Wilbur - needs adopter asap

Apr 13, 2010

Wilbur was taken into TLAC by Animal Control because of cruelty conditions:  he was being starved and kept tethered in a run on a 2 foot chain. He was skin and bones when we got him.

Thanks to his fosters, he has been nursed back to health and is doing great. Unfortunately, the trauma of growing up confined with no social interaction has left him with separation anxiety. He gets incredibly nervous when he is left alone now. Because of this, we've had to move him around a couple of times in order to find a foster who had the time to work with him. We were lucky to finally find a great foster home, who has done a lot of work with him, with the help of a behaviorist, and he's made progress. His sweet goofiness has made him a favorite at Lee Mannix's training center.

But his foster has to go to out of town soon. The behaviorist says we can't keep moving him around. Every time we move him, it shatters his spirit to lose yet another person. Sort of like one step forward, two steps back.

We must find an adopter for him asap. The adopter needs to have time to work with Wilbur and ideally will be home all day or can take Wilbur along to work. He is on a program of being left alone for very short time segments, gradually building up to longer periods.

Wilbur is nervous around other dogs, but loves the other dog in his current foster home. The behaviorist worries that he is a little too attached to the other dog in the foster home and is recommending a home without dogs, at least at first.

Please help us find his new home and tell your friends about him.

Here's what his foster has to say about him:

Wilbur has been such an amazing dog. He's most happy snuggled up on the couch with you and he sneaks into bed at night as if we don't notice an 80 pound dog has leaped on top of us. He tries to be an agile dog but his size often gets in the way. He has an extremely long tongue... I've actually never seen anything like it, it's quite amazing. We re-named him Wilbur b/c he snorts when he sniffs the ground. He likes to be held like a baby if you're strong enough, but if not he'll just curl up in your lab.

And thanks to Stuart Phillips, Grateful Dog Photo/Video/Design for making a video about Wilbur:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPvYCB3a14M

To get more info about adopting him, send an email to [email protected].