Cheddar is a mellow, reserved fellow who has lovely house manners. If you have questions about him, EMAIL ME. To inquire about adoption, please visit the New Rattitude website.
4/3/261 - 20 of 20 Images267 visitsAlbum by TerryPhotos by Terry
1 Say hello to Cheddar.
2 He is a mellow dude of about 7 years old and 16 lbs.
3 Cheddar was seized by Animal Control from a home where the owner had died and left 11 dogs with no caregiver. Most of the dogs were able to be adopted out from the shelter. But Cheddar and 2 others were too nervous and unsocialized to be good adoption candidates, so the shelter reached out to rescue.
4 From the start, Cheddar seemed relatively comfortable and didn't try to run or hide from from fear. But he definitely avoided being touched whenever he was able.
5 He was very willing to come close to see what the humans were up to, but still stayed carefully out of "grabbing" distance.
6 Although he would back away from us whenever we would reach for him, if we did manage to make contact, he didn't resist, and seemed relatively comfortable with the physical contact.
7 He is generally very quiet and undemanding.
8 Cheddar did a good bit of marking when he first arrived here. To be fair, there was another recently-neutered dog in residence, and he himself wasn't yet neutered, so branding his new territory was undoubtedly irresistible. Thankfully, he didn't resist having a belly band put on or taken off.
9 After about 3 days he wasn't lifing his leg indoors anymore, so we removed the belly band and he has been completely reliable ever since, with zero indoor accidents.
10 It took about a week for him to start regularly jumping up onto the couch beside us and occasionally coming up to us for some attention.
11 Cheddar has done well with the other dogs here. They tend to hang out near each other but seldom interact with each other. It seemed that Cheddar did try to initiate play a time or two, but he was rebuffed so he hasn't tried again. In the first week or so here, as the dogs were getting used to each other, they had a couple brief tiffs over food. But now they do fine, taking turns with treats and no longer trying to barge in on the other one's food bowl.
12 iIn the beginning, he was obviously unaccustomed to leash walking, and would thrash and try to back out of the "noose." But it didn't take him too long before figuring out that the leash means an adventure, which he likes. He has made good progress on walking competently on leash and he really enjoys getting out into the neighborhood.
13 He doesn't always walk in a straight line, and tends to hang back and cross back-and-forth behind you quite a bit, but he is getting better, and generally just trots along with slck in the leash.
14 Even when he is nervous about something, Cheddar has always been completely gentle. It took about a week before he would approach us voluntarily for pats and even come up to intentionally join for couch cuddles.
15 His fur is silky soft.
16 The only toys he has shown any interest in have been squeaky toys.
17 Overall, he is calm, quiet, and low energy. We haven't seen him demonstrate any prey drive but we have seen him, get the zoomies a couple of times. Both times lasted for just a couple of minutes, but he was having a grand time racing from one end of the house to the other, divebombing his foster brother and playing "run just close enough for foster mom and foster dad to try to get me."
18 He doesn't respond to any obedience commands such as "sit" or "stay" but he definitely understands "Let's go outside" and is quick to comply.
19 The only "naughty" behavior we've caught him in was checking out the top of the dining table one afternoon we neglected to push all the chairs in. But he hasn't chewed on anything he shouldn't, or stolen laundry or trash, or tried to door dash. Nor is he a food snatcher or beggar at mealtime.
20 This well-behaved gentleman is seeking a loving person or family who will patiently earn his trust and increase his confidence by giving him gradual exposure to a wider world.
