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a volunteer at the animal shelter here in Meyers and over the past few months, I have probably spent 35+ hours with Osiris. He very quickly became a favorite. When I learned he was a fence jumper and couldn't âjustâ be let out in the yard to play and get some time out of his enclosure, I started showing up right before lunch so that I could take Osiris for an hour+ long walk. We started on the normal 5 foot leash and I ultimately extended that with another leash. This past week I have had him on a 50â lead on all our walks. Our walks have ranged from 2 miles in the beginning to 7 miles more recently. Weâ ve been on trails, paved roads, at the beach, at parks, even at a bar patio.
Osiris is incredibly smart. He is great with commands. He will come at a whistle. He is intelligent enough to âunwindâ himself when heâs leash-tangled. He is alert, engaging, goofy and lovable. He will play bow, get the zoomies, romp through the snow, wade into the water, chew on sticks and frankly behaves like an ideal companion. He loves to hang his head out the window of a moving car, does seem used to sitting in the front seat (but I didnât allow that) and also loves to just hang out and sleep in the sun, or anywhere nearby.
I have seen him drop down and give up his belly for rubs on multiple occasions and with total strangers. One time on the patio of a local restaurant/bar and another while out on a trail. He loves his belly rubs.
I have seen him around small children, sledding and screaming, and he was engaging and licked their faces. Clearly, people arenât the issue! I have never seen Osiris have any issues with anyone.
As for other dogs, I have seen Osiris interact positively with dogs on and off leash. Within the last two weeks Osiris interacted positively with another shelter dog that was recently adopted. I unknowingly bumped into them while I had him out on a walk and they did great.
I can recall at least 7 interactions with other dogs that were not on a leash, while he was, and they were all positive. Just this week, there was a 12 yr old dog that Osiris engaged with where the other dog wasnât on a leash. The two dogs said their dog hellos and romped a little and when the sr dog had enough, he gruffed at Osiris and Osiris backed off. No issue at all. I filed that away because it is really good to see the respect he showed the other dog.
And, until very recently, I would say that he has interacted well with dogs of all sizes. He seems to be getting very kennel stressed and frustrated as most intelligent working dog's do when they are housed in kennel's in stressful shelter environments. One time recently, there was a female whippet in a pink coat and while I was wondering if he would see her as prey, he had no issues with her at all. 'However, he may have a dislike for puppies as some dogs do.'
I have also seen his prey drive. He has gone bonkers over squirrels. But, when he was at the end of the leash, he didnâ t pull harder, or even make me struggle. I called him back with a treat and we moved on. He did alert to the presence of chickens when we were on a walk. There is a house on one of our loops and one morning you could hear the chickens clucking away. He was incredibly interested, gazing intently towards the house and the sounds. He didn't pull me that direction, but he was definitely very aware. (He has killed chickens in the past so he is not to be homed with chickens). He will chase birds when he see a flicker or other bird in the forest. Nor have I seen him fixate on the cats at the shelter when he is in the lobby, which one might expect. (Due to his prey drive with chickens it is not recommended that he lives with cats) Although, honestly, I think he is just so smart that he understands they are behind a wall and thus, he isnât interested. I have three cats and I did bring him to my house, to a room where the cats often hang out, but werenât there when Osiris came. He came into that space, modestly sniffed about and that was it. There wasnâ t any significant interest - not event in their cat hammock where they regularly sleep and hang out. He just wasn't that interested.
If you are interested in adopting Osiris please come to the shelter for a meet and greet and see for yourself what an amazing dog Osiris is.