Tony’s Moving On

Early tomorrow morning Harriett will take Tony back to the Champaign County Humane Society. From there he will be transported to the Dogs Deserve Life rescue in Barrington, IL. Dogs Deserve Life is a foster-based rescue. That means Tony will be living with a foster family until he finds a forever home.

To be honest, we were pretty nervous about Tony before we brought him home. He had serious issues with resource guarding and there were also indications he was aggressive towards men. Away from the shelter environment, however, we found Tony to be a friendly, playful dog who’s really quite nice to have around.

The more comfortable Tony has become around us, the more his playful side comes out. He absolutely loves tennis balls and will retrieve them for treats. He also is prone to take off in a mad dash around the house in a canine version of an obstacle course.

We’ve learned a few things about Tony that we hope will endear him to new owners:

• He’s crate trained and will eat and sleep in the crate. He stays in the crate when we’re not home.
• He’s very food motivated and is a quick learner. He’s very smart!
• We have not had any problems taking food or toys away from him. He has never shown signs of resource guarding toward us or the Base Pack.
• Tony gets along great with other dogs (but he does not like cats).
• He sits politely in the treat line with our Base Pack dogs and always takes treats nicely.
• He’s been friendly toward the men and women who he’s met while at our house. He’s never showed fear or aggression toward anyone.
• He loves to cuddle and enjoys human contact. He will actively seek out affection.

We’re very hopeful his next foster home will have the same experience with Tony as we’ve had. If all goes well, he’ll find a forever home before too long.