ADOPTED

Buckley is a diminutive reddish-blonde young boy (about two years old or so). He stands about 3 inches shorter than our other two goldens, and they outweigh him by about 20 pounds. But his 50 pounds or so contain about 40 pounds of heart! He’s friendly, active, playful, and eager. We are enjoying watching him romp and play and chase his tennis balls. Fortunately we live near a tennis complex that backs up to a wooded area, so he can go into the woods and find all the “leftover” tennis balls his heart desires—and that’s a lot.

Buckley’s original owner was deployed to Iraq just a few weeks ago. The owner’s mother took Buckley—but then decided that she wasn’t a dog person, so she took him to work and offered him to anyone who’d take him. A young man took him, but was told that his apartment wouldn’t allow dogs, so he called Gold Ribbon. Of course, as soon we took one look, Buckley was rescued.

He is our 48th foster dog in 4 1/2 years of fostering, and he fit right in. He got along with our two 8-year-old Golden boys at once and hasn’t been in any scrapes with them at all. We put up the crate for him, but only used it one day: he immediately showed us that he’s trustworthy and trained. He hasn’t had any accidents, loves to go outside, but loves to come back in even more! We leave him out of the crate when we leave the house for hours, and haven’t had any incidents of chewing, tearing, clawing, or doing anything else wrong.

He’s especially attentive to us and does whatever we want him to do. We nicknamed him “Velcro” for a few days in his first week with us, but he’s getting more independent. On walks, he stays very close to us on the leash, so we think he was trained to heel very well. He knows sit, stay, down, and shake, and he sits up with both feet waving at us when he wants us to throw a tennis ball. Of course, he’s a true retriever and will fetch balls until your arm falls off! However, he’s as gentle as they come. He’s feather-light on the leash, and in a large fenced play area he runs in circles, almost laughs out loud, and often stays close to our side to do what we ask of him. He craves love and attention, but can also just lie around and be available to listen.

Buckley seems to especially love children, and isn’t so big that he’s intimidating. He might be a little too “licky-face” for some small children, but he doesn’t bowl them over. We’ll miss Buckley when he finds the perfect forever home, but we’ll be really happy that another family can benefit from Buckley’s heart and happy spirit. It’s too bad his owner had to deploy to Iraq, but we’re happy Buckley came to GRR for us to find him a happy home.


 

View Pictures Here