Rusty 09-351 [1]

Welcome to RAGOM Rusty! Rusty is a one-year old beautiful Golden Retriever mix. Rusty was surrendered to RAGOM by a shelter in northern Minnesota. Prior to that Rusty lived with an older couple who could not provide this high energy dog with enough daily exercise.

Rusty came to our home on August 14th and has been very busy since. We went to the vet for a wellness exam and micro-chipping. Rusty weighed in at 72 pounds, is in good health and is up-to-date on all of his vaccinations. He has met our resident Golden’s and our cat, had a bath, got his ears cleaned and discovered the toy basket. As we have been getting to know Rusty, here is what we’ve learned so far:

• Rusty is house-trained, he will stand by the door when he needs to go out.
• Rusty crates well, but is VERY energetic when he comes out. He definitely needs to burn energy once out of his crate. Rusty loves activity, car rides and being part of whatever is going on. He will do well with a family that will take him places, do fun things with him and include him in everything they do.
• Rusty knows several commands; sit, lay down, come and no; but he is not consistent in obeying commands. Our first experience with Rusty on a leash indicated he is not leash trained, however, he has shown great improvement during the last couple of days, and so it may be that he was just too darn excited with all the changes. He will greatly benefit from obedience classes.
• Rusty likes other dogs (we have 2 resident Golden’s here) and is very enthusiastic about playing. He would do well in a home with another dog, but we don’t think he has to have another dog in the home. He does like toys and will play with them by himself well.
• Rusty has discovered our resident cat and wants to play with him. Unfortunately for Rusty, the cat is not interested in him. This has not discouraged Rusty one bit, he keeps trying!
• Rusty is a very friendly dog who greets people enthusiastically (yep, he does jump up on people and we are working to stop this behavior). He has not been around small children here, only teenagers. Because Rusty is so enthusiastic/high energy we think he would do best in a home with older children.
• We do not have a fence at our home, so Rusty is either on a leash or tie-out when outside. He is doing well on the tie-out, but it is really too soon to know if he needs a fence or not. We’ll keep evaluating this.
• Rusty is following his Foster Mom around during the day and sleeps on our bedroom floor at night. (He gets hot at night and often goes into our bathroom to lay on the cooler linoleum floor.) That said, he is not a “Velcro” dog. He likes to be in the room with me, but not right on top of my feet or smashed up against my side.

Rusty is a wonderful dog who will be a treasured addition to his “furever” family. Please contact your placement advisor if you are interested!