Introducing Seuss!

For our first foster dog of 2016 we have another big boy. Seuss is a 1 year old, 27 pound Rat Terrier who I am told is house-trained. What?! That would sure be amazing but I will believe it when I see it.  While he's the same age and about the same size as Harrison, I am told he is much more laid back which will be nice. The house dogs have had a nice break from foster dogs for the last couple weeks and I don't think they'd appreciate another crazy, energetic kiddo.

His shelter photo

Why did this guy end up at the shelter? Well, it's a sad story where his humans failed both him, and a cat. Like many terriers Seuss has a pretty intense prey drive. And then when you put several drivey dogs together and then put a cat in the mix things become very dangerous for the cat.

While Seuss did not instigate an attack, he did take part in an attack on a cat with other dogs at his home. The cat was killed and the owners immediately took all the dogs to the shelter. I don't know all the details but it's very sad and this is a case where I blame the humans. If you have dogs who love to intensely chase cats it is the humans job to keep the dogs away from cats. Dogs should not be allowed to practice the behavior of chasing cats and if they share a house with a cat then a way needs to be found for them to stay separated.

So we will be looking for a family for Seuss who understand that he can never live around cats and will need to be leashed at all times when not in a safely enclosed, cat-free area.

He is more than just this incident though. He is a loving, athletic, beautiful boy who loves people (adults and kids) and I have heard enjoys spending time with other dogs as well. He's a sweet guy who just needs a responsible family who understands he can never be around kitties.

Side view - another tall boy

A big thank you to Lynn Bonham who drove the 9 hour round trip drive to the shelter he was at to pull him from the shelter the day she learned about him since he was scheduled to be euthanized at closing.

He'll arrive here Sunday evening so stay tuned to hear how introductions to our pack go.

Seuss is of course named for the author Theodore Seuss Geisel aka Dr. Seuss. We decided not to necessarily go with a naming theme for foster dogs this year but will instead just pick names we like. I can't say that I see a Lorax or a Yertle as a future foster dog. :)