Brian’s Journey from Rescue to Forever Home
Brian wasn’t thriving at his old home. He was sickly, and sad, But now he’s a bounding ball of energy!
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Brian’s Journey
Brian was overweight and suffering terrible allergies. His former family knew they weren’t the best fit for Brian, so they had to courage to surrender him. And it was the best thing they could do for this beautiful boy. Although like so many dogs, he has now suffered the indignity of adoring pet names…here’s the family’s story of Brian, aka Brizey, Mr Magoo, Slobberdog, Schnoogy.
We first met Brian at the Fundraising day at Black Lab Coffee at Holland Park. We were just on our way to the gym that day, and decided to stop in to pat some pups, grab a coffee and make a donation. That was the day our life changed for the better. We arrived to be greeted by a crew of bouncy black lab pups, all vying for attention, which we were only too happy to give. After patting a few we noticed what appeared to be a much older Golden Retriever, sitting quietly with his foster Mum and enjoying some pats as people walked past. We could feel his calm and loving nature immediately and we were drawn to meet him.
As soon as we heard his name was Brian, our heart melted. The name suits him perfectly! Foster Mum Caroline told us Brian’s story, and the work that she had been doing to get his hefty weight under control, and his numerous skin issues and allergies. We sat and listen, and after a few minutes of patting he fell asleep on my leg and I fell in love. We were going through home renovations, and had planned on looking at adopting when it was all completed, so we enjoyed the pats, made a donation and bid farewell to Brian, hoping he would find a good home.
My partner Sara Jane had never been a dog owner before, so wasn’t quite prepared for the feelings that came over her after meeting Brian. I lost my girl Georgie (Labrador) at 14.5yrs of age almost 10yrs ago, so was always a bit unsure about whether I would have the same feelings for an another pooch. Over the next week Sara Jane told me that she couldn’t get Brian off her mind. I had to show her I’d downloaded pics of Brian off the Instagram story from the day and had been telling people about this sweet dog we met.
That day we decided we wanted Brian in our lives and sent off our registration of interest. The call came from his foster Mum who remembered us from the day and how much Brian had taken a shine to us. It was fate. We arranged another meet and greet of Brian with Caroline. We had holidays booked so there was a concern the timing wouldn’t be right, but Caroline and her family had also fallen for Brian so were only too happy to care for him a little longer to ensure he went to the right home.
Caroline and her family brought Brian to our home for the exchange. Caroline’s son gave us Brian’s favourite ball to keep with him which was the sweetest gesture. In the last 7 weeks Brian has brightened our lives in a way we can barely imagine what we did without him. The first couple of nights were a little restless, but he settled in incredibly quickly and now snores and dreams the day away. Even today he was barking, eating and running in his sleep, only to wake up, see us there watching him and wag his tail to show how comfortable he is.
His skin and allergies are well under control, with a raw diet with supplements. His weight is just over 33kgs which our vet agrees is pretty much perfect for his size. We take him on twice daily walks to keep his energy up and strengthen his muscles and joints after his previous lack of exercise. He is a popular boy at the local dog park, with both the other owners calling him by name and his doggy friends happy to see his smiley face turn up for a play each day. He bounds around like a puppy (even with 15-20 other dogs around) with the occasional bunny hop to show he’s happy, until it’s time to head off.
He is currently obsessed with 3 chickens living at a nearby house and must sit and watch them for atast 3 minutes on a walk. At the end of the day he comes in for a cuddle on the bed until we fall asleep and then puts himself in his own bed. In short, Brian is a dream of a dog and we could not be happier. I’ve attached 3 pics from our recent trip to Victoria Park, plus a pic of the difference from the day we met Brian at the coffee shop compared to how he was a couple of weeks ago.
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