Gus Catahoula Leopard Dog & German Shepherd Dog Mix Greenwood, IN

Poor Gus has been in and out of the rescue since he came to us in December 2020. He was initially enrolled in the Medical Mutts program but needed a career change when he was too shy in public to be a service dog. He did receive some basic obedience training while in this program! He's a 3.5 year old, 50 lb, Catahoula mix.

He was quickly adopted out to a family with several younger children. He did great, however at a big family gathering, Gus was lounging under a table when a young child (not in his immediate family) crawled under to love on him. Gus growled and was very uncomfortable by it. We understood his family's hesitation as their children got older and had frequent visiting friends, so he came back to rescue.

Next, he went to live with a college student. He lived with her for several weeks. Like many college students, she lived an active lifestyle, had many roommates, which meant Gus had frequent new visitors. It was reported that sometimes he instantly loved people, other times he was slow to warm up and then sometimes would bark from a distance with his fur up and just never get comfortable. There didn't appear to be any consistent reason to his selection. This active lifestyle with many new strangers wasn't a good fit for Gus, so he came back again.

Volunteers love him, he loves playing with other dogs, and he is a VERY LOVING and loyal companion to those he loves and trusts. We think he would do best living in a predictable environment with children 13 years or older. A home without a lot of visitors or the ability to keep him separated from new visitors until he was comfortable with them. He is house trained too!

Gus is available for FOSTER or ADOPTION. Apply to adopt him at tailsandtrails.org/application.