Ansel is a 7-year-old cream-colored male Golden. He had been picked up as a stray and taken to the eastside MCACCS shelter. He was a healthy and good-looking purebred, so the shelter deemed him a “super hero” and put him in a lottery; the winner would have to pay $300 for him. A transporter from AGR went to the shelter to try to get the dog, but another woman won the draw. Fortunately, our transporter had the presence of mind to give her an AGR business card. The next day, the woman contacted her with this message: I adopted the Golden yesterday at the East Shelter. I took him to my vet today. Dr. said his teeth and ears were good. His lungs sounded good. He has a hot spot, but we got topical spray and frontline for the ticks. He’s doing well and eating well. Goes through the doggie door well. Very sweet but a barker. About 7 years old. You are probably wondering why I’m sending you a message.... my daughter decided she can’t keep him. We already have 2 Goldens and 1 terrier and a newborn baby. I’m wondering if your Rescue would pay the $300 fee to my daughter if you were interested in taking him. I paid $130 today for the vet visit which I’m not interested in recovering.

We decided to take the boy and reimburse the woman for the $300 shelter fee. Of course, we had some additional vet work done: a heartworm test, valley fever test, a fecal test and the leptospirosis vaccine; the shelter had already given him the DHPP and rabies vaccines. All tests were negative, fortunately, but within one day, Ansel developed kennel cough; he was given antibiotics and it did, eventually, clear up. He was originally placed with a family that have another Golden. Unfortunately, there were 3 incidents in a day and a half that were aggressive, unprovoked attacks on the resident family dog, even though Ansel and the resident dog had been playing together very nicely. Once was over a piece of food that had dropped on the floor and Ansel attacked when the resident dog tried to get the food. The other 2 incidences involved the resident dog trying to interact with the mom and her daughter. Ansel took exception to that and again attacked. No one was hurt, but both were very frightened. Also, the large, gentle resident Golden was quite shook up and was refusing to come in the house with Ansel there. They understandably do not want to stress him with always worrying about being attacked. There was also a worry about what might happen if no one was home and something (like a stray piece of food) might trigger an attack. We gave her the option of trying to work through the issues with our behaviorist helping her via phone, but neither she nor her daughter are really equipped for that kind of challenge and she wisely decided that he would be better placed with someone who could, or in a no-other-dog home. Additionally, she said that if he had anything in his mouth that you tried to take away, he would also clamp down very hard on the hand.

We transferred Ansel to another home. He jumped onto the counter in the kitchen and bolted away from our transporter. The transporter had told them Ansel needs lots of exercise, needs to be constantly supervised around the kids, needed to replace their trash can with a lid that could not be easily moved, and to be sure they had a leash on him whenever they opened the door. Within an hour of leaving him at this second-try home, we got a call to come get him.

Third time’s the charm, though. His permanent home is with an adopter where Ansel is an only dog and is now very much loved. He had to make some changes in his environment, though. He has a bedroom completely full of Pez dispensers. Our transporter recommended a strong, high gate, and gave advice for dog food and toys to keep Ansel occupied when the adopter must go to work. Some allergy symptoms continued to manifest – itching and chewing on himself – so Benadryl was recommended. A note from the adopter: So far so good! When I’m not working, I’m either walking Ansel or sleeping next to him. He’s warming up to me and the house very well.