Austin

Update:02/24/10:

Austin is getting a great report from his new foster home! He started out with a super foster family who, however,  needed to keep him crated quite a bit, & who couldn’t give him as much activity as he needed. The confinement  and lack of vigorous exercise were making him feel stressed, and so it was on to Plan B—a move to a home where he could be babygated and where he has a “girlfriend” just a year or so older than he is who is more than willing to be a play-pal. Says his foster mom:

Austin is a normal, lively 12- to 18-month-old who needs lots of exercise, lots of play and basic obedience training. He mingles freely with our three Goldens when one of us is here, and there have been no problems. Libby and Austin love to play & they have the same style—lots of bitey head, bitey leg, rough-and-tumble action—they wear each other out! Emma likes to observe from afar and Casey likes to stay out of the action all together. (:

Austin does better baby-gated than crated, loves attention but is learning to take it in stride if we ignore him while we are busy. On Saturday we left him  baby-gated in the den for 7 hours, and other than typical young dog mischief (a bag of onions and a bag of potatoes pilfered from the counter were found on the floor),  nothing was mauled, chewed or destroyed.

Austin needs a home with another compatible dog friend to play and tear around the yard with, a house with a non-isolated room that can be sturdily baby-gated, an active person/persons who like to walk, run, hike. He would be an agility dream dog with training! He is fast, agile and a quick study, one the brightest dogs we've fostered. My husband had tied a baby gate to one already mounted to the framing. When done he was very proud of  his “guarantee” that Austin would not be able to clamber over the baby gate. Apparently, Austin felt this setup gave the humans an unfair advantage and proceeded to untie the rope knots with his teeth. Clever dog! He had one undone when discovered.  Bill redid the knots, this time on the oppose side of the gate to deny Austin the challenge of taking apart rope knots with his teeth.

So to recap:  smart dog who needs exercise both physical and mental. He's a natural for future advanced training. The right family will be thrilled with this dog!

Stray hold was up, no owner had shown, the shelter was full – it was a hurry-up intake for happy blond Austin. He doesn’t seem to have been on his own for long—he was pretty clean, with nice clean ears and short nails. “Absolutely beautiful!  And nice. I can't believe no one is looking for him,” said our evaluator. “Pretty calm for a dog as young as  he is… he did not jump up at all, even when invited. He seems to know SIT, too.” 

Austin is heartworm negative and should be available for adoption  soon. More information as his foster family gets to know him better!

Adoption Procedures