WINDHAM – L.L. Bean (the dog) was delivered to his new Windham family, the Burts of Pipeline Drive, on Jan. 11 just before a snowstorm hit.

Precious Pets Transport delivered the tree walker coon hound from a Wisconsin animal shelter to Windham after Pam Burt, a 12-year L.L. Bean employee, decided to adopt the dog after it was mentioned in a company memo.

In the first week since having the 3-year-old L.L. Bean, the Burts are treating the shelter dog like it’s a puppy, since the dog isn’t housebroken and doesn’t know its name. The dog also has food aggression. But despite those issues, Pam Burt says great progress is being made as L.L. Bean makes a new home with the Burt family, which consists of Pam, husband Ron, and sons Zachery and Travis.

“He’s been a lot better temperament-wise than we expected him to be. We were expecting the absolute worst and were prepared for it,” Pam Burt said.

L.L. Bean employees donated a fluffy dog bed that Burt says the dog enjoys. After a rough first night, the dog has slept through the night on the bed that bears the monogram “L.L. Bean the dog.”

Burt’s husband takes the dog on walks in the neighborhood and reports a slight tug, “but nothing too bad, except when he sees something that he wants to chase after.”

L.L. Bean is also doing reasonably well with the other family pet, a rescued female dog named Amber, with both learning their new roles and learning how to live together.

Pam Burt is looking forward to taking her new dog to work so he can see what his namesake is all about.

“It may be a few more weeks before that happens,” Pam Burt said. “The biggest thing is, I’m treating him like a puppy, and training him not like he’s not 3 years old but 3 months old.”

L.L. Bean the dog, the rambunctious black-and-white coon hound
seen at right, gathers with his new adoptive family in Windham and
their other rescued dog, Amber. From left are Zachery, Ron, Pam and
Travis Burt. (Staff photo by John Balentine)