Teddy

• Special Needs
• Available

• Age 10 years
• Sex Male
• Size 65lbs - He's very thin right now, and needs to stay that way. If he were a normal weight lab, he'd be more on the 80lbs. He's a big boy, just skinny.
• Fixed Yes
• House Trained Yes
• Foster Parent(s) Thanks to Jo and Paul for being great fosters to Teddy!

Before you read Teddy’s bio and fall in love with him, we want to be up front about his medical needs and costs. Teddy visits CRCG for rehab once a week, which will likely continue forever. His adopter would need to be able to take him to CRCG in Englewood or Broomfield. The appointments can be expected to cost $400+/month. He is also on quite a few medications and supplements, so another $100-$200+/month. He needs to have blood work done semi-annually, and check-up appointments every 6 months or so, which can be $200 or more. Teddy’s medical bills are extensive, so please think about this prior to inquiring about him. If you fall in love with Teddy but can’t adopt him, ask us how to sponsor his medical bills! Teddy aka Teddy Bear aka Theodore is your typical “everyone who meets him falls in love with him immediately” lab. He has a LOT of friends – basically everyone he meets is his best friend, and he loudly insists that they pet him and snuggle his face. He is a gentle guy, and just wants belly rubs and behind the ear scratches all day. Teddy LOVES toys. He has a special toy that he totes around the house and knows its name. Every morning, he makes a big show of looking for and finding it. But if it’s not available, he will take any squeaky toy or bone. He’s a lab that loves carrying things around in his mouth. If you saw him in the mornings, you’d think that he was maybe 3 years old – he loves playing with squeaky toys and playing tug of war (we try to do a modified laying down version) Teddy is not crated when we are not home. We figured out that being in the crate or shut into a bedroom was causing him a lot of anxiety. If he’s left with free roam of the house, he is completely calm when we return. Since he’s not in the crate, we have to make sure that the counters are clear and all food is out of his grasp. In typical lab style, Teddy has managed to get ahold of an entire bag of dog food, multiple bags of dog treats, and anything we leave close to the edge of the counter. He can only get ahold of what you give him access to, so just keeping things up solves that problem! He’s only interested in food, not anything else. Teddy is very loyal and just wants to be around his people. He’d do best with people that are home more often than not. Teddy is also a very vocal dog. He barks when he’s happy, hungry, excited, playing, etc. It’s his way of talking, and he does it a LOT. Unfortunately, Teddy has hip dysplasia (and some elbow and knee pain) and isn’t able to do all the fun things he wants to do – he’s had this condition for most of his life and has had prior surgeries on both back legs when he was younger. Until now, he had figured out how to just live with the pain, but RMLR’s doctors thought they could alleviate at least some of his pain. Fortunately, RMLR is able to provide the necessary surgery and physical therapy for Teddy that he so badly needed. Teddy had a full hip replacement mid-August 2019. Then early October 2019 he fully broke his femur and the metal plate holding it together – a complication of the hip replacement surgery. Teddy has long been healed up from his surgeries and is now looking for his forever home. Right now, his activities include two short (10-15 minute) walks per day, following his foster mom everywhere she goes in the house (literally everywhere), plus physical therapy exercises once per day (5-10 minutes). He’s also pretty good at helping with outside chores, as long as we remind him to lay down instead of wander about. Whoever adopts Teddy will likely have to continue to do PT at home with him to make sure his muscles continue to strengthen, as well as visits to his physical therapy doctor. Despite all of his limitations, we spend a lot of the day telling Teddy to slow down. He doesn’t see why he can’t go farther and faster. His heart wants to go, but his body just isn’t built for a marathon. He’s a 9-10 year old physically limited dog, but he acts more like a 3-year-old dog who wants to play all the time and has no idea that he should be taking it easy. Teddy needs a family who understands that his pain will likely need to be carefully managed for the rest of his life. His forever family must agree to care for him as he continues to recover. He MUST go to someone that has one main floor in the house. He likes being with his people, so he’d want to be able to access your bedroom at night without stairs. He also needs carpet or a few rug runners, as his favorite move is a dangerous double or triple spin when he’s excited. Teddy can manage three stairs all day long just fine. He can do one full set of stairs once, maybe twice a day, but that will continue to get harder as he gets older. He’s never going to be your hiking buddy, but he does like getting out and going places – like every typical lab does. Teddy MUST be lifted in and out of the car, so his new owners need to be able to lift his 65-70lbs. He’s also very strong on his leash and can pull hard, but only does so when he gets excited.