Hi Suzanne, yeah I still have them!...

OK, well they've been here about 3 weeks now I think(!) We're really dreadful with record keeping regards our foster dogs, I don't mean that in a bad way, what I mean is I just wish we'd kept a record of what dogs we'd fostered and when, makes me laugh when at an event there's a dog crawling all over me and Glenda say's ''who's that'' and I say it's so and so we fostered him for 3 months last year....

Anyways onto George and Maia, I was telling Glenda earlier that I was just off to feed the pups and she quite rightly told me they weren't pups anymore they were juvenile delinquents, I guess she's probably right however I still think of them as pups, just to rewind, 2 and a half years ago, George, Maia and their 6 littermates were born on my kitchen floor and they stayed with us for about 4 months till they were homed (the first time..)

OK, onto the Juvenile Delinquents, not a days training in their lives, OK they will sit for a biscuit but big deal (see I'm an expert now I've got Ivor fully trained..) It's the little annoying things about them that I guess makes them Delinquent, crawling over the furniture, no manners at meal times, jumping up and selective deafness when required, that sort of thing. Defo bit of training required in this department, I guess thats going to make them a bit harder to rehome asweel, was never going to be easy anyway what with them having to go as a pair. We initially thought that we might seperate them but after only a few hours here I quickly ruled that one out.

Maia is the more intelligent of the two, well refined and full of mischief, George is like a bull in a china shop, 'doing' before 'thinking'. George only has eyes for Maia and takes his lead from her, anything she does he'll do, why use your brain when you can have loads of fun following someone else's lead?..

Anyways they've really settled into their routine here now, you'll all know we have 7 of our own dogs, all pretty well versed in accepting foster dogs but we figured 2 at the same time might be a bit too much, particularly 2 like George and Maia who really haven't ANY experience as part of a larger pack. So they've now taken over our living room, thats there room now and besides our dogs aren't allowed in there anyway, they've been getting plenty attention and regular runs in our garden. We have allowed them to meet 3 of our own dogs and they all had a really good play in the garden together however we've stopped so far at introducing them to the rest of the pack.

Maia was slightly off her food for a couple of days but nothing serious and she's happy eating Arden Grange now (the bag of Bakers Complete that came with them got very quickly thrown away!) they love their treats and walk not too bad on lead, one of the funniest moments so far was Sunday evening, after going round the park at the walk and the preceeding day going for a huge 2 hour walk round our local village Maia could barely raise her leg to come and get her dinner..

I've got to say it's a delight watching the pair play together in our garden, however this is possibly another thing that's going to put potential owners off them.....They dash about chasing each other like mad, play fighting, nipping each other and 'boxing'. At times it does look like they are doing damage to each other but it's all in good fun and they never leave a mark on each other.

So thats George and Maia so far, I've got to say they make a smashing pair, Maia was my all time EVER favourite foster dog when she was here before and she's weedling her way back into my affections again, as of course is sidekick George, it's always tough saying goodbye to foster dogs but I reckon this pair will be more difficult than usual a to me they will always be the little pups that I held when in my hand when they were a few minutes old..

Here's George and Maia shortly after they were born, right kinda dificult BUT, there's 8 pups in the litter but only really 6 visable in this one. Maia is 2nd from left and George is the one on the end at the right..

Hi Folks, well I thought I'd do a quick update on George & Maia, they've both really settled in really well now and gotten right into our household routine, George is on 3/4 rations till we get a bit of weight on him and it's starting to show a wee bit now, he's the type of dog that gets into 'dinner' mode and will woolf it all down real quickly but the minute he's finished and you whisk him outside his mind wonders elsewhere and he forgets he's still hungry. Maia on the other hand is on 1 and a 1/2 rations to try to get a bit of weight back on her, as already posted she didn't eat much for the first few days and she still needs to put a bit on.

They are now getting a bit better behaved, some careful policing at meal times and the game of musical bowls which they liked to play on first arrival has thankfully now stopped. Next step is to get George to stop jumping up, we're using the standard 'turn your back' routine and this does also seem to be having some effect, he is still trying to jump up but it's mostly half hearte now, we'll soon have that knocked into shape.

Additionally as the bond has grown between us the 'selective deafness' is starting to go now and they are both responding more and more to commands, another good thing!

Well thats the update for now, still no sign of a home for them yet but who knows whats just around the corner?..

cheers

Dave

Hi Folks, well I actually did my first home check for about 2 years this morning(!) bit of a shock to the system but it all came flooding back eventually...Anyways the good news is the home check passed with flying colours so we now have another home ready for a GAL dog.....or should I say dogs...

The family applied specifically to adopt George & Maia and as they only live 10 minutes up the road from me things all slotted into place nicely so they both tagged along on the Home Check with me.

The family live in a lovely rural setting with a massive garden for the dogs and really took to Geroge & Maia when they saw them on the website, the main problem was their existing dog, a 4yr old Weimaraner bitch who by all accounts was really dominant and kinda loopy. We'll she seemed to take to George and Maia pretty well this morning, the family had recently lost through illness a Greyhound and another Weimaraner so she seemed very please to have the company. She did all the dominance things with Maia but Maia wasn't phased by her antics and George, well he's used to being hen pecked anyway so took his 'telling' with his usual inane grin and went off to sniff sumit else.

We'll everyone seemed happy and the family will be taking delivery of George and Maia on their return from holidays in mid July...

great news about George&Mia hope they will be happy in their new home

Hi Dave

Wonderful news for George and Maia getting a home near you! You'll still be able to see them whenever you want to. I'm sure they'll settle fine with the Weimaraner and the huge garden they can explore and race around in. They've landed on all eight paws!

And welcome to the Forum, Suzanne - looking forward to hearing all about your new arrival when you get him or her. Bet you can't wait!

Christine