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Murph is such a beautiful dog, so friendly and so good. The kids love him but he is very shy and timid. He has the most wonderful colouring and is great with other dogs.
He arrived last night and we can see a huge improvement in the last 24 hours. When he meets someone new he will lie down until they call him and then he is all waggy tail and likes to get a rub.
He is a young dog so there is a lot of work to be done with him on the lead but that is to be expected of any dog of his age. He is very shy when out and will lie down when passing people unless they give him a call. As regular beach walkers we know a lot of the people who walk their dogs and they will usually come over once they seen that we have a new foster dog. He was well behaved with all the dogs he met and loved the attention.
He does not like the sound of cars and can be quite scared and can be difficult to get out of the house and car but once out he is fine. As we are only on day one I would expect that this is just because he is not used to it.
We have 3 cats and he has been good with them, he has not tried to chase them and he would appear to be used to living with cats.
I would expect that this is a dog which with a little love and attention will continue to develop to be a great family dog. He will need a little bit of socialising and training at the beginning but the effort I am sure will be repaid ten fold by this loving dog.
043.JPG055.JPGSam and Murph 533.jpgIt is lovely to see how much happier this lovely boy looks in the photos you posted. He is obviously thriving under your care. He sounds like a lovely dog and hopefully he will find his permanent home soon. Well done.
This little dog has been with us for a little over a week and he has come on so much. For the first week we could not get him to leave the house. We would put his lead on and when we opened the front door he would run to the back door and we would have to drag him out for the walk. By the weekend once we have his lead on and open the front door he is ready to jump into the boot of the car to go to the beach for a walk.
He is still weary while going for walks on the road, especially at night.
He loves the beach especially when he can be let off the lead for a run but as his recall is not very good we can only do this when we the beach is clear but when there is not anyone else around he is good and stays close at hand and is improving each time.
He is great with other dogs he meets but he must be on a lead as he would follow them.
He is good around the house and he gets on great with 2 out of our 3 cats. The kids love him and all their friends are all greeted with a wagging tail but as all pups he still likes to jump up.
He will still need a lot of work but even in the short time he has been with us we have seen such an improvement that we know that it will just take a few weeks to make this little fella the perfect pet. He has the right temperament and he loves to be around people.
Sam and Murph 003.JPGSam and Murph 015.JPGHi!
When he came to me he was actually afraid. Deep inside he wanted to come closer but if you wanted to take him by the collar or play with him or pet him (not to mention putting him on the leash!), he would nip you and bounce back in fright, that would be followed by nervous barking as if he was saying ‘What do you want? I don’t understand your world. I’m scared.’ He didn’t know how to interact with other dogs and was annoying them with his boisterous behaviour. He didn’t know how to settle and lie down and rest and was constantly on the go. He didn’t know how to walk on the leash and thought it was actually a really scary experience. He would lie down on the ground as if to say ‘Please don’t do it to me..’ He didn’t know how to play with toys and he would bark constantly seeing me playing with other dogs or other dogs playing with each other. He wasn’t interested in food at all..
Murph came to us shortly after neutering and from that moment on his life started changing for the better.
First of all, he got crate-trained and at the same time house-trained.. even more, he now sees his crate as his safe place, his den and goes in on command and also goes to ‘wee’ on command and he would never have a single accident in the house anymore. Slowly and gradually we started building his trust in people. Constantly rewarded and reinforced for his good behaviour, hardly ever corrected, he became more trusting and more calm. At this stage he barely nips. Only if the environment becomes too much for him or when he thinks you’re not pleased with him, or when he becomes frustrated and tries to get some attention he still does it but it’s harmless nipping, nothing like before, it’s more him signalling to me that he needs some space or time but this behaviour is rapidly changing.My dogs did a great job teaching him good manners and he now patiently waits his turn at feeding time, he would respect other dogs’ resting time and he would play nicely with them. He is very puppyish in a way but there is something mature about him, probably experience, that we know nothing about. My dogs taught him to play with toys so his favourite games are playing tug with other dogs and play-fighting but he would respect his playmate now and would not push the boundaries anymore. He can also live with cats as we have one and he’s ok with her.
Recently I have experienced a couple of breakthroughs with him.
First one, I finally got him out and he is now walking on a lead. As he realized walks are actually a very enjoyable experience, he now looks forward to them. I am working on his leash walking and after a couple of weeks of work, I finally see results of him not nipping or barking and he actually walks on a loose leash and doesn’t react to other dogs that he passes by.Second one, I started encouraging him to play with interactive toys in my presence. It took a couple of days but he slowly began to realize it’s actually ok to play in human presence. Once he got that knack, I started encouraging him to join in my play with other dogs. It took weeks, but he is now trying really hard to overcome this barrier and I had a couple of incidents of him actually tugging with me and interacting with other offered toys for a short time. So fingers crossed, everything seems to be going for the better.
Unfortunately, because of his lack of faith in humans, we still don’t have 100% recall, but we are working on it and he is responding very well to training.
To sum it up, we think Murph would make a really good family pet as he isn’t a typical high-strung collie. He can now relax and chill in his own company and even without his proper runs and only mental stimulation (training) that he receives at the moment, he is absolutely not destructive. He is a very loving and affectionate dog that responds very well to training as long as it’s not correction-based. He shuts down easily, which makes me think he would be ideally suited into a quiet home with people who can spend some quality time with him and continue with his progress. God knows what he’s been through. He loves playing with other young dogs and would benefit from company of another young dog for reassurance as he still trusts other dogs more than he trusts people. I would not recommend him for a family with children because he wouldn’t take any tugging or hugging or wrestling with humans, etc. He gets very nervous of any commotion and sudden noises, movements, etc, which makes me think an adult home or a home with older children would suit him best. He isn’t used to the street noises as yet as we live in a quiet village and he became very frantic when taken to town’s main street with cars and lots of people and noises once.
All in all, I think he would make a wonderful addition to a suitable family.
If there are any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask me and I will do my best to answer asap.P.S. As an incentive, my dog trainer (nationwide collie expert) has very generously offered a free home visit to the person who adopts Kendo if he goes to new home in Dublin. If outside Dublin, the lucky person would still get the free home visit but would have to cover diesel cost if interested.
It’s great to hear how Murphy (Kendo?) is getting on. It is lovely to see how beautiful his colouring is shown off now that he does not look neglected and heartbroken (first photo was shockingly sad). He will no doubt make a wonderful dog for the right family, and hopefully with more time and care and love he will trust people again. It sounds like he is making amazing progress, it is so sad when you meet a dog who does not know what it is to play, and it is so wonderful when someone takes the time to show them. It is all part of making a balanced, happy dog. Well done on all your work with him. He sounds like such a lovely lost boy, I hope he continues to make wonderful progress and finds the perfect loving home.
He is doing really well. A fantastic little dog.
He is very well behaved in the house.We do agility classes with him on Sat mornings
& I have just started jogging with him. He is very good on the lead when jogging but still pulls a bit on a walk.He loves to play with all his toys. Ducky is his favourite.
He is very clever and can pick out ducky from teddy.The only thing is when he gets over excited.
When he’s with other dogs he can jump up and nip but he is getting better as long as you catch him on time and distract him,I think he will probably grow out of it.
at the beach.jpgHi.jpgMurph looks better and happier every time I check on how he’s doing. What a very handsome boy. Wishing you all the best Murph. X
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