Please help Tate find his perfect home! Updated photos coming soon!

Note: Please forgive our "Under Construction look" as we work on changing our header, and graphics at the top of this page. Hope to have a "computer expert" help out soon--the older header disappeared when I was trying to preview the new logo!  Even the followers are no longer showing up on the left hand side of the page, but hopefully they are still following! Please be patient with me while I figure out how to fix these glitches! Thanks,  Melanie

Meet “Tate”, aka Paint Me Tic Tac Toes, an AKC registered Standard Poodle, searching for his perfect home!

Sometimes my heart kicks in before my brain. This is what happened when we brought Tate home only a few months after Hudson died in 2023. I firmly believe in purchasing pups from ethical show/performance breeders, or adopting from reputable rescues. But I saw this little fellow online who looked so much like Huddy, the heart dog I had lost, then found out he was not in a good situation and within a week, he was with us.  My husband named him Tate. Tate did not have the benefit of the many wonderful things that great breeders do, things such as Puppy Culture programs.  I have worked with many such dogs, who didn't have the greatest beginning,  with good success when I was actively involved in rescue work during my dog training years, but now, with my health issues, I am not the best home for a dog who needs extra work. And no matter how much love you give a dog, if a pup did not have what he needed in his first few months of life, he is going to need much more than love to make him a confident, well-adjusted pet. From the first month of taking him, we talked of rehoming Tate because we felt he needed more than we could give him. We put out a few feelers, but never had an inquiry that was suitable, because my motto has always been that no dog leaves unless he can go to a better home than I can provide him. 

Tate is very bright, so house-training him was zero problem. Tate LOVES people (adults, he thas not been exposed to little people) and he loves playing with our big, playful, champion boy Brodie--as long as Brodie doesn’t get near things the things Tate dearly values, which are food, TREATS, his crate, and his Daddy! Brodie is ok staying away from things like the treat jar, but not from Mom and Dad. After all, Brodie was here first and he loves attention just as much as Tate does. Tate being overprotective of anything edible is almost normal, because he did not have enough food as a puppy before we took him in,  but acting the same way about protecting the space around us from our other dogs, is problematic.

When allowed to play with no food around, Brodie and Tate are best buddies. But Tate is, at heart, a resource guarder, because sadly he was a semi-rescue, as in one of those dogs that when you make the call, you know that these are leftover puppies who need to get to their new homes quickly. This breeder was an older couple who raised farm animals, who wanted to get out of dogs due to their health issues.  By the time I found out about him, Tate was being kept in an outdoor "dog lot" with several other "leftover puppies" who were not sold. Tate happened to be the smallest, even though he was the only boy. When asked about how they were fed, he stated that some kibble was simply tossed into the pen each morning, and they were not fed at any other time other than in the morning when other farm animals were fed. Thankfully a friend of mine, long-time poodle fancier Georgi Shearin, after seeing photos of Tate after we got him, moved quickly to get the last remaining female pup out of the situation.

Being only 12 weeks old when we got him, of course this little Tater Tot was getting very hungry having to wait until the eacy morning for the only kibble that was tossed into his pen each day! We feed uupi The same was happening when my Gerogi ot his female littermate out at 14 weeks. Tate was thin when we got him, but passed his vet check-up with flying colors. And since he LOVES to eat, it was no trouble putting weight on him. 

Tate is close to two years old now, very bright, very loving and although he dislikes having his feet shaved, he has never shown any aggression towards people. He passed all the DNA testing, ruling out health issues that Standard Poodles are prone to, at least all the things we can test for on DNA, and that is quite a few! Neutered, up to date on vaccines, so far he is a very healthy boy.

Tate is very bright, loves petting and bonds quickly. He adores retrieving balls and enjoys toys but is not a pest about retrieving like some poodles can be. He is submissive to Brodie, the 3 1/2 high energy Standard Poodle who was here before him, and they play well outside where there are no treats to guard! But the bottom line is, Tate is a people-dog and he needs to be an only child, without the competition of other dogs or even children (just to be safe) because he acts up over what he considers valuable resources--which in his mind, are his crate, anything edible, and his people. Not possessive of toys for some reason, probably because he didn't have them as a young pup before we got him. I have searched for the perfect match as far as a home like this for him, without any success.

However, the GREAT news is that Tate is now under the umbrella of Mavroudis Poodle Rescue in Georgia, although for now, he is still being fostered with us in North Carolina!

They are a hard-working, ethical group and have him listed on their website, and hopefully his updates will also be on their social media sites as well. I plan to groom him this weekend and work on getting some updated photos and a trainer friend has helped me with a plan for putting a bit more obedience training on him while he awaits his forever home. Since this rescue group is in the Greater Atlanta area, we will be glad to help transport him when that the right home comes along, passes all the reference checks and is approved to adopt this special boy.

When no other dogs are around, Tate is incredibly calm, just preferring to hang out with his people, playing with toys from the toy box. Athough his favorite thing (next to treats!) is retrieving balls, he is not demanding like many retrievers. So Tate would be great for someone who works from home, since he is very content just being in the same room with you. After some initial attention, he tends to just nap on a comforter or dog bed near his person.

Tate is house-trained, no potty accidents, however he still has lots of puppy in him, so has to be watched carefully so he doesn't chew anything that he shouldn't. He sleeps quietly through the night, so like most adults, should be much easier in that department! But because he is still young (23 months at the time of this update) he would greatly benefit from daily walks or an owner who will go out in a fenced yard and play ball with him, or even teach him some Rally or Agility work. Right now he knows "Sit", "Down" "Kennel up" and is very reliable Coming when called inside the house. Because I have a physical disability he has not had a lot of work on leash, he doesn't mind the leash and understand the left side, but needs more training to understand that pulling on leash is not acceptable. 

After chatting with two very experienced trainer-friends of mine, we started more daily training sessions just this week. Because Tate loves treats, praise and attention, he is super smart and fun to train. He has been a homebody though, so is not overly confident in novel situations, sometimes a tad fearful at the vet's office.

Tate needs to feel secure, so a home where someone is home most of the time would be ideal. He has never been around cats or children, and since he doesn't like to share with other dogs, the goal is to find Tate a home as an only child. 

If you have serious interest in Tate, you can fill out an adoption application at Mavroudis Poodle Rescue, and even take a look at all of the very worthy pups and adults that they currently have for adoption on their For Adoption Page. which also explains their adoption policies.

Our goal is a perfect match--so Tate can blossom into the extra special, loved family member he was created to be! We are now his foster home, so Mavroudis Poodle Rescue will be the one to check references and have final approval, but if you have a simple question about Tate that we can answer,  feel free to email me personally at knowingdogs@gmail.com. 

Also, please follow this blog, as we hope to continue to feature Poodles who are looking for their forever homes, or rescues that need donations to save special needs ones! Poodles are such amazing dogs, please join me in helping make sure each one finds the perfect match for their forever homes!