Gus and his new life

There's a rescue group called "No More Tears" that pulls dogs from puppymills that the millers don't want and are going to shoot. Laura contacted Tiff and NEBTR to see if we had room. Laura and some other people went into several lancaster county mills on saturday morning and pulled 12 dogs. Most were poodles, but there were also 2 puppy mixes and a Boston. The poodles were in terrible shape. One guy I saw had legs that were so bowed from being in a crate his entire life, that he could barely walk, never mind walk on a leash. This Boston however, was from a "less severe" mill and only stank and had bugs all over him. THESE DOGS ARE WHY YOU DO NOT BUY DOGS FROM A PET STORE. These are the breeder dogs the millers use and the general public never sees. They keep them in terrible conditions and then toss them (or worse) when they are no longer of any use to them. (ie: unable to reproduce.)

What a happy guy! Gus is about 5 years old and we're guessing he weighs 30-35lbs. He's a stocky more bully type BT. I picked him up in Paradise saturday morning from Laura and her crew. I turned the corner around the van and there he was sitting with a friend. He was Jumping and happy and giving kisses to each new person he met. I was pleasantly surprised! We took him back to Tiff's place and immediately threw him in the tub for a bath. He jumped out at first, but once he realized it was water and warm he placed his big butt right under the faucet and kept it there! He had a great coat and teeth, his nails aren't terrible and he smelled so much better when we were done.

Being an unaltered puppy mill male he has the urge to mark everything. He tried to mark Odie through the baby gate one time; in the crate he went! So Lindsay (she was up visiting for the weekend VERY close by) and I took a trip to petsmart for a belly band and a harness as he loves to pull as well. It was so funny to see him try to mark after the belly band was on him. He would lift his leg in great pleasure and then abruptly put it back down with a "hey, that's not so fun" look on his face.

You can't tell by these pictures, but he loves to jump. He has mastered jumping the baby gate, so i'm not sure what Ron and Tiff are planning for that. He's heading to the vet tomorrow for a check up and then after that he'll be good to mingle in small amounts with her crew.

Gus is a smarty pants. In the short time we were with him, he learned that he if wanted to be pet, he needed to sit not jump all over Nick. (Nick took to the not so little guy very quickly! He did awesome work with him this weekend!) Gus has a big heart and just wants to be with people. He has quite a bit of energy, but i think he's going to settle quite nicely once he's in a routine and figure life out a little more. He scarfs down the chicken and rice quite quickly and has been managing to hold it down without vomiting (he did vomit 3x sat morning before I picked him up.) Sunday morning however, he was acting like he needed to go out. God is so good, I got him out in time as he relieved himself quite explosively. That would have been a mess in Tiff's immaculate kitchen!

Gus is going to make someone a GREAT family dog with some basic obedience and lots of consistency! If your heart and family has a home for this guy please contact NEBTR for an application. There is a link to the website of the side of the blog.

I am so glad that we had an opportunity to help with transport and the initial stages of fostering this weekend. One of these years we will have our own place and will be able to foster our own little guy!