Arlo

FOSTER OR FOREVER FAMILY WANTED

Last year HNE found out about a little old English staffy in a pound. The staff thought he was deaf and were also concerned about damage to one of his eyes that was swollen shut (the result of a beating prior to being dumped). We went through lots of hoops and loops to get this old boy into care, including establishing he’d been stolen years before he’d been dumped, tracking down his original owner and obtaining legal surrender from his owner who didn’t want a ‘broken’ back… We trekked interstate, collected the boy we named Arlo and immediately fell in love with one of the sweetest old dogs we’d ever had the pleasure of saving.

Arlo settled into care wonderfully and had his permanently damaged eye removed, eliminating the pain it was causing him. The beating that destroyed his eye also impacted his hearing a little, but didn’t leave him entirely deaf. We also determined that he’d sustained multiple breaks to his legs in past years that had healed badly and were the cause of his limping. There was nothing that could be done to rectify his not-so-perfect hearing or his wonky walk…

The adoptive home we found for Arlo last year misunderstood the concept of ‘forever’ and when prioritising a new relationship over the commitment to Arlo became the adopter’s preference, Arlo was dumped in a shelter. This was despite our adoption contract specifying that if a dog can’t stay with the adopter, they must be returned to HNE. We were contacted by the shelter he was left at and made another long trek interstate to get him safe again.

Arlo is about 9 years old. He is an English staffy and is on the smaller side of the size spectrum for the breed. He responds to verbal and signed commands, is respectful of his home environment, loves nothing more than being with his people, is crate trained and is a total snuggly smooch. The old breaks in his legs mean he does walk in a wonky way, but he gets around just fine and will simply need some arthritis management in the future. He still enjoys getting out for a walk and greets his people with his slightly slower version of staffy zoomies when they get home from work.

It’s a pleasure having him back, but his emergency foster placement isn’t ideal for him, being a home with 5 other dogs. If Arlo needs to wait for his perfect forever family, we’d like it to be in a foster home that more closely resembles his idea of a perfect forever home. That perfect home must:

- Be committed to Arlo for life (if they’re adopting him) or committed to Arlo until the right family appears (if they’re fostering).
- Have no other pets. Arlo is great with other animals outside his home environment and is actually very good with tiny dogs in his home (he’s not so comfortable with anything bigger than he is). However, we’ve determined that Arlo is best suited to solo life. He’s much happier when he doesn’t have to share the love of his people!
- Have no kids or kids over 8. Arlo loves kids and is appropriate with them, but he’d do better with little people who aren’t too little as he sometimes jumps up when he wants extra attention/affection.
- Allow him inside/outside access at all times. Arlo is not a dog that will cope with being left alone in a yard. At present, he’s spending up to 10 hours a day indoors only. He’s respectful of his home environment, is toilet trained and snoozes his days away while he’s waiting for his people to return.
- As an adoptive family, be prepared to help manage the arthritis he’ll experience in the future as a result of the old breaks to his legs.
- Make sure he has a soft warm bed to sleep in. Arlo loves his sleep and will always seek out the softest spot he can find to have a nap.

Arlo will happily cope in a home where his people are full-time workers, but he would be thrilled to find a home where there was someone around more often than not. He likes to just potter around with his people, keeping his eye on whatever they’re doing.