This Sunday the 27th of July 2025, we will celebrate Hunter’s 5th Birthday, I don’t know his exact birthday, but I estimated it when he stopped growing any taller. Most medium to large breed dogs gain height till about a year old & Hunter joined my family at about 9 months of age.
Hunter was from Indiana, where he was found as a stray, I was told he avoided animal control for a bit, possible days before they caught him. A rescue took him in & after he was vetted his foster family said they had room for a dog that was not too rowdy, & good with dogs & people. Hunter who was called Yoder at the time, fit the bill, so they took him in. They posted him on an adoption site & I saw him, his paperwork said Labrador Retriever mix, but I saw German Short-haired Pointer from his photo. I had fostered for 20 years & saw a lot of dogs listed as breeds that I didn’t see in them. It is a guess as to what most dogs breeds may be, unless they are an owner surrender, came with papers or DNA was done. At the time I was still fostering, but it was during COVID so there were very few dogs in shelters available to foster that even interested me. I like the hunting & hound looking type breeds, not that I hunt, but camp, hike & wanted a dog who could keep up. I contacted the foster mom about him & made arrangements to go meet him. I won’t get into it now, but I had had a sad incident with my previous dog, so wanted an objective person to go with me to meet him. Jonathan was a judge for hunting breed dogs while they were in the field working. I reached out to him to ask him to go with me to give me an objective opinion.
He agreed & we drove about 3 1/2 hours to meet him, & Jonathan did exactly what I wanted & needed him to do. Jonathan is a nice man, & is very dog savoy, he observed him a bit & then proceeded to check him out. He almost immediately said this dog was kept in a kennel (run), he has chewed his lower four front teeth down. This is not uncommon in kennel kept dogs according to Jonathan, I personally had never seen it. To me it explains why he probably ran from animal control he didn’t want to be cooped up in a 4×6 foot run all day. He had to have those teeth removed not long after I adopted him. I am in the dental field, so my Vet allowed me to observe & keep the teeth that had to be extracted. We sat around & talked to his foster parents for a while, well I fed treats to all the dogs there running around us & on the deck with us (estimate 12 total dogs). I walked “Yoder” around their large property to see how he was on a leash & spent a little time with him away from the dogs & humans. At one point I was sitting on a dog bed on the desk & Yoder came up & laid partly on me & I heard a gasp from someone. I was thinking what just happened? Dawn his foster mom said they had had him for 3 weeks & he had never approached anyone for attention or laid near any human intentionally. He had a dog buddy he played with mostly, but didn’t interact with people. They were telling me without pressuring me that I should adopt him. I asked to foster to adopt for a week, to be sure it was a good match. I had explained what had happened with my previous dog Sydney, so they were fine with that arrangement. I filled out the adoption contract, paid the fee & we headed home with my newly adopted dog now named “Hunter.”
I don’t think it even took a week before I knew he was a keeper. He is so sweet & very attached to me & is usually in whatever room I am in. He is currently on the futon in the room I am in now. He is good with most dogs he meets, which isn’t many these days as Echo is now part of our family & he is not real dog friendly to strange dogs. Hunter likes most people & can be a little bit of a pest with those he knows well. He actually doesn’t understand the concept of personal space, with humans or with Echo. He is good around strange noises & new things, there currently are men on my roof stalling solar panels & Hunter is sleeping on the futon (Echo is too concerned to lay down).
Hunter is sweet, but not the smartest dog in the world, but a creature of habit for sure. He likes to eat at the same time, go out at the same time in the Am, so don’t get to sleep in as much as I would like on days off. I enrolled him in obedience class shortly after I adopted him, but he hated it & just kept trying to go towards the door to leave. It was held at a boarding place, so he could hear dogs barking & some whining upstairs & maybe that brought back bad memories, don’t know. The class was taught by a lady who had taught several class I had taken Sydney to. We had become friends, so I told her he was stressed & couldn’t focus(she could see that) so we were dropping out, she understood. At home I taught him to sit & he comes when called & is not usually far from me, so won’t run off even when off leash. He is good on leash after the initial excitement that we’re going for a walk wears off. He will lay down & over all is pretty well behaved. I am currently teaching him to do his business in one area of the yard, being a creature of habit this is a little bit challenging, but his is getting it as long as he stays on a leash with me or he is on a tie out if I have to walk away for a few minutes. He learns best by repetition like most animals do. I also keep tasty treats with me in my pocket. I use an old pill bottle washed out very well, it keeps treats moist, whole & easy to feed & seal it back up again. We have a fully fenced yard, but don’t want his dodo where people walk.
Hunter is a big part of my family he camps, goes on vacation, he has been to Kentucky twice, Michigan. Wisconsin & heading to Arkansas next month. He gets car sick so he travels in a crate & can’t eat before traveling in the SUV, but he is a great house guest wherever we stay.
Now after seeing all his photos you might be wondering what breeds he is, well he is a mix of 12 breeds. Hunter is 42% German Short-haired Pointer, 21% English Setter, 13% Brittany Spaniel, 6% Boxer, 4% Cocker Spaniel, 3% German Shepherd Dog, 2% of these: Irish Red & White Setter, Blue Picardy Spaniel, Vizsla, English Springer Spaniel, Chow Chow & 1% American Pitbull Terrier. I had his DNA done through Wisdom Panel. You can read more about how & why I selected this place for DNA by reading my post #29 for more about DNA testing.
I hope you are enjoying my blog, hope you find it educational, it makes you smile & gives you food for thought. My goal is to help pets owners to help their pets thrive & not just survive. If you have a topic you would like me to consider posting about please let me know. You can help my blog grow by liking posts, subscribing to my blog, commenting, visiting often & sharing my blog with your friends & family. If you want to reach me directly you can email me at echoinggreatpetcare@gmail.com I would also enjoy hearing where in the world you are reading this from. Debbie
Happy Birthday Hunter
Echoing Great Pet Care 