Free to good home. Four words that spurred me into action this Easter weekend.

My friend Mark was walking his rescue Amstaff, Charlie, and saw a poster advertising a 4yo red and white Amstaff, also called Charlie, free to good home. He SMSd me the details and I contacted the owner to see if she would like some help rehoming her dog. I also told her that advertising her dog FTGH could mean he ends up with an owner that doesn’t value him or even worse, with dog fighters. As Charlie is papered I asked if she’d contacted his breeder. She said she did two years ago but he wasn’t interested in helping her. A dog trainer friend on Facebook saw me post Charlie’s photo and said her friends were looking for an Amstaff, but they have another dog so he’d need to be temp tested, particularly around other dogs. I asked the owner if I arranged temp testing would he pass as I didn’t want to waste everyone’s time if the reason they were rehoming him was because he was dog aggressive. She said that Charlie was good with her 2yo daughter but she wasn’t sure about other dogs because he hadn’t left their back garden FOR OVER TWO YEARS!!! I asked why and she said it was because he was too hard to walk. Here is a video of Charlie being walked around the block by Dave, 5 minutes after meeting him. Charlie is a powerful dog and needs strong leadership, but he’s a very quick learner. It wouldn’t have taken much to mold him into the perfect family pet, but as they didn’t want him any more rehoming him was the best option.

I arranged a temp test with Glenn Cooke from Pet Resorts Australia, so we piled Charlie into a crate [first time ever but he took it all in his stride] and drove him over to Dural. He passed it with flying colours although Glenn did say he’s like a 6mo in a 4yo’s body because he was never taught how to behave. Luckily for him he has a good temperament, so despite his lack of exercise and socialisation, he’s still a great dog. He had a bit of a run around in one of their yards and then he came back to our house for an overnighter. He’s now en-route to his new home in Geelong where he’ll have a buddy to play with, land to run around on and he’ll be an inside dog who’s loved and treated as part of the family.

It was a pretty wet weekend so I didn’t get many photos of him, but here are a few snapshots I wanted to share because he’s such a smiley happy boofhead.

I miss his big goofy head. I don’t miss his tinned food dog farts one bit though!!