Cutest pets on campus: Foster edition
From Zero to Hero
Last week Austin Animal Center posted on Facebook that they needed temporary emergency fosters because of the flooding and predicted rains. My sister and I decided to help out so we went down to the shelter and picked up Hero!
Name: Hero (originally named Zero, but AAC renamed him)
Gender: Neutered male
Breed: Rottweiler Mix
Age: About six years old
Intake Type: Owner surrender
As we took him to the front desk to fill out the temporary foster forms, every volunteer that walked past us expressed their joy at us taking him home. One of the volunteers even told us that Hero had not been to a home since he had been surrendered in 2015. She said that all the dogs that were kenneled with him always left first, either to a foster home or a permanent home. Naturally we teared up a little.
Over the course of this week I’ve come to realize it’s very hard not to get attached, especially to such a sweetheart like Hero. Because I’m now so emotionally invested, I decided to write this article in an effort to show the world how great of a dog he is and to possibly convince one of you to foster a dog.
Here are just some of the reasons why he’s become so near and dear to my heart so very fast:
When you open the door, he’ll be there wagging his tail to greet you.
He’s not prone to barking and has never bitten either of us.
He’s very patient when you’re preparing his food. He’ll wait until you’ve placed the food bowl down and stepped aside before starting to eat.
Whenever my sister and I are in the same room, he’ll find the spot that’s equidistant between us and lay down.
He’s curious and likes to follow you around from room to room.
He’s good on a leash and hardly dog reactive.
Whenever you feed him a treat, he’ll do his best to gently take it from you in order to avoid accidentally biting your hand.
He’s patient with our antics (like dressing him up).
Terrible quality but too cute not to post
He loves the toys and treats we buy for him (even if they’re slightly geeky).
Just a pup and his stormtrooper
And lastly, his love for peanut butter matches my own.
Unfortunately because we are poor college students, we can’t afford to keep Hero long term. But, we may have found him a potential long term foster/future adopter and I’m crossing my fingers that it works out! This boy deserves a forever home just like all the other animals (they have cats and rabbits, too) at Austin Animal Center.
So even if you can’t foster, you can always donate supplies or stop by and give some love to these animals. You never know, you could very well make their day!
*Props if you caught the Hercules reference in the title*