Age: 4 years Gender: Male Color: Liver/White Weight: 50 lbs. Variety: Field-bred Choco, pronounced CHOCKO, is a friendly and active field English Springer Spaniel. His relinquishing family has written the following bio: He weighs a little over 50 lbs, and our vet has told us that it is the appropriate weight given his height. Choco will be 5 years old in April, 2008. He was neutered before he turned 6 months. We got Choco from a breeder in central Oregon when he was a few weeks old. He was the only male left, along with a few females. He was the favorite of the breeder's wife, and she kept him with her in the house. He loved attention! Although a lot of his body is white with liver ticking, he has an almost completely brown face, so we named him Choco (short for chocolate). Choco LOVES to fetch tennis balls. We have no idea how long he will chase them, we have never stayed at it long enough to find out. He will go for a while and rest for a minute then get up and want more. He also likes the water and is always up for a swim. If he loses a ball, he will sniff it out as though he is flushing birds. It is important that whoever adopts him is able to spend time with him tossing a ball regularly. We have the ball chuckers to make it easier. He also likes to go for hikes in the woods. From a health perspective, he seems to be in fine health and he has had regular visits to the vet with no issues. He is up to date on all shots and preventatives. Sometimes when it is cold out and we go to the park to toss the ball, he will sometimes lay down as though he is experiencing some pain after a couple runs. But after a couple minutes he is fine and will go for hours without any indication of discomfort. Accordingly, we try to warm him up with short tosses on cold days. About 18 months after we got Choco, we moved to France and could not take him with us. Choco was left with my parents for the three years that we were gone. They live in northeastern Washington, along the Columbia river near Canada. There, Choco had the company of my mother's Golden Retriever. My parents are retired and treat the dogs like children. So, Choco was used to being around another dog and people 24/7. He also had a large area to run around in. Choco flourished in this environment. You will often hear people say that their dog thinks he is part of the family. I believe that is true for most dogs, but it is particularly true for Choco. He needs to be around people, and is most content being in the house following people around and laying down at your feet. We don't have another dog, but I would expect him to be very social with a dog that he is around regularly. When we are at dog parks, he doesn't show much interest in the other dogs - he just wants to chase balls and swim. He is not aggressive to other dogs, just seems to want to be left alone (does not appreciate being sniffed by strange dogs). He was also dominant when meeting another rescue dog recently. However, with dogs he knows, like my mother's retriever, he is very social. When we go back to visit my folks, he will spend a lot of time playing with and grooming (i.e. licking her from head to toe) my mothers dog. As far as training - he likes to please. He has the basics - sit, down, leave, off, no. Stay is a tough one for him. He understands what it means and in the right environment he will stay. But like I said, he likes to follow people around. He needs leash work - he does not heel as he should (tends to walk out in front). He is house trained, but has had some accidents - and those were our fault. He will not bark or scratch at a door if he needs to go out. He will pace around and walk up to you (if you are sitting down he will put his head in your lap). So you have to be paying attention. However, if he is taken out regularly, he will be fine. Another thing people will say is that their dog understands English. Choco is very smart. For example, my daughter can be upstairs and Choco will be next to me downstairs. If I tell him to go get Kailey, he will run up stairs and get her. He does stuff like that all the time - so it appears that he understands what you are saying. However, put a tennis ball in front of him and he only has one thing on the mind. Our children are 11 and 8, and they have very active weeks and weekends. Although Choco is a beautiful, smart, affectionate dog, our lifestyle does not dovetail with his needs. We are not at home for most of the day and many of our weekend activities cannot be done with a dog. Ultimately, it is not fair to Choco and we think it would be better if he were in an environment where he had more regular and daily interaction with people (e.g. people that are retired, work from home, etc...). Coordinator's Note: Choco would not do well with cats. We'd love to see Choco with people who are at home more than the average family and have a lot of time to spend with him. Choco's family will be involved in the adoption and can make sure it's going to be a good fit for all involved.