This is Travis, who was picked up by a woman in Corydon, Indiana while he was running loose as a stray in a pack of dogs fighting for their food. At that time and for months afterwards, he tried to bite (and did) the rear ends of anyone that got close to him! When initially brought into GRRAND Golden Retriever Rescue Louisville, Kentucky, they had never been faced with an aggressive dog before. So, he went to the home of the rescue's coordinator, Jane Akeroyd. She worked with him as best she could, but he proved to be more than a handful. Travis liked to walk on top of her kitchen table, shred everything in sight into little pieces, and continued to bite everyone's tush he could get to!

Jane finally agreed, though, to let Jeff Slyn adopt him in June 1996. Jeff admits that Travis is no more calm than two years ago. But, he has attended three series of classes, and become a registered Therapy Dog through TDI. He marginally passed his CGC test, but not with what you would call flying colors! Now, while he continues to play-bite when riled up or if you run away from him in the back yard, shred everything in site, and steal any food he can get his teeth into, Jeff says that when calm, Travis "is a real cutie you just want to hug and kiss."

Travis is very alpha and might never be trustworthy, so unfortunately he must be blocked into the kitchen every night. He has his own house in the kitchen and has unfortunately learned the meaning of "Go to your room" all too often. He's still very headstrong and will only do sits, downs, stays or comes if he feels like it, even though he knows each of the commands quite well. The funny thing about all this, Jeff says, is "when his pronged collar is on and we go to a nursing home with him, he's as gentle a baby as we could hope for. It's like he turns into another personality when he's going to be petted and felt by senior citizens."