I was talking to a client today about their dog and how very not socialized it is. We can't touch him or leash him, so it's a very good thing that he follows, otherwise we'd have some serious problems taking him outside three times a day. Turns out that they acquired the dog when it was probably around 4 weeks old because the people who had the mother were tossing the puppies over the back fence into the woods. Before that however, the mother was being starved while nursing the puppies and this particular dog was the 'runt' of the litter and getting shoved aside by the bigger puppies. I think she said only 2 or 3 of that litter survived...this dog, one it's brothers that is owned by a different neighbor and one other. The mother died shortly after this dog was taken in by the clients.
It also doesn't help that he's almost 2 and not neutered and the current owners are afraid to socialize him too much because of how leash aggressive he is towards children. Supposedly he's a black lab/golden retriever mix, but he looks more rott/lab/golden to me. He's got the black and tan markings for it anyway. He's being boarded with us for almost two month, so I hope he continues to warm up to me. I played with him while his mom was talking to me, so hopefully he got more of the idea that I'm okay.
It also doesn't help that he's almost 2 and not neutered and the current owners are afraid to socialize him too much because of how leash aggressive he is towards children. Supposedly he's a black lab/golden retriever mix, but he looks more rott/lab/golden to me. He's got the black and tan markings for it anyway. He's being boarded with us for almost two month, so I hope he continues to warm up to me. I played with him while his mom was talking to me, so hopefully he got more of the idea that I'm okay.