March 1, 2023:

Greetings from Soto! He was busy his first week at new home being introduced to Oliver, the cats and horses. At first ,he found them very curious indeed, but is adjusting to his new family very well, especially Oliver. They are quickly becoming best buddies. Soto is energized in the snow and enjoys playing ball, making dog angels, and going for walks. He settled right into the family and farm routine. We are so happy that we were matched with Soto, he is a perfect fit!

February 19, 2023:

Soto has found his forever home. More to come.

Adopted: February 18, 2023

January 3, 2023:

Soto has had some lazy days lately recovering from a two part surgery that should be all he needs to get him ready to meet his forever family soon. To know Soto is to love him, as he wants nothing more than to meet and love as many people as he can in life. They said at the vet after coming out of anesthesia he still wanted to visit with everyone in the office as they walked him through. The great thing about Soto is he is content to spend a day laying around with you, but he is always up for an adventure too! His nice long leash walks, throwing the ball around in the yard, a new chew toy, a car ride, a visit from the neighbor kids or our 2 year old granddaughter, or a house full of people petters for Thanksgiving or Cookie decorating parties. The great thing about a senior dog like Soto (7) is that he doesn’t get into mischief and only chews on things meant for chewing. He has great manners and doesn’t beg (except for more petting) or counter surf. He even had a live in dog with him this week while recovering from surgery and he was a great sharer even when he wasn’t feeling well. He will be ready for the adventure of a lifetime in the coming weeks.

December 21, 2022:

Soto has been with us a month and he has yet to cause any mischief in his foster home.  He lives for pets, walks, and new people (more petting), with his newest favorite activity being rolling in the snow, even if it’s just a dusting.

November 23, 2022:

Soto has been with us a month and he has yet to cause any mischief in his foster home. He lives for pets, walks, and new people (more petting), with his newest favorite activity being rolling in the snow, even if it’s just a dusting.

A basket of blankets on the floor, socks left on the couch while he is unattended, food on the low table next to his dog bed, my basket of yarn with the latest crochet project, he doesn’t go for any of it. He doesn’t seem to have any separation anxiety or cause any trouble when we leave him out of the crate when we are gone. I periodically will put him in the crate with a loaded Kong in case he needs it in the future for rest or his future forever family needs to put him in there for any reason, he will lay down like he won’t go in, but if I gently pull up on his collar he will get up and walk in.

The majority of the time Soto is pretty low energy but enthusiastic for play, visitors, or walks!

Because of his size and his propensity to jump up when he is excited, I have learned that if I can anticipate things that will excite him before he does, I can keep him in his very calm state of mind either with treats or petting and he won’t jump or lunge. On our walks I carry treats in my pocket and if I see the neighborhood dogs outside up ahead I can offer the treat behind my back and use the command ‘Walk’ and he will walk right past. Today, instead of avoiding walking past the two dogs, we walked right by them both on the way into the subdivision and back out and he didn’t bark or lunge, he saw them but didn’t pay much attention. When people come in to visit, I try to have him in the sit position and pet him to keep him in a calm state. I teach them the sit command and tell them to turn their back on him if he jumps up and to give him his sit signal which is the peace sign. He has been a lot better at meeting people since we learned more about each other other.

He prefers people to dogs since people can pet him, but I have not seen him be aggressive towards other dogs—he is happy to share space and humans but is not so into playing together with my granddogs.

He has been really gentle with my 2 -year -old granddaughter even though he is taller than her. One of her favorite phrases these days is “Mo’ Soto” translated to show me more pictures of Soto from your camera grandma!

He is having some dental work and medical maintenance done this week and when recovered should be ready for new adventures with some lucky forever family out there!

October 23, 2022:

Soto is such a joy to foster. If we could pet him all day he would stand, sit, or lay as long as we continued. He loves to be brushed and lets me handle his paws, ears and teeth. He loves loving.

Soto is very well-trained and a gentleman in the kitchen. He is the first dog I have come across that hasn’t begged for food. We eat pretty close to his level and as long as he is fed his food he does not beg or try to eat ours, at least not yet. He will lay down in the kitchen or follow us around while we cook but he is quiet and well mannered even when I am preparing his food. Soto knows and follows all basic commands; sometimes he holds sit and down for only a short time but if I add stay he will lengthen them. He remains in stay until released, with no distractions. I haven’t had opportunity to try commands while in an excited state but I have a feeling it will take some focus. He is a big dog and when he is excited he tends to jump up— because of his size and strength I have been working on not moving forward until he settles down. At first he didn’t want to put the leash or harness on but now he knows it means outside and walks and play so he lets me put it on without a problem.

Soto is a big boy and very strong so I was concerned how it would be if he pulled a lot on walks but he is a great walker. As soon as the leash gets tense he slows down. He stays ahead of me a bit but he doesn’t pull. He is all about the walk and not easily distracted. We have run across very loud Sandpiper cranes, and a squirrel that crossed the road right in front of us and he had hardly any reaction. He did look at me and slowed down to my side when the birds were squawking at us but when I didn’t react he kept walking. He is afraid of cars when they pass close (probably because he was once hit by a car) and because we don’t have sidewalks out by us I make sure I walk far into the grassy part of the shoulder; if it’s not well mowed I will just stop and have him sit until the car passes. He is fine with the cars on the other side of the road and looks at me but doesn’t slow down or stop.
He was not in a crate at his previous home. He really doesn’t try to get into much trouble around the house. I even have my crochet project/yarn in a basket next to my chair and he hasn’t even been very interested in it. He would probably be fine out of the crate when we are gone but I have been crating him for the 2 times I had to run errands over the last few days for about 1-2 hours each time. I put a big frozen kong in there with him and he goes right in. He sleeps in the bedroom with the crate door open at night but he does prefer the dog bed or floor. Well…he really would prefer our bed…but with his size that is not an option…he keeps trying each night though… He did go in the crate yesterday morning for a few hours before we all got up so if someone wanted to crate him at night I don’t think it would be a problem. Throughout the day  I periodically throw some small training treats in the open crate for him to find and he randomly  goes in to check.