Cousteau (Gundam)

Poor sweet Cousteau! He was known as Gundam for the last 4 months at the west county shelter – his foster chose a new name for him for his new beginning.

Cousteau was deteriorating gradually at the shelter; we had our eye on him for a while, hoping someone would see through the fear and give him a chance – unfortunately this never happened and he ended up on the kill list. Cousteau had reached a point where he was circling and pacing restlessly in his kennel, clearly very kennel stressed and afraid. He would not come up to the fencing to greet people, and would actually move to hide from people.

Once you got a leash on him, he was a completely different dog! He would get so excited to go for a walk and get out, and would be very affiliative with his handler, accepting pets and attention. Of course every time he returned to a kennel, he went back to his stressed, scared state. 

He has been decompressing and adjusting to life in a home again, and his foster has reported huge improvements! He is very skittish at first but warms up to new people fairly quickly – once he is comfortable, he is very loving and asks for pets and attention. 

There are 4 other huskies in his foster home currently, and he was definitely a little overwhelmed at first – he would show his teeth when they got too close to him – however it never escalated to a fight, and this behavior has consistently continued to lessen. He even WANTS to play with the other dogs now and has begun to wag his tail when they approach him – we think in time he may very well be a happy-go-lucky, carefree pup again who loves to play with friends. He just needs some time and love.

Cousteau is probably around 6 years old, a little older than his shelter notes had shown, but with a lot of life in him still! He loves walks and would love to get his daily exercise. He lost a lost of weight in the shelter but has regained his appetite so that should improve soon – all of his health tests including bloodwork came back great, no issues at all!

We are recommending no small children because he is under-socialized. Cats are unknown. He has been ok with the other dogs in his foster home, but may be a little dog-selective at first, so we will require meet and greets and  recommend friendly dogs who aren’t overly dominant in-your-face and recognize the comfort boundaries of other dogs.

Please let us know if you’re interested in this sweet boy – he has been waiting for you for so long!