*COURTESY POSTING FOR MILO FOUNDATION*
Sparky (ADOPTED!) is an 18 month old, male, Lab-Cattle Dog mix, who weighs 64 lbs. He is incredibly smart, very treat motivated, sweet, trainable, energetic, and super social. He's happiest when dogs want to play and run with him. When at the park, he's the chair of the dog social committee. If they don't want to play with him, he's respectful and leaves them alone. He heeds signals from other dogs and can play either gentle or rough with other dogs.
Sparky is VERY smart. In 2 months, he has learned to sit, stay, leave it, drop it, heel, find it (find treats when we throw them on the ground), no bite, wait, come, roll over, and lie down. Our claim to fame: he can close cabinet doors (the command: touch). He's housebroken and treats our house and most of our belongings with respect. We leave him home alone for about 6 hours at a time, but could probably be OK with longer time periods. We have mostly trained him by by giving him a job (catching a ball or a stick) or throwing treats on the ground. But, sometimes like a child trying to get attention, he grabs a pant leg and pulls for a few seconds. He is fairly good off leash, but sometime blows us off if something is more interesting (like another dog). He always comes back to us.
He's great outside when I'm talking to a neighbor, he waits patiently on his leash. He's fine with kids coming up to him and giving him treats. He talks like Chewbacca when he wants something. He whimpers and makes compelling arguments that he belongs on the couch. He also loves to play hide and seek. When he wants attention or hasn't had enough exercise, he does get a little naughty. He’ll take socks, shoes, tupperware, paper, and then hides under the bed.
In the same household, he's interested in being top dog, so he'll need everyone to show them that they're above him. He does best when given consistent discipline reminding him that he's not top dog. But because he is so treat motivated, he responds quickly. He only barks when he's super bored or hears people at the door. He sometimes nips when he gets bored playing outdoors, wanting someone to play with him.
We think his ideal situation is living with 1 or 2 people who can keep him in line. We are a family of 4: husband, wife, boy 12, girl 8. With so many of kids coming in and out of the house, we think he sometimes gets a little stressed out.
For more information, please contact Debbie at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., who is happy to speak with you about Sparky!