Oreo (aka Chompers)

Don’t let the name fool you, Chompers is a gentle giant, weighing in at 97.2 lbs, who found himself looking for love after he was left behind when his people moved. Chompers came about his name because he makes a cute chomp-chomp noise when you talk to him. He joined HOPE on 12/02/2022 and we’re trying on names as we get to know this big fuzzy bear! He seems to like people and other dogs, but stay tuned for future updates on him!

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1/13/2023  Oreo is an amazing dog for so many reasons:

1. He loves to walk on the treadmill OR just cuddle and sleep with his head on your lap.
2. He’s kind and great at reading people and other dogs. Oreo’s friend, Roxy, scraped her paw this week. Oreo walked over to her and started to lick her paw where it was injured.
3. He’s smart. Oreo will go up to a stranger and sit, give them his paw, and expect a treat.
4. He’s funny. He was playing with one of his toys in my cell. Trying to get my attention, he flung it up in the air, and it landed in the toilet. (Don’t know if he actually TRIED to do that or not!)
5. Oreo is awesome for all of he above reasons, and so much more! He’d love to share his wonderful and funny personality with you!

1/6/2023  Oreo’s new thing over the past few weeks is walking on the treadmill. He loves walking on the treadmill at a nice, easy pace for about 15 to 20 minutes. He’s so good, in fact, that I can walk away for a few seconds and he’ll just keep walking by himself.

Oreo also loves to lay on the floor and play with the ball on the ground. He reminds me of sea otters using their front legs to break open their food. When the ball or toy goes out of his reach, he waits for me to retrieve it and give it back to him. I think he’s been training ME to retrieve the ball and give it back to him. Hmmmmm. . . I thought it was supposed to be the other way around?!

Oreo got Gold Stars this week for playing off leash with Roxy, walking on the treadmill, and being SO GREAT with all people he meets. He LOVES to be around people!

12/30/2022  Oreo has had a productive week with training and interaction with the other dogs. Oreo has learned to give paw on cue and has made a best friend with neighbor dog, Roxy. Oreo may be 100 pounds, but Roxy runs the show when it coms to playtime. It’s so cute when they sit or lay down next to each other when they are tired from playing.

Oreo got “Gold Stars” this week for playing off leash with Roxie, learning to give “paw” on cue, and performing basic obedience commands with verbal or hand cues only.

12/23/2022  Oreo, aka “Chompers,” has been settling in just fine. Oreo is just as happy as he can be.

With the cold weather we had, I wanted to try and put a coat on Oreo. I showed him the coat and his first reaction was very happy. Then, I put the coat on him. He looked at me with a face that said, “REALLY?”

I took him outside to the dog yard in the snow. He sniffed around a little bit then he pancaked on the snow and started panting. I got the point. Oreo was hot, and he didn’t need a dog coat. Not at all. The instant I took the coat off, he started tearing around in the snow like a puppy. Then he stopped and looked at me like everything was right with the world.

Oreo is starting to learn his obedience commands with verbal and hand cues only. At times, I still need to use treats, but he’s been excelling with his commands.

12/16/2022  Oreo’s, aka Chompers, second full week has gone great! More of his personality is coming out, and he is more friendly and loving with each passing day.

This week, Oreo got to meet the other dogs and run back and forth with them with the fence between them. Oreo wanted to play with Rocco so badly that at the corner of the fence he would try and dig under the fence to get to Rocco. A stern “nope” from me, and Oreo stopped his digging. He looked back at me like he was asking “Why did you tell me no?”

Oreo is friendly with the other five dogs in HOPE and loves to run back and forth with them with the fence between them. So far, Oreo has been the perfect dog. And. . . not only is he excelling with the “stay” command, but he’s also had no potty accidents this past week!

12/09/2022 Oreo, aka Chompers, has been AWESOME to work with! He’s extremely smart because he pick up on obedience skills fairly quickly. In the first few days he only knew sit. Now, he’s learned touch, target, wait at the door, and we’ve been working on his stay. Oreo wants to be around a person all the time, but can also be independent enough to be by himself without barking.

He loves to play with his Titan-type Kong but his favorite toy is a blue stuffed lion. On the second day he was in his crate sleeping and he was literally hugging the stuffed lion with both his front paws. So CUTE!!! He loves sleeping with all of his toys!

We are still working on his potty training, as he’s had a couple accidents. Every day he’s doing better and better holding his bladder and telling me when he needs to go. But considering the new environment, all the smells, and the dogs, he’s doing really very well!