Well it has been a busy month, but very productive for Miles.  He is improving almost daily.  Were to begin?  He is doing great on the halter leash on his evening walks.  He has almost completely internalized the commands that we have been working on.  Name, come, down, off and no are almost uniformly obeyed.  Only some reminding necessary.  Next we will start to work on sit, stay, retreive and give.  He will need these before he can start training for hunting again.

He is doing great in the yard.  He is now pointing dove and the robins in the yard, and has started to learn the extreme slow motion stealth approach on the birds.  Sometimes he is not stealthy enough, and sometimes his nervous energy gets in the way and he charges and flushes them then chases them to the trees or our fence.  Great improvement from when we got him six weeks ago, when he was barely interested. 

He still likes to jump up on people, especially outside, but that is improving also, and usually only takes one or two remainders per trip outside.  I only had to change clothes at lunch time twice last week due to "muddy paws".

Inside, he has turned into an absolutely silly boy.  His personality is coming out more and more.  He is a CLOWN.  He just loves attention and affection.  Sometimes on the couch he will almost turn himself inside out to get a belly rub or some ruffling.  He is much better about not rough housing in the house, although he still is sometimes too exuberant.  But most of the time, he will sit next the the chairs or on the couch wanting to be patted, and ocassionally lick your hand.  He has actually learned "calm" inside.

He is still intact, and is still marking some inside the house, but that has reduced some and should resolve once he is "fixed". 

Miles is responding well to the Amoxi/Doxy combo for his Lyme and RMSF.  Probably most of the credit for his improvement goes to having those diseases properly treated.  He is just waiting for his forever home to come.  He will be a wonderful companion dog, and with some patient training, I think he could be a good field hunting dog, too.  Someone needs to make him their spoiled best friend/pet.

It is amazing how quickly these dogs that have some of these TBIs improve when treated with antibiotics and have another dog to pattern after.  Miles has been in treatment less that 4 weeks for Lyme and RMSF, and with us only two weeks.  When he got here with his sister, neither was showing any interest in birds and just wanted to run and play.  Commands were only suggestions.  He was a real personality and really very sweet, but a real knothead, inside the house especially and out. 

What a difference two weeks make!  He is still a sweetheart, and still has some behavior issues, but he is so much more controlled, both inside and out.  But it is outside that he is showing massive and rapid improvement.

First, he is now VERY birdie.  After his mad dash and run around the yard when first let out, he is looking for birds, and visually sighting them.  Today, patterning after my setter, Morgana, he is now slowly stalking birds in the yard, getting within about 20 feet of them before either charging or running after them when they flush.  Head up, tail up, perfect form.  Just needs to practice and get a little more patience.  He follows them to the tree and stands up at the tree they have flown to.  Massive improvement.

Second, he is much better outside responding to commands and showing better focus.
Still wants to jump up on people at first but will redirect after several commands, push offs, and either sit or stand next to the chair and want to be patted.  He is a real lovebug.

Miles is perhaps the second handsomest male setter we have ever had.  He is gorgeous.  In a few more weeks, he will be someone's spoiled, but favorite bird dog.

Well, we are fostering Beautiful English Setter boy Miles, and his Littermate Maizy.  They are both beautiful copper and white setters.  We are told they were owner surrenders to a shelter in Chicago area and are a little less than two years old.  We have had them now for a week and they are a lot of fun.

Miles has solid copper ears and no eye patches.  Maizy has one copper ear, on speckled and one eyepatch.  As you can see in the photos.  More to come soon.