Stryker Is Adopted!
Stryker, a 6 year old black and white male German Shorthaired Pointer came to us after he was rescued from a shelter after being found as a stray. When he first arrived, Stryker was thin; you could see his ribs, hips, and spine. He steadily put on weight, and looked healthier than ever weighing in at 75 lbs! Stryker was with us for far too long, but we believe the reason was that he was overlooked because of his size, however his personality was as big as he was!
Stryker absolutely loves people and interacting with them on a walk or playing with toys. One thing about Stryker is that he was known to escape when left alone for long periods, so we needed to find a home that could manage that. And we did!
Liz and Nick were repeat adopters, and applied for a 4 to 6 year old male, and were particularly interested in Stryker. They felt a connection to him, and thought he would be a good addition to their family. They stated on their application knowing that Stryker was an escape artist, that they had a 6 to 8 foot fence, but were willing to amend the fence if needed. They already had all of the experience having adopted 2 GSP’s prior, and were ready to welcome and provide a home for another GSP in need. When they met Stryker, he was everything they had imagined, but he came with some challenges, but all workable, and Liz and Nick were committed to help Stryker become the dog he was meant to be.
“We are doing really well!! Stryker has adjusted well and certainly provided some unique challenges that we didn’t have with our other two GSP’s.
We were excited to integrate a 3rd dog into the family and knew that 3 dogs could pose unique challenges such as food and resource guarding and attention seeking behavior on top of the regular “rescue dog” behavior of acclimating to a new environment.
Stryker immediately bonded with Nick but took more time to warm up to me which was hard given my immediate connection with the other two. He is also extremely smart and stubborn yet corrects quite easily from past obedience training. He still pulls a lot on the leash but we think he was primarily exercised in a yard with a ball so still working every day on leash manners. His ball is his prized possession and after teaching him that he will get it back when playing, has finally started to turn it over instead of guarding it. In the last 6 months, he has become my snuggle bug often curling up next to me on the couch or bed and truly has become a great member of the family”.
We are so grateful to Liz and Nick for coming back to adopt again, and for seeing something special in Stryker that had been overlooked, and helping him shine. He truly hit the jackpot!
