PICKUP # 2 YESTERDAY.
Meet “2019-164.”
He’s a sixteen month old boy from “a breeder in Northern California” (don’t worry, it’s not any of the reputable ones) who was turned over with a note of “go ahead and euthanize him if you have to.”
Still just a puppy, our friends at Santa Barbara County Animal Services suspected this was too quick of a judgement, and took it upon themselves to give him a behavioral and temperament assessment.
Once it was determined that he’s “just a puppy,” they worked with CalWEAR to lock in a transport date, and at 5:45 AM yesterday morning, volunteer extraordinaire Patricia Sly-Feighner (please tag yourself because we don’t know how to tag you in!) drove him down to Los Angeles to catch the WEIMBUS.
When CalWEAR intakes a dog with a questionable track record, we go the extra mile to really get to know what we’ve got. Sometimes, we get a tough kiddo we really have to work with for a long time. Other times…
We find a little diamond that someone else overlooked.
We didn’t waste any time getting this boy into a quiet, calm environment. After some initial free time to check out his surroundings, a trainer was brought in for some rudimentary lessons.
Attentiveness, check. Eye contact, check. Responsiveness to light pressure, check. Ability to follow basic commands, check.
Introduction to another dog = Curious, tail wagging. WIN.
Responsive to handler correction for wanting to play too rough = check. WIN.
Taking treat from hand = Very gentle. WIN.
Introduction to (dog savvy) house cat = Curious, playful, responsive to handler correction for wanting to play too rough. WIN.
24 HOUR UPDATE = “THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THIS DOG.”
So here’s the message, CalWEAR friends and family!!!! PLEASE DO YOUR RESEARCH BEFORE BUYING A WEIMARANER PUPPY.
1. Little gray puppies will grow into BIG GRAY dogs. They WILL knock a six year old child over, easy. Especially when no one teaches them that they’re not supposed to. 
2. Puppies require a lot of time and training. It’s no different than a toddler. You get out of it what you put into it. Invest your energy and you will have an amazing lifetime partner. Skip the work and before you know it, you’ll have a big gray bull in a China shop… and his name will be Wreck-it Ralph. 
3. If you ever decide it just ISN’T going to work, please consider reaching out to rescue. 
If CalWEAR was called first, we could have skipped over the whole shelter portion of his adventure, and got him into a home environment sooner. Thank GOODNESS there were angels in Santa Barbara who didn’t just blindly follow the recommended process of putting him down.
4. Euthanasia is a LAST RESORT and should only be considered in extreme situations and when all other options have been exhauasted.
5. Having problems with your current Weimaraner? Give us a call!!! In addition to rescue and re-homing, we HAVE been successful working with owners to troubleshoot behavioral problems and at the end of the series, the dog stays with the family and everyone’s happy. We call that a win-win.
As for this fella, we’ll take adoption inquiries in case his fosters don’t foster-fail with him first. 