2015-003
May 6, 2016
Wilbur's loving foster family held him in their arms and said a sad goodbye. Run free sweet boy.
Update: April 2016
Wilbur's health continues to deteriorate and he is now in our sanctuary care program -- he will live out his remaining days in the care of his loving foster home.
Wilbur is searching for a loving family to enjoy his senior years with - born in 2007 he is 9 years old and is playful and goofy! Prior to coming to Newf Friends, this sweet boy had been living in a kennel for several years. He adjusted to life in a loving foster home quickly and has never looked back!
Wilbur loves people and wants nothing more than to have a family of his own who will cherish him and give him all of the attention and care he deserves.
He arrived in our care in March 17/15 and is still waiting for the right family to come along. Sweetie-pie Wilbur was in need of some TLC when he arrived. Underweight, badly matted, suffering from ear infections and sores on his skin, Wilbur is now all healed and doing great!
Wilbur is a friendly, affectionate boy who would thrive in an environment where he could enjoy leisurely walks with his family and get loads of love and attention.
His house manners are good. Leash manners are coming along very well. He used to get very excited when he saw other dogs and would pull to go see them to play, but his foster family enrolled him in obedience class and now he is doing great! Look at him sitting wonderfully with all of the other dogs around! Good boy Wilbur!
Health wise Wilbur has a few issues but is overall able to get around well, is playful and spunky. Wilbur lacks muscle and has significant hind end muscle wasting and
drags his back feet. He is able to get around without
issues and is coping well and at this point does not require medication.
Down the road his mobility may be reduced so a home where there are not
a lot of stairs for him to access his backyard would be best.
He has an arrhythmia and we have him under the care of a board certified cardiologist. Tests show that he has atrial fibrillation which has reduced his heart efficiency by 10-15%. There is no underlying heart condition causing the AF, so that is very good news. The cardiologist feels that he will not be terribly compromised by this, but he should not engage in very strenuous activities. He takes a very affordable heart medication to prevent his heart rate from going too high, the intention of this med is to prevent the development of future heart conditions. Wilbur is doing very well with this management plan and his most recent cardiologist check-up went very well. Due to his heart condition we will not be neutering Wilbur, he will placed with a non-breeding contract in place.
Wilbur gets along well with small dogs and could happily join a home with a small or medium sized dog. He has shown interest in chasing cats when outdoors so a home with a very dog savvy cat, or no cats would be good. We are told that he did happily live with a cat many years ago, but his foster home does not have a cat.
With large female dogs and he has been playful and friendly, a little too friendly! He will mount other large dogs and does not pay much attention to them telling him to get off of them. (Oh, Wilbur!) This behaviour is annoying to most dogs, so Wilbur might not be ideal in a home with other large dogs. Having said that, he could join a family with a well mannered female who would be tolerant of his mounting behaviour while his family worked to correct the behaviour. It would just really need to be the right dog and his owners would need to work hard to correct the mounting. Wilbur has made a lot of progress with this, but living in a foster home where he is the only pet means there are not a ton of opportunities to resolve the behaviour.
We have tested him with male dogs and he is most interested in playing, but again does engage in mounting behaviour which most males will not tolerate. Because of this behaviour he is not suited to a home with another large or giant breed male, or for going to dog parks where he will be off lead around dogs that are unknown to him. He does well going for group walks on lead though, so don't let that discourage you! Here he is hanging out with a bunch of other dogs at his obedience class.
Wilbur is being fostered in Mississauga ON and his approved adopters will be required to pick him up in person. Because he has some special needs we are expanding our placement area and will consider applications from families within a 10 hour radius of his foster home which includes parts of Ontario, Quebec, and neighbouring States including NY, PA, OH, NJ, VT and more.
Because Wilbur is a senior and has some health issues we are waiving our regular adoption donation and ask instead for a donation of his adoptive family's choice.
