[Mackenzie’s Admin]

I was thinking about my buddy Rufus today, and how happy I am that he’s going to be an MAS dog for at least a little while longer!

I think that sometimes people look at Rufus and he makes them a little nervous–he’s got so much energy that it is constantly being expended somewhere–whether it’s the lunchtime air raid siren sound he makes when he sees me feeding the southeast wing and wants someone to hurry up and feed him, or that he’s just so excited to see someone at his gate that he leaps toward it hoping that it’s his time to go out.

I have to admit, when I first met him, I was a little nervous too. He’s a strong dog and has a good deal of energy stored up. But, as I have come to know him, he’s really a wonderful surprise, because he’s got the sort of charm that just sneaks up on you. He loves to play and is such a people pleaser.

I don’t know if he’s so easy to train because he’s a lab, or because he wants to work for you, but either way, he’s a great guy. He’s such a big and goofy dog, and he is really oriented toward his people, and I was surprised by how fast he bonded with me! Sometimes the 5-10 minutes of training with some dogs during T time seems to drag by, but I could spend an entire 20 minutes teaching Rufus things. He loves to perform!

It cracks me up to see how much he loves toys–his favorite places to hang out are in the real life room if there are 6 or 7 plushies on the floor, or in the laundry room where he can pick through the toy wagons and find what he wants–and he always wants to share his toys. Too bad it’s not that easy with kids!

I am really happy that he’s going to be around for awhile.

[Mackenzie’s Admin]

Rufus is so beautiful, and so sweet. Yes he’s a big strong boy who doesn’t know his own strength, yet he wants to learn good manners & he wants to please us…. his intelligence is amazing, he learns so quickly with consistency and positive guidance. His big goofy smile with that huge tongue hanging out always puts a smile on my face!

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