Boxer Foster #1: Longhorn

UPDATE: Longhorn was adopted on January 26th, 2014! I got to meet his new mom at Adoption Day the week before. He’s gone to a loving home and I couldn’t be happier for him.

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Jairy has graciously allowed us to be foster parents with Austin Boxer Rescue (ABR). This is mainly because he wants to keep me happy and I’ve promised to actually give them up when they find their forever home. My mantra: I will not be a foster fail. I will not be a foster fail.

In my efforts to NOT be a foster fail, I will be posting extremely honest assessments of our fosters in the hopes that they find permanent homes that know exactly what they’re in for. In other words, if we have a turd dog, I will say he’s a turd dog. If you adopt him, you’re going to find out sooner or later and I’d rather keep you as a friend than having you hate me forever and constantly reminding me what a turd dog you got. Of course, turd can be relative. Things I might find charming or cute, you might obnoxious and irritating or vice versa. So on that note, I will list my observations and you can be the judge if it’s something you’d like to take on.

Meet Longhorn!

Dog Foster: #1
Name: Longhorn
Date Acquired: December 27th, 2013
Age: 6 1/2 years old

He’s a 6 ½ years old male who weighs 50-60(?) pounds. I’m not sure of his exact weight but he’s smaller than our dog Oliver who weighs 70 pounds. Being older, Longhorn is a pretty chill dog. In the week that we have had him, I have yet to hear a bark. Even if Oliver is ferociously barking at the mailman (because we all know how threatening mailmen are), Longhorn just looks up from his sleeping and lays his head back down. There was whimpering the first night when we turned off the light to go to bed. We plugged in a night light next to his doggy bed in our bedroom and that seemed to calm him. We have since turned off the night light and he’s been totally fine.

If anyone has met Oliver*, I’d say Longhorn is similar in his easy-going nature, but more snuggly. Overall, Longhorn is SUPER sweet, loving, kind and gentle. And cuddly. If we allowed him on the couch, I have no doubt he’d try to lay on our lap or at least press up against us.

He is great with other dogs/kids/chickens/a house full of 20 strangers on NYE/EVERYONE he has ever met. It doesn’t take him any time to warm up to…anyone. We had a NYE party and he was totally unphased by 20 strangers milling about and blowing loud noise makers.

He’s kind of a shadow and follows us everywhere. This may taper off once he’s in his forever home and fear of abandonment has lessened. Or because Boxers feel deep attachments to people, he may be your permanent shadow. This is especially cute/annoying when I’m taking a shower and he lays on the rug directly in front of the shower door and I have to push him out of the way to exit. Or when I go to the bathroom and he walks in and sets his head on my lap. That one’s a cute/kinda gross borderline.

He snores. Honestly, I thought all dogs snored but apparently they don’t so I guess it’s relevant to note. One night it woke me up so I woke him up. Next thing I knew a 3am playtime ensued. Lesson learned: Don’t wake up the dog.

He is chicken-friendly, folks! This is super important to us as we have 3 chickens and would like to keep it that way. He seems to have no interest in the girls or eating their poop which is good for everyone. This makes me think he might be fine with cats as well but I have no proof of this.

He and Oliver get along just fine. Well, LH likes Oliver and Oliver tolerates LH as an older brother would tolerate an annoying younger brother. I think he would really like a playmate but Oliver just has zero interest. LH’s whole butt wags when Oliver comes into the room and Oliver is like, “You’re still here?”

He is deathly afraid of going down stairs. Unfortunately he has no problem going up stairs. This could lead to numerous trips carrying him down. We know this by experience.

He is completely house-trained and does his business whenever let out in the back yard. We let him free roam around the house while we are gone – so far without any incident. He is definitely an inside dog and doesn’t like to be left outside. I don’t blame him. He walks well on a leash but the fact that he hasn’t once pooped or peed on any of our twice a day walks makes me wonder if he wasn’t walked much before. This also makes me think he would be best with a back yard.

So far…he doesn’t lick, beg, play with toys or like treats. Who doesn’t like treats? Weirdo.

Good news is he doesn’t seem to know his name so changing it shouldn’t be a problem. FYI, I changed Oliver’s name after he had Applejack (blerg) for 7 years and though it took a few months, he finally caught on.

Other good news, Boxers are super short haired and light shedders so there is not a lot of extra vacuuming that has to happen if you’re a neat freak like myself.

Something to consider: Boxers tend to slobber. He had kennel cough when he arrived and his slobber to snot ratio was off the charts. We had snot rags all over the house for quick wiping. Never having had a Boxer before, I was under the assumption that snot and slobber were going to be a big issue. Now that he is over his kennel cough I am relieved to know that slobber is only a mild issue. While not ideal, the loving sweetness that you get with a Boxer is worth it in my humble opinion. Oh, and his farts are pretty foul. Just saying.

He is also positive for heart worms. Rather than the foster parent treating the dog, ABR has found that future prevention is more effective if the adoptive parents administer the 6-week treatment and witness what the dog has to go through. Though it’s hard not to want to start treatment now, I suppose this makes sense in the long run. He also had a cancerous tumor on his side removed but all traces were removed and he is considered cured.

I know this is our first foster dog experience but he seems like a real keeper. In my ideal world, he’ll be adopted by someone I know (mom/dad, friends…I’m talking to you) so he can stay in the “family”. I’d also be willing to watch him when you go out of town if it’s any incentive 🙂

If you are interested in bringing this awesome boy into your family, you can fill out adoption paperwork with ABR: http://www.austinboxerrescue.com/adoption/index.asp

*For those who haven’t met Oliver, he a 10 year old Goldendoodle. I rescued him when he was 7 and he’s been an absolute delight for the 3 years he’s been with us.