[singlepic id=4879 w=320 h=240 float=left]My husband and I adopted a dog from you on 23/12/12 so it is coming up to a year since he came to us and we thought it would be nice to let you know how he is doing. At the time, he was advertised on your website as a 2 year old pointer cross called “Howard”, but we re-named him Baxter. He had been adopted from Manchester dogs home 2 weeks earlier by a family from Glossop who almost immediately put him back in to re-home through your organisation, claiming that he had triggered asthma in a family member. We suspect that the real reason, as we discovered when we got him home, is that when anyone came into the house he wee’d allover the floor in excitement! Not a big issue to us – we have hard floors downstairs and once we had trained visitors to ignore him completely on arrival, the problem all but disappeared.  We also discovered when we took him to our vet that he was only around a year old – we had suspected as much due to his “puppyishness”.

We started training classes with him in January and he proved to be a quick learner, passing his “bronze award” a week early! His temperament is absolutely superb – he really is the most loving and affectionate dog you could wish to meet. He is also very good with other dogs which is very important to us as we do lots of “off-lead” walking through the woods and around the reservoirs near where we live and these are popular routes for other dog walkers. We have discovered that true to his pointer heritage, he is a dedicated hunter; his kill tally to date is 2 squirrels, a duck and a moorhen! He does now know that sheep, horses and cattle are not to be chased, but he cannot be trusted with cats!

He has already been away on holiday with us twice – to Robin Hood’s Bay last February and to Wales in August. Although he doesn’t mind paddling, he won’t go in the sea to swim. In 2014 he will be going on a canal boat with us, and also to the Isle of Wight. He loves to sneak up onto the sofa with us, given half a chance, and will roll over onto his back and go to sleep with all 4 legs up in the air.

My husband retired 2 months after we adopted Baxter, so he has someone around all day to keep him company, and the two of them go out for at least 2 hours each morning, then I take him out again when I get home from work at night. He has put on 4.5 kg since joining us and all of that is solid muscle – he is one super fit dog who spends all his time off-lead hurtling around at top speed like a true athlete. I am attaching a photo so you can see him now. He is a happy, confident, well loved dog who everyone who meets him just falls in love with!   A happy ending for Baxter!