Angus, Champaign-Urbana, IL

Hurro! My name is Angus.

Ok, ok, I need to back up. I was born in Kentucky on August 18th, 2010, to some mean people that named me Rock. They tied me up and let others dog practice biting me and being mean on me, most likely because I don’t have a mean bone in my body. I guess in people’s world, that’s called a bait dog.

Then I was dumped at the shelter. My ears had been cut very short and they weren’t cut by a professional so the wounds weren’t healing too well. My backside from halfway down my spine down my legs was all sores and wounds.

Despite being very mistreated, the people at the shelter fell in love with my sweet disposition and my obviously very handsome self. Homeward Bound K9 Center from Minneapolis, MN, took me in, gave me medical treatment and shots. They were gonna try and rescue me.

About two months later, a man from Minneapolis contacted the shelter and, without meeting me or much more information, arranged to have me transported to his house. But guess what? Within two hours the man brought me back because I was too hyper and he couldn’t handle me! I was about eleven months at this time — a puppy! (Erm, I was a puppy — not a steamed vegetable!)

People seem to forget that puppies, just like kids, are full of energy: They want to run, they want to explore, and they want to taste everything with their mouths. I also didn’t realize my size most of the time. I might weight 70 lbs but in my mind, I’m a young, dorky and full of energy puppy.

So here I was, was back in jail. The rescue I was taken to called a pet transport organization to have me transported to yet another rescue in Wisconsin to see if they could find me a rescue. They weren’t able to.

But then a woman (I’ll call her my foster mom) took me in knowing that she will be able to find me a good home. My foster mom has other (older) dogs and I liked those dogs. However, being big and full of puppy energy, these elderly dogs couldn’t keep up with me. So sadly, my foster mom couldn’t keep me.

One day, a neighbor was standing outside smoking and as usual, being the neighborly thing to do, walked up to my foster mom to talk to her and pet her dogs, including me. A few days later, my foster mom gets a call from the neighbor’s wife. The neighbor had a talk with his wife and told her he saw me and how cute and wonderful I was. She wanted to meet me and see how I would react, get the feeling of me, etc.

Well it goes with out saying that all she had to do was pet me and get a look at my soulful eyes. She had no choice but to take me, to love me, and to spoil me rotten! She became my mommy!!

My mommy and daddy now had me for about a couple months and said they will never ever give me away. They named me Angus Costescu Barrett (that’s Mommy’s last name plus Daddy’s last name because they love me so much). Mommy worked on teaching me how to not be so mouthy. She says I was not aware of my bite strength and she still loves me even tho I have given her a good couple of bruises.

I went to puppy school and graduated. And my teachers love me! (Psst! I’m working on training my humans to feed me everything in the fridge.)

Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you that I am very vocal about my opinion and mom says I sound like a cat sometimes. I don’t know why she laugh when I vocalize sometimes, it must mean she loves me loads. She also says I snore and talk and bark in my sleep. (Silly mom. I’m just pretending to be sleeping. :-))

Now, I get hour walks every day, food in my bowl, water whenever I want, and treats galore (just today I got a hot dog as a treat!). I get to go to the pet store and say hi to peope (I’m sort of famous at the pet store). Mommy was so proud of me the other day: In the pet store I laid down on my back and let this fur-friend see my tummy. And you know what? Mommy rubbed my belly and said I’m a good boy. I get cuddles, baths…everything a dog needs.

Mommy has a career idea for me because I’m so good with the humans. We believe that with plenty of love and training, I would make a great therapy dog. Everywhere I go people flock to me to pet me and love on me. So the training goes on. 🙂

The best part? Mommy says that I make her feel happy all the time.

Thanks for the time to tell my story,
Angus Costescu Barrett

Parent: Ileana & James