Gordon aka Hunter

Gordon's History:
Gordon is a 9 month old pure bred Liver and White Field English Pointer. He is in foster care in the Chicago area with a fun Weimaraner and a spunky Irish Setter and he is having a great time playing tag and chase in the yard. His foster Mom writes: "Gordon is a sweet puppy. He's fully housetrained & lets me know when he needs to go outside. He walks well on a leash. He has learned to 'sit' for treats, he learns fast & we're working on some more basic commands. He's full of energy & enjoys running around outside & playing with balls. He has fun playing with my 2 dogs.


Update-Amy Williams writes:
As some may already know. I found out by accident
that I go to school with Gordon's furever dad!

I asked him how Gordon was doing. Since I heard he
was one sick dog when he came into IBR.

He is doing amazing!!! He looks great and loves the
kids (they are 7 & 8 yr old boys)and they love him
back just as much! He is a great family companion.
Rich (the furever dad) said he wishes he hunted
because Hunter (Gordon) is always pointing birds in
the backyard.

Alex

Alex' History: Alex is an amazing birddog. He is everything you want in a Field Bred Pointer. We have been training him on live birds and not only is he quite the hunter, but he handles beautifully off leash and is starting to hold point. He was definately trained for Field Trialing- but we think the training could have been abusive as sometimes he is hand shy. He is so good that we have decided to enter him in an American Field walking trial the end of the month. Our ideal adopter for Alex- would be one who is familiar perhaps with Field trialing, or one who is an experienced hunter- but also one who understands that these dogs absolutely demand human interaction and will spoil him rotten as a house pet. Alex would also be a good candidate to get his AKC Indefinate Listing Priviledge to compete in Hunt tests. Alex is house broken, crate trained, and really the Best snuggler ever! He has been delightful to have around, and is slowly learning some basic manners - like walking on lead - (he wants to GO!) He has learned not to jump over the couch and to stop petsterign the girl dogs before they get upset.


He still is a good boy in a crate, especially if he gets to take his nyla bones and rope toys with him. Big and brawny as he is - Alex loves to cuddle. He has a big soft head and when he puts it down, all his extra puppy skin puddles in to wrinkles! He sleep squietly in bed at night and doesn't snore - he does like his own pillow though, or maybe you would like to share yours? Alex is a pure-bred Lemon and White American Field English Pointer- but looks like he has a big 'ol Lab-like head. He is a big strapping boy and his foster Mom says he looks like a Doggie Chippendale Dancer as he is very toned and muscular. She says he is just gorgeous. He is most likely under 1 year old and will make someone a fabulous pet and companion. When I take Alex out for a walk, he literally stops traffic with his good looks! He loves to play fetch with a tennis ball too.

Update from his forever home: Attached is a picture of Alex in Wisconsin this weekend. We had 18 inches of snow up north, and drifts of 3-4 feet. The dogs had a blast running through the drifts and digging around the banks of the frozen river. The picture is Alex hunting something, possibly a muskrat.

Lyn

Izzy

Izzy's History: Izzy is a pure bred Liver and White American Field Bred Pointer. She was surrendered to the rescue because she was not stylish on point to be competitive in trials. Upon coming into the rescue we could tell her puppyhood had been missed as she was so serious. It didn't take her long to learn about toys and playing with other dogs!!


Update from her forever home: Izzy has been a dream come true. This season of
hunting pheasants with her was absolutely awesome.
We shot probably 50 plus birds over her this season.
As for home life she has been a doll. She is still
a little wound up but that will come with age. I am
hoping to make her a finished gun-dog this spring so
can start running her in NSTRA come fall. I have
pics of her that I need to send to all IBR
volunteers that helped get her to me.

There are some great pics of her pointing in the field and one
of her first two pheasants that she bagged. I have
been very pleased with Izzy and she has been the
talk around my place of work after we used her at
the Christmas Party hunt on a preserve here in
Wisconsin. Also she has been extremely good with my
daughter and she tolerates the pulling of the ears
and tail. I will get those pics out soon.

Andrew

Update July 2007: Lisa,
Everything is well. I have an Innotek Invisble Fence and it works great. Izzy is doing great. Early this summer she was taken to a Pro Trainer and evaluated. He did tell me that if I register her with the AKC he would love to run her in field trials. He told me that she would win quite a few trials.

I sent pictures of her at the Field Trial Grounds in Portage. Thats were we did all her training so far. She has been finished and is now steady to wing, shot, fall.

Also I sent a pic of Izzy with my daughter, they have really bonded together well.
Thanks for checking in.

Andrew

Cody

Cody's History: Cody was dropped at the Dewitt County shelter in Clinton, Illinois, after hours. They found him in the morning with no identification -- just a choke chain knotted around his neck. Nobody claimed him after 10 days. Cody looks alot like two other IBDR Setters that came from the same area and we believe he is a litter mate of alumni, Emma and Colin.

Here are photos from Cody's forever home in New Jersey---he sure looks quite at home:

Pookie aka Nia

Pookie is a Pointer/Brittany mix. She was in an overcrowded shelter near Cincinatti, OH and was in danger of euthanasia. A good samaritan is pulled her to safety.

This is what had been reported about her:

Pookie is terrified at the shelter. And I don’t believe from her reaction to me she has led an easy life. It took over 10 minutes to get her to come out and meet me. Once out she would hit the floor if I tried to pet her. They said she ignored the cats in the front office and she was just as sweet as can be with me but frantic to get out of there. They aren’t full right now but the director has been on vacation and is coming back Monday so all bets are off after that. Not that they aren’t rescue friendly but they are high kill. Hope you can take her as it may be her only way out of there. She’s about 35-40 lbs maybe.

Report from Amy who was overnight overnight hostess to Pookie on a two-day transport:

Pookie made it to MN today! The Appel family is going to foster to adopt her. She is very sweet! She spent

the night here after spending the day with Karen.

She now has 2 very dog savvy boys to keep her busy, Travis and Dylan ages 10 and 12 respectively and a fur brother, Smitty the Beagle.

First report from Pookie's new family:

She as been wagging her tail and playing like crazy! It will take some time
for her to get adjusted, but she is already well loved.

Please share this email with everyone in the group.

Thanks again,
The Appel Family

Debby had another update soon thereafter:

I just talked to Bryan and Wendy, and Pookie is doing GREAT! They can hardly believe how well she is doing. She is showing no signs of fear, is getting along with their Beagle, Smittie, and loves the kids and everyone. I think she's home and she knows it!

Hi Lisa,

I wanted to share something with you. When I was on my way back from picking up Pookie, I was listening to radio. After a while, the station faded out. So I hit to the scan button to find something else. The first station was airing a program called "The Pet Show". You’re probably familiar with it, but I’d never heard it before. Within the first minute, I heard a quote which I want to share with you. I may be an “old softy”, and bit emotional seeing Pookie snoozing in the back seat, but this quite literally brought tears to my eyes.

He said:

“Once you save a dog's life, they will pay you back everyday for the rest of theirs"

Thanks again for helping bring Pookie to us.

BryanPookie with her new brothers.

Pookie, now known as Nia (pronounced N-EYE-YA) is doing great! We’ve had no problems with her at all. She’s a wonderful dog, and a great companion. She’s had no accidents, hardly barks, and at bedtime she runs into her crate and curls up and goes to sleep. She’s also a joy to walk. She doesn’t pull at all on the lead. Usually, the lead just hangs loose. She’s content to walk at my side. Wow, I’ve never had dog do that! She may have been a rescue dog, but she certainly was trained well, at some point. Nia has no shyness, or timid behavior problems either. That could have been due to her surrounding, and being stuck in a noisy shelter. She’s quite the snuggle-bug, and loves curling up next to you.

Nia has settled in so well, it’s hard to remember when she wasn’t with us. We consider ourselves very lucky. Friends of ours have often remarked after meeting Nia that “If I knew it would be like her, I’d get a dog too” . That’s when you know she’s made a good impression. Some of these comments have even come from “non-dog” people. (Personally, I don’t know how anyone could be a non-dog person, but strangely, they do exist)

I will say, a few stuffed animal toys have not fared well since Nia arrived. She really enjoys finding out what makes them so soft. It’s almost comical. She’s not content until every bit of stuffing has been removed and laid in a big pile. Once, she had so much of it up, she looked like she was laying in a puffy white cloud. (Dang, I wish I had a picture of that) I hear this is typical of pointers.

Oh, in case you’re wondering, the name Nia is actually short for “Iphigenia“. She was the daughter of Agamemnon, leader of the Greek forces at Troy. I took a Greek Tragedy class about 20 years ago. Her name is sort of a tribute to my professor who had such enthusiasm and energy, he was able to make that dreadful class tolerable.

Darla - now called Daisy

Darla's initial Petfinder posting: Darla is a beautiful Black and White American Field English Setter under 2 years old. She seems to be housebroken, is great with the kids and sure loves to watch those birdies!!!!! She is soft and very cuddly too--my 4 year old was lying all over her yesterday and she loved it. When she was out this morning with me the boys were riding bikes right past her and it didn't spook her at all, nor did she chase after the bikes as most doggies would do! (she was too busy watching birds!) I don't know about cats as we don't have any but she is SO birdy that she would definitely need to be tested before she was expected to behave around them! :)
Update from Darla's new home to foster mom Anne:

I just wanted to send you a quick note as I realize it has been a while. I just wanted to tell you that Daisy is working out very well. She is a real sweety and is getting along very well with our Cavalier. They have actually become very close.

Our backyard is full of squirrels, birds, sometimes deer and most recently a coyote. Daisy has now started to sit behind our air conditioner and hide so that the squirrels and birds don't see her. I have also been able to take her to a training facility to try hunting. I have been able to shoot over her and she is not gun shy. She is also a natural in the field going on point several times when we have been out.

The dog hair is a little harder to keep up with but all in all she is doing very well and very happy.

Hope all is well with you.

Jeff