Charlie the Rescue Leonberger

Charlie, a 13-month old Leonberger, was surrendered to a shelter in San Francisco, CA in September 2001. The reason given for his surrender was that the owner "had no time" for the dog. Looking at him, that was obvious; his fur was terribly matted, and he had what appeared to be an abscess on top of his head. However, watching him at the shelter made the reason much clearer; this 120-pound unneutered male had had no training at all. With adolescent hormones just beginning to surge, he'd probably become a handful that the previous owner wasn't able to cope with. The shelter felt that he was unadoptable - too big, too out-of-control - and planned to put him down.
Look at those matts! Fortunately, one of the vet techs responded to Charlie's classic Leonberger personality: sweet, playful, and loving. She did some research, found the breed, and contacted the Leonberger Rescue group. That's where we stepped in; as experienced dog owners, we offered to foster him. They warned us, "he's quite a handful." We knew, but we felt that we could help him learn "good manners"... and that a loving attentive home would go a long way.
Here's another Charlie photo, playing in the pool at the shelter. This, if nothing else, demonstrates that he's a Leonberger - look at that classic form digging in the water!

The first stop was the vet, for neutering, grooming (matt removal and toenail trimming). When she examined the "abscess", it turned out to be four different puncture wounds on the top and side of his head. This photo was taken 25 September 2001 - four days after his vet visit. You can see the drain they left in so his head would heal cleanly, and the cone he has to wear to keep from scratching at his head... not to mention licking at his neutering incision. The blue tape is holding the cone together; Charliebroke the plastic "hooks" after two days of smashing the cone into doorframes and trying to shove his way out of his crate.

Between the scars and stitches on his head, and his general clumsiness crashing his cone into everything (including our knees!), we started calling him Frankenberger Conehead.

Between Charlie's lack of training and tremendous working drive, placing him was a challenge... but we found a family for him. Charlie's new owners teach agility classes and keep sheep for herding practice, so Charlie has no lack of opportunities to use his massive amounts of energy.

Look at that intensity! That dog is ready to work.

CHARLIE UPDATE - February 2003

I'm not spoiled. No, really, I'm not!