Ben (AKA Dozer)

Ben has gone to his forever home!

Meet Ben! This handsome cross is approximately 1 year old and came to us as a stray from a shelter.

If you’re looking for an enthusiastic companion who loves adventure, Ben is your guy! He adores going for walks and hikes, and after a long day, he gives the most wonderful lovebug-snuggles.

Due to his young age, Ben is still working on his manners, but he’s smart and very willing to be trained. He’s lightning-fast when you say “sit”, and although his puppy-energy has him bouncing up again, he looks keenly to his humans for direction. Ben is very food-motivated, so with treats, he learns quickly!

Ben has learned so much since he first came into foster. Although he was quite nervous about strangers at first, with treats to distract him, he’s gained confidence, and is now eager to meet new people.

He’s a very strong dog, so he does pull on his leash to get over to say hi when people walk by on the path. His foster mom has a harness, but because of his strength, he needs a strong adult to walk him until he learns better leash-manners. He’s still learning about small children, so when we see them on our walks, we stay well back so Ben does not jump or run up to them. He’s very playful, but because he’s a larger dog, he’s got more to learn about being gentle when approaching very young kids.

Ben needs a fenced yard where he can burn off energy, in addition to his daily walks. He loves playing with toys, and is a vigorous chewer: he needs lots of sturdy toys to distract him from objects he’s not supposed to chew. Although she did not tell Ben she was impressed, his foster mother marveled at his intelligence when he taught himself to jiggle open the sliding closet-doors so he could select a shoe to chew. Once the slider was blocked, Ben realized he no longer had access and has left it alone. He’s a very smart dog, who’ll use his powers for mischief if not directed toward being good. 😊

Ben does show signs of separation anxiety, so that’s an area where he’ll need to gain confidence. His foster mom has crated him for a couple of hours when she had to leave the house, but he tends to bark when he’s trying to settle down. He does settle, especially with the radio playing, but will still bark occasionally. For that reason, Ben would do best in a house (rather than a townhouse with adjoining walls) where neighbors might complain. Although he does not like to be crated at home, he’s very patient and well behaved in his crate in the car. He jumps into his car-crate with enthusiasm, and loves going for a ride, especially because it might lead to a new place to hike or a visit with new people.

Ben loves his humans, and wants to be with them! He’s a wonderfully affectionate dog, and rewards you with lots of kisses and snuggles. He’s gaining confidence at being on his own, and will often go down to sleep on the couch for an hour while his foster mom works in her office.

Even though he’s a young dog, Ben has been very good with other animals. He walks nicely with an older greyhound friend, Carson, although he does sometimes push Carson’s nose aside so he can get the best sniffs. When Carson corrects him with a bark or growl, though, Ben defers to his canine-elder.

On a recent visit to a friend’s house, Ben also met two cats. These cats are very dog-tolerant and didn’t run, so although he gave them lots of dog-kisses, he was a good gentle boy. Ben was also excellent with one of his foster-sisters, a chinchilla (16 years old, so quite sedentary). He was interested, but Ben respected that the chinchilla was feeling temporarily unwell, and he generally left her alone as she slept on a towel on the kitchen counter. Although he cannot promise he won’t counter-surf if you leave food on the counter, Ben was such a good boy when it came to his chinchilla-sister. He does love to play and will happily chase and roll around with another playful dog, but he genuinely seems to understand that not everyone wants to be chased or given dog-kisses.