The Mighty Oakley

01/04/2023

Oakley is still on the lookout for a new home. He’ll hang out and watch Lord of the Rings with you, if that’s your jam. Or whatever. He’s flexible.

Happy, smart, young, goofy, biddable, affectionate, dog social. This guy has so much going for him that makes him an absolutely amazing companion.

12/24/2022

Oakley’s first owner shared some of his puppy pictures. How cute is he? 💛

12/15/2022

I’ve thought about this a LOT, and I’ve decided to put feelers out for a different placement for Oakley. I am in no rush to place him, and I will be picky about where he goes. I would prefer him to go to someone local, and/or someone who is going to continue his training. I hope to be able to continue seeing him on occasion or at least stay updated on him. He will not be free.

Oakley is a 2 year old mix, probably lab/pit mix, about 50 lbs. He was adopted as a puppy by his original owner, who had him for about 1.5 years, during which time he did some training with me. When she had to rehome him due to unavoidable life circumstances (no fault of her own or Oakley’s), I took him in as a foster.

After having him for a few weeks, I decided that I would keep him, on one condition. My Malinois is not tolerant of new dogs, especially adolescent males. I knew from the start that they would never get along, and that we would be doing a crate-and-rotate lifestyle. My condition for keeping Oakley was that neither of them would be negatively impacted by the presence of the other. So long as they were able to crate and rotate care-free, Oakley would stay forever.

Unfortunately, after having Oakley here for 9 months, that is starting to change. Oakley is no longer completely care-free in his day to day crate and rotate routines. He’s not stressed to the point where rehoming him is urgent - but there is a baseline level of stress there that is higher than I would like to see for a dog as happy and wonderful as he is. I’ve finally reached the tipping point where I’ve realized that continuing to keep him would be selfish, and that as much as I love him and would be willing to keep him forever, I’m not actually the ideal home for him.

Below I will list out some of the information that is most relevant. Please feel free to share his info, or to reach out to me for any additional information.

Basic Info:
⚫️ S*x: Neutered Male
⚫️ Age: 2 years old (DOB 9/26/20)
⚫️ Breed: Lab/Pit ?? mix
⚫️ Size: 50 lbs, estimated 20-22” at shoulder
⚫️ Health: Up to date on vaccinations, microchipped, up to date on heartworm prevention. No known health issues.
⚫️ Location: Central Illinois

Pros/Cons:
🟢 Happy, goofy, comedic personality
🟢 Eager to learn, smart, biddable
🟢 Natural handler engagement
🟢 Dog social, good at reading social cues
🟢 Okay with older kids, probably 10-12+
🟢 Go-with-the flow, loves to play but can also just chill
🟢 Crate trained, potty trained, travels well
🟢 Basic on and off leash obedience training: come, place, sit, down, leash walking, e-collar trained
🟢 Has had an intro to most of the agility obstacles, and loves it.
🟢 Has had intro to treadmill/slat mill
🟢 Some very basic competitive obedience/rally foundations started
🟢 Great food drive
🟢 Enjoys toy play
🟢 Has passed AKC Canine Good Citizen test
🟡 Social with people after slow intros - more cautious initially with men
🟡 Reasonably cooperative with body handling, vet visits. No aggression, just some squirms.
🟡 Safe with cats - may want to chase, but not aggressive. Has not lived with cats recently but lived with two in his previous home.
🟠 Handler sensitive, needs clarity but won’t respond well to heavy-handedness or unclear/unfair pressure/correction
🟠 Lacking manners - jumps on people, may surf counters if left unsupervised in house
🟠 Can be nervous/defensive around some large/fluffy dog breeds initially
🔴 Sensitive to environment, can become startled by random things. May result in barking at the “scary” object. Generally very easy to redirect.
🔴 Some fear-based reactivity (barking/growling) with new people (especially men and young kids) initially. I do NOT consider him a bite risk, unless someone really, really screws up. As stated above - he warms up quickly with appropriate introductions and then is quite social.

Oakley’s Ideal Home:
🔵 Active family - walks, jogs, hiking, playtime AND/OR dog sports such as obedience, rally, agility, nose work, etc.
🔵 (Ideally) Local to central IL and interested in continuing his training and keeping me updated on him
🔵 (Ideally) Has at least one social, stable, confident dog as a companion for him
🟣 Cats okay
🟣 Older kids okay
🟣 MAY be okay in an apartment, or without a fenced yard, depending on lifestyle
🟤 Absolutely no aggressive dogs in the household that would require continuous separation/crate and rotate for safety purposes. (If he was happy with this lifestyle, I would be keeping him.)
🟤 Prefer no anxious/fearful dogs in the household, as I am concerned they may feed off of each other.
🟤 No young kids. Not recommended for young couple planning on kids in the future.

03/29/2022

This probably isn’t going to surprise anyone who has been following Oakley here, but since I made it official on my own profile, I figured I’d better share it with anyone here who isn’t also a FB friend on my profile.

Barring anything crazy changing, Oakley will be staying with me indefinitely.

So, welcome to the family, Oakley. 🎉
I didn’t exactly plan on you, but I’m glad you’re here. 🥰

03/27/2022

Proud of this boy today. Ember and Jasper are competing this weekend in Peoria. Show days are pretty long, so all my dogs go along. Dogs showing generally get crated inside - dogs not showing generally stay out in my van.

By this afternoon, Obedience was done and just the upper levels of Rally were still going, and the crowd inside was thinning out. So Oakley came in to hang out. He met new people, got acclimated to the trial environment, worked on some obedience skills, and even stayed quietly and politely in a soft-sided crate while Jasper was in the ring for his last couple of runs.

Maybe by next fall it could be him in the ring...?

03/26/2022

You know you might be foster failing when...

03/25/2022

Oakley might have to stay, even if only to help keep Jasper young. Love seeing my old man play like he’s a puppy again.
Please excuse my gross yard and smudged window. 😂

03/22/2022

I hope no one was getting their hopes up about adopting Oakley, because, umm, I’m not sure he’s actually going anywhere. 😂

03/20/2022

A little clip from our walk with Ember and Challenger. Oakley loves the water!

03/20/2022

Oakley had a great day romping with some friends in this beautiful weather!

03/20/2022

Oakley rode along to his first dog show today. I had a busy day showing, so Oakley mostly just hung out in the van since the amount of people and dogs in a new place would have been pretty stressful for him. But he got to come out for potty breaks, check out a new place, and see people and dogs from a little distance.

03/17/2022

These two crack me up. Oakley may not have any qualms about jumping up on furniture, but his “off” cue (even when he wasn’t the one being told) is very good. 😂

(Please excuse the Criminal Minds episode playing in the background.)

03/16/2022

Handsome boy getting some continued exposure to new people - hanging out behind the room dividers during a group class tonight.

03/15/2022

A little place training, and a little playtime.

03/15/2022

Taking advantage of this beautiful weather! 2 people and 5 dogs on our walk today. Oakley got to practice walking with a different person today while I walked Challenger and Ember.

03/14/2022

Oakley got to meet some new human friends today, too. Some of Oakley’s history makes it hard to trust new people, sharp movements, etc., and that can lead to fearful, defensive behavior as he attempts to get space from real or perceived threats.

He’s learning that when he jumps to conclusions about people and becomes immediately defensive, people simple aren’t scared of him. But he’s also learning that they also mean him no harm. He’s safer than he believes. This will be a gradual process, but he WANTS to trust people, so now he just needs time and the right kinds of exposure.

03/14/2022

Most of the dogs that come through my training facility and my home - fosters, boarding dogs, training dogs, etc. - never meet Jasper (the red Australian Shepherd). Jasper has always been very aloof and standoffish with strange dogs. He is “socially awkward”, introverted, and has a large personal bubble that he prefers for dogs he doesn’t know to just stay out of. There are really only two dogs who I would say Jasper genuinely enjoys spending time with. The rest he’s either ambivalent to, nervous of, or annoyed by.

Which is why it’s so incredible that Jasper almost immediately took to Oakley, started play bowing and asking him to play, and actually WANTED to interact with him.

We already knew that Oakley is playful and social with other dogs - he has gone to daycare regularly - but this tells me that Oakley is also observant, polite, and able to adjust his play in response to social cues from the other dogs. And that is a less common and more valuable trait than simply being “friendly.”

03/12/2022

Pack walking with new friend Challenger and old friend Ember! It was cold today, so everyone was interested in moving a little extra fast. We’ll clean up some of those leash manners later.

03/12/2022

Oakley is settling in here. It’s so helpful that he’s already familiar with me and with Canine Initiative Training. He’s taking things in stride, went on a walk with some of his housemates and then got in some playtime. He and Ember are already buddies from when he was here for Board and Train last year, and he handled Challenger’s exuberant puppy energy very well upon meeting him for the first time. I’m looking forward to seeing him continue to decompress and open up as he re-settled into the routines here.

03/11/2022

03/11/2022