fruits of your labour, as I am certain you all get to see many things. (see pictures attached, we are getting a new garden gate, thus he had to be on a long leash when he hung out with us in the backyard, until the new door is installed this coming weekend, he loves hanging out on the patio with us).

Update April '16

We adopted Charlie in July 2014 and he is a happy boy, he knows his sit, stay, wait, down and come and high 5; he also knows "manners" when he gets a little ahead of himself.

He loves sitting in the backyard watching his "kingdom" and the squirrels when they dance along the fence. Interestingly enough when he is out and about and on the leash he will not chase them. We once caught him trying to hide behind the apple tree waiting, but since his back was sticking out, that did not contribute to a successful hunting day either.

Charlie checks his mail route twice a day, often with a pit stop at the dog park and on weekends we hit the wooded trails with him, his absolute favourite. He will make a beeline to the car and howl for us to open the door faster for us to get going; he just knows he is hitting the trails and on the way back he usually snores in the back seat.

His dog bed moved from the bedroom hallway to the bedroom and there have been mornings where a cold snout and brown eyes stared at me directly waking up. Pretty sure he figures "the cats can, so can I".

People who met him in the first weeks to now always comment how different he is now, we get "he is so calm now" and we have a good laugh, though we agree that he is so much calmer and pretty easy going. Charlie's middle name should be Rapscallion.

He gets along really well with most dogs and family cats, aloof to strangers (when we meet neighbours in the street and start chatting at one point we get big huffs and puffs reminding us that we should carry on with his mail route).

Charlie is so very affectionate. Loves to cuddle, he is a professional at it and he also has to poke his snout into everything we do (and I do mean everything) and naturally anything you bring home will have to pass his inspection, his tail going back and forth in big swipes, faster when he thinks he found something that should be his.

I do hope everyone at your organization realizes not only do you open your place for misplaced pets and give them a chance for a new forever home, but it is so much more. If we could put in words the absolute joy, love, and comfort Charlie has brought to us, it would be a novel.

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