Gabe
Labrador Retriever/terrier Mix | male | 10 months Old | 51 Lbs
QUICK FACTS: ✔️ Good with other dogs and kids! ✔️ Good with cats! ✔️ Crate trained! ✔️ Good in car! ✔️ Walks well on leash!
✔️ Could live in an apartment! ✔️ Good for beginner dog owner!
Updates
Adopted on April 13, 2021!
Gabe sleeps in his crate until we get up around 8am. After a potty break outside, he gets breakfast. He is very food motivated and needs a slow feeder if given a full meal all at once. We make him work for his breakfast by running through some commands and tricks such as Sit, Down, Stay, Paw, Army crawl, etc and he gets a handful of food as reward for each one. After breakfast, he has some downtime in his room with our other dogs where they will play with toys while we work. We normally go back outside around 12 and stay out for about an hour. He loves playing with the other dogs and wresting and running around the yard. In the afternoon he mostly sleeps in his open crate until we go out around 4pm. In the afternoon while we are out in the yard we play a lot of fetch with Gabe and he loves chasing a tennis ball, he is not always the best a bringing the ball back though. In the house, if not closely supervised, Gabe will wander off and find things to chew on. We do dinner around 6pm and make him work for his food again. In the evening, he is happy to lounge around the house with us, before going outside for some last-minute playtime and potty break before bedtime at 10pm.
At home, Gabe will smother you with kisses as soon as you sit down. With new people he can be a little unsure but if they squat or sit to get on his level, he is much happier to meet them. In the beginning he was pretty nervous about new people and he can be very shy in new spaces, but when given the time to warm up to you, he will be your best friend. He loves snuggles and giving kisses, and being as close to you as possible.
Gabe has spent time around a 15-year-old really well, he was happy to greet them, but then mainly ignored them. Gabe has not spent time around small children.
Gabe is a medium energy dog. He does best with a couple of hours of play and exercise outside and then he will be a couch potato inside. He is medium to high energy outside and acts like a 10 month old puppy, but low to medium energy inside. Inside it’s easy to forget that he is so young. He prefers off leash play in a fenced in area over walks, but he does walk great on a leash. Gabe's preferred exercise type is playing fetch with tennis balls and toys, and zooming around the yard with other dogs.
Gabe does great with other dogs. He loves playing and wrestling with other dogs outside but listens to the cues of the other dogs when he may be playing too rough. He loves zooming around the yard with the dogs. He is totally un-phased by the other dogs in the neighborhood barking and completely ignores it when he is out in the yard. When we are out on walks, he can get spooked by barking dogs and can use some encouragement to keep going on the walk, but he doesn't bark or growl back, he just stands still. Inside Gabe does really well with his brother Jed and our dog Charlotte. He prefers there to be no personal space between him and Jed and he will lay directly on top of Jed if given the chance. When we leave the crate doors open, he crawls right into the same crate as Jed for naptime. He can be a little bit of a toy hog, and if he sees another dog playing with a toy he will also want to play with that toy, but he has never been aggressive and shares well when the other dog wants to keep playing with that toy.
Gabe does great with our cats and just totally ignores them. They will approach him, and he has no problem with that. He will try to sniff their butts when they turn around.
Whenever he is going to be left alone, we crate Gabe. He really likes his crate and will go in his open crate to nap when he is tired. He is a power chewer and chews to destroy so we do not leave any toys in his crate when we crate him. This is the primary reason that we crate him when he is going to be alone as well, he will chew on anything he can get his mouth on. Gabe will also eat anything he is chewing on, so we closely monitor him when hes playing with anything bc he will break off pieces of toys and try to eat them.
Gabe has an overbite that will likely require extraction or capping of the teeth to prevent a lesion. He has some tartar accumulation so a dental cleaning would be best in the next 1-2 years.
Gabe is a 10 month old puppy and needs a lot of exercise, and would love a fenced in yard or fenced in play area outside if he were to live in an apartment, but is really great and calm in the house. Gabe is nervous of new places, and will need some time to feel comfortable in his new home, but bonds to his people really quickly. When he first got to our home he was very timid of us and of his new space but now that he is comfortable, he is a very adorable, outgoing dog. He loves snuggles and being right next to you and will even try to climb in your lap. He will need sometime in the beginning to get comfortable to a new home and he will need his people to be patient with him, but once he is comfortable with you, he will be your best friend for life.