Hunter and his simple pleasures...

Hunter finds a green ball enjoyable.

Signs Hunter is rubbing off on me...

Hunter and I were at the computer earlier, and I realized that his insanity may be contagious.

He was clacking his teeth (GSP folks, you know what I mean--that "clack, clack, clack" when they are over stimulated) and I started clacking my teeth right back at him. He was sitting halfway in my lap while I was checking email (yeah, sign #2 right there) and was making his "whiney Hunter" sounds. So I started trying to imitate, and we had a good time for a minute.
So I guess Hunter and I both need to be taken away somewhere that has nice people in white coats :)
Seriously, Hunter is a very affectionate boy once you get past the zany, over-wired, high-drive behaviors. He knows his name, and gets his feelings hurt if he is corrected harshly. He wants to please, but doesn't quite know how sometimes. I took my own GSP and 'houla boys hiking the other Sunday--while we were descending the trail I thought that I should have invited Hunter and maybe left the 'houla at home. Hunter is a good boy but is not, I repeat, not the dog for just anyone. His handsome appearance comes with a contract to exercise his mind and body.

The apple of Hunter's eye...

So, in the past weeks I have started a list of things Hunter is obsessed with.
Here are a few:
socks (either laying around or on your feet, doesn't matter to Hunter)
pull cords on ceiling fans
birds
squirrels
trees that had a squirrel in them yesterday
moths
water bottles (empty or full)
Toby's (resident pitbull) butt
a set of windchimes (hokey, I know, they were my grandma's) in the office--they are shaped like birds, though, to Hunter's credit
shoes
toys
bees
doors (especially closed ones)
water (either for drinking or for splashing in)
trees that had a squirrel in them last month
trees that may have had a squirrel in them at any given point in the tree's life
flies


All in all, Hunter is a wonderful boy. He will be hard to place as I am not super confident that a "normal" person will be able to deal with Hunter's super-fried, super wired GSP brain. He is very trainable and very smart. He is very sweet--he likes to cuddle.

Fun at Two Rivers Park...

Hunter and Toby (Toby is an honorary pointer, he's really a pit bull) went to Two Rivers Park near Little Rock, AR on Sunday. It was hot but not too hot. They had a blast, especially Hunter checking out all the critters. We met a couple that had a 10-year old female GSP. They were very taken with Hunter, and were also pleased to learn that there is a rescue for spotty dogs. We exchanged information and hopefully they will adopt another spotty dog.

Meet Hunter!

Hunter is a super cool young male GSP that finds himself in rescue. He was taken in by some kind folks in central Arkansas who found him as a stray. He lived with them for a few months, but just could not leave the ducks and chickens alone. So here he is in rescue, all ready for a new home. He has awesome working drive--very ball-and-toy-driven. He retrieves to hand and is very birdy. I have not had the opportunity to expose him to live gunfire--I do not know that he has had any formal hunt training, but he definitely has potential. I have not left him outside in the fenced yard while I am gone--I just don't trust that he would stay in at this point. He does not care for being crated--he voices his displeasure quite loudly. He is very sweet, though, and is a "talker" when you are petting him. He was trying to show ownership of me and "protect" me from my old male shep mix, and was quickly corrected by both me and the shep mix. He is good with other dogs but I would not trust him in the same county as a cat. I have not tried him offleash, as I don't really trust his recall at this point. I think Hunter would readily take to agility or frisbee or dock-diving with no trouble. He has an incredible drive that is amazing to watch. The person that adopts Hunter will be very lucky.