5/30/06: Hi everyone; meet Rufus! The first thing I thought of when I saw him was "Wooley Bear!", and after seeing his pictures you'll see why.

Rufus was found as a stray and impounded for ten days; then his time was "up". RAGOM was called in to help out this sweet boy, and Holly picked him up before the long Memorial Day weekend (thanks, Holly!!!). She found Rufus to be in very bad shape; in fact, he'd BEEN in very bad shape for the whole ten days he spent in impound (a Rabies shot administered, but live ticks crawling all over his head - yuck!). Holly was kind enough to search through his layers and layers of thick fur to remove all the ticks, but found lots of hot spots, weepy skin sores, dried scabs, big MATS of fur (I tell ya, Rufus looks like a Christmas tree with ornaments hanging all over), very dry skin and fur, and general filth and dirt.

Holly cleaned him up as best as she could, and I met her at a vet's office for an overall examination, the full line of vaccinations, heart worm test, and fecal test. We are happy to report that Rufus is in overall excellent health (you should see his pearly whites!), but is now on several medications for dual ear infections and oral antibiotics for the sores on his skin (which may or may not be the result of an internal infection). Luckily, the sores already seem to be healing, but Rufus is very itchy and uncomfortable, so is on an oral antihistamine for a few days. He'll now be eating a premium dry dog food supplemented with Missing Link and plain yogurt, so his skin and coat should begin to improve soon.

He is thought to be approximately 2 years old, neutered, and is red in color. I asked if he could possibly be mixed with something besides Golden, but I guess there are Goldens with this thick, wooley coat. He was probably an outside dog, as a coat like this takes time to develop :) He has a very dark red snout and inbetween his eyes, but also some lighter chest fur.

Our ride back home was uneventful; he very much enjoyed the McDonald's drive-thru and shared a few french fries and fish sandwich with me. Pottied out in the yard before meeting Libby and Thomas 06-174, and Rufus made it known to Thomas that he was the elder of the boys pretty much right away (which bummed poor Tommy right out). He sat nicely for his dinner and it was a RACE to see who could get their food down first between the Boys; Rufus won!! As you can see in the picture with Thomas in the background (and his shaved leg from the ACL surgery), Rufus is BIGGER than Thomas and that is amazing right there since Thomas is 72 pounds and 10 months old. Rufus looks bigger because of all the FUR, but really only weighs 70 pounds and the vet says that is a good weight for him; he really is all FUR if you get right down and investigate where the fur ends and the body begins. It's quite funny, really...

Rufus has had some kind of obedience training as he knows "sit", "down", shake", etc., and when I walked him tonight, as soon as he got to the end of the Flexi-Lead, he backed off and did NOT pull - AMAZING! :) Holly and I believe that Rufus was very much loved by someone at one point in his life, and who knows what happened to his owners for him to be in such bad shape now. He has a really sweet temperment and Holly didn't have a bit of trouble with him over the weekend.

Well, that's it for now. I'll be scrounging area groomers tomorrow morning for an opening for Rufus; he needs a thorough but gentle bath and also needs a lot of help carefully shaving out his mats - all the while being careful of all his sores and hot spots. I'll send pictures after he is groomed, but he may very well look like a patchwork quilt when they're done with him. But, you know what? Rufus has the most gentle disposition I've seen, and being a stray and living on the down-and-out will only make him more appreciative of a new and loving home. He is definitely a diamond in the "ruff".... :)