I don’t know what else to say about this amazing adoptable puppy. But since he’s shockingly still here, I feel compelled to write.
I’ve said it before, sometimes foster animals stick around way longer than expected because the forever family meant to have them is not quite ready to take the plunge. I believe that’s the case here because there is no other reason for such an amazing puppy to still be adoptable nearly a month and a half after he arrived.
Alex is growing, which is good (he’s healthy) and bad (people want puppy-puppies). He’s still adorable, but he’s sliding into that gangly pre-adolescent phase. He’s closing in on twenty pounds, which is still very much snuggable, but now a bit more work to pick up. Luckily, he’s doing great on a leash, and even without one, he happily follows me wherever I go.
Let’s note Alex’s charms:
When he wants attention, instead of jumping all over me and getting mouthy, he will sit sweetly and stare at me, willing me to pet him. (I usually do)
He happily goes in his crate at night for a treat and sleeps eight hours with no potty accidents. A lot of nearly four-month-old puppies can’t do that!
He uses the doggie door to go out to potty during the day and has yet to have an accident in my office. When left too long in the puppy room, he uses his potty pads.
He loves everyone he meets. He gave such wonderful, perfect sits to so many people at the farmer’s market last weekend that he was stuffed with treats by the time we got home (and had diarrhea for two days, which is not one of his regular charms and not his fault!).
He is not bitey or mouthy (I wrote that in his bio and AI changed it to say he has great manners. No puppy has great manners, but most puppies his age bite and chew people – Alex doesn’t!).
He plays independently with chew toys or squeaky toys, or stuffed toys (not yet unstuffing them), while I work and is quiet as a mouse during my zoom calls.
He learns quickly, already understanding that he can’t go near the cat box or the wires under my desk, or the paper coming out of the printer (which is a tough one because he loves paper!).
He is athletic – mastering my puppy teeter, climbing on stools (but thankfully not my desk), zipping all over the puppy yard despite the ice.
He is VERY treat motivated. This boy will do anything for a treat. He is learning to eat slower (a tough challenge), but having once been starving in his short life, it’s tough not to gobble whatever is put in front of you.
He is friendly with the other residents of the foster cottage. He can’t quite convince Hazel-cat to play with him, but his affection is undeterred by her mean words or even her swats.
He loves Diamond from outside her crate. They can’t be together because Diamond has over 30 pounds on him and loves other animals in an Abominable Snowman and Daffy Duck kind of way. When she whines and barks to join him in his play, I cover her crate with a blanket. Alex sits by her crate in solidarity with her distress, and as soon as I’m not watching, Alex pulls the cover off the crate, much to Diamond’s delight and my frustration.
All of that is to say, this is a fantastic puppy! And the very first adoptable puppy I’ve crate, potty, and leash-trained ahead of adoption.
If you think he might be your puppy, apply to adopt here.
Please let anyone you know who is in the market for a puppy, that Alex is in the market for a forever home.
Until Each One Has a Home,
Cara
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My next book, Who Will Let the Dogs Out: Stories and Solutions for Shelters and Rescues will be released January 28, 2025, but you can order an early copy and support our mission to give them to shelters and rescues, by purchasing one directly from Who Will Let the Dogs Out.
If you’d like regular updates of all our foster dogs past and present, plus occasional dog care/training tips, and occasional foster cat updates (!) be sure to join the Facebook group, Another Good Dog.
And if you’d like to know where all these dogs come from and how you can help solve the crisis of too many unwanted dogs in our shelters, visit WhoWillLetTheDogsOut.org and subscribe to our blog where we share stories of our travels to shelters, rescues, and dog pounds.
If you can’t get enough foster dog stories, check out my book: Another Good Dog: One Family and Fifty Foster Dogs. Or its follow up that takes you to the shelters in the south One Hundred Dogs & Counting: One Woman, Ten Thousand Miles, and a Journey Into the Heart of Shelters and Rescues.
I love to hear from readers and dog-hearted people! Email me at carasueachterberg@gmail.com.
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