Dusty's got a new home!

Dusty has a new home -- on a property with 5.6 acres and grandkids to boot!

We put up flyers, posted classified ads in the daily and weekly papers and the weekly ad paper, and notified the local dog shelters, but we were never contacted by his original owner. (We'll never know why he became separated from his owner -- he's a wonderful dog, and apparently well treated, so it's hard to imagine someone could have dumped him... but that may have been the case.)

We were contacted by a few people looking for their own Australian Shepherds who'd gotten lost (that's why we created this blog in the first place, so people could see photos online), but Dusty was never the dog they were looking for.

But a woman by the name of Andrea saw a classified ad, and called us and explained that she hadn't lost a dog but was interested in getting a new one. She came by the other night, she and Dusty hit it off (he is lovable, after all), and she took him with her.

This is a little hard for us -- we'll miss him, but we know it's the best thing for him, it really sounds like an ideal situation for him.

THANKS to neighbor Terry who helped us take care of Dusty, and neighbor Tommy who gave us a medium-dog-sized leash, and everyone else.

Regards,
Bruce

Trip to the Vet

Dusty, my dad and I went to the vet yesterday (Wednesday). No, we didn't know what we were doing... but our neighbor Terry (who rescues dogs sometimes and is an incredibly nice lady) told us where to go and met us there.

We walked in to the waiting area, which was very exciting for Dusty. They weighed him properly (he couldn't really fit on our scale at home, so when we weighed him Dad carried him and subtracted his own weight from the total). He's around 64 pounds and should lose a few pounds.

As soon as he saw the thermometer, he sat down (you're going to stick that where?!). Obviously he's been to the vet before! But he did fine, stood on the examination table, let the doctor look at him. We think he's about two or three years old, which we're glad about. (We guessed that age by his bounciness and general enthusiasm, the doctor checked his teeth.) He has a full and happy life ahead of him. We got him all necessary vaccinations (rabies, a 5-in-1 something, basically everything the doctor recommended) and checked him for heartworms. No heartworms (yay), so we got him on HeartGard or something like that, a preventative. He had no problem eating the chew when I gave it to him today.

Doctor said he's got a little bit of tartar build-up starting, so I got a dog toothbrush. Hung out with him, letting him taste the toothpaste, but he's not so into mouth-touching. Just not used to it, I think. He's okay with touching everywhere else, including paws and tush, but he turned away when I kept touching his mouth. We'll work on that. I'm also going to start working on the "drop it" command with him.

Still looking for his forever home. We're talking to a few people, but still not sure what's going to happen.

His Many Sides

Showing off his personality.


He's awesome in the car. Just sits on the middle passenger seat, very calm, no pacing. Doesn't force his head out of the window.


Such a kid-friendly dog? I don't know what this picture is for, I just put it because he's handsome.


Likes catching things that are thrown for him: rope tugs, tennis balls, rocks, anything.


Here's a good profile view.

Meet Dusty

This is Dusty. He's an Australian Shepherd mix (we think) who walked into our garage in late April.

He's very good with people, okay with dogs, and we haven't tested him out with cats.

Very lovable. Only barks at other dogs, whines a little bit when we ignore him for a while. He knows the basic commands: sit, stay, lie down. We taught him to show us his belly for food, too.

He's hanging out with us for now, while we look for the best home for him.