"Buster" 

Let me introduce 6 year old Buster to you all.
 
Buster is a Lab cross GSD who came into rescue only a year old. He was a bit of a stroppy
teenager but had no real known vices at that time.  Buster was rehomed to a couple back in
2018 and all seemed to be going well for a while. As Buster grew older, he grew in attitude
and began showing some aggression issues around food and towards visitors. This sadly
wasn’t managed very well and resulted in several biting incidents involving police etc.
Buster’s owners made the hard decision to send him back into rescue - even though they
loved him, they just honestly and openly admitted he was beyond their experience. 

So Buster arrived here at Elswick kennels in October 2019. From the moment he arrived it
was very apparent he had some serious issues we needed to address and it took us months
before he was comfortable in our presence. We always give them time and space at first to
decompress and just observe us. Buster needed longer than any other dog we have had. 
Buster’s first issue was any interaction with him and us he got very hyper very quickly and
would bite our arms, hands , grab anything he could. He wasn't being 'aggressive ' as such it
was he simply had no idea how to handle his emotions. It took a long time to stop this
behaviour, and he still carries a little of it with him today. 

Buster’s food aggression was off the scale and I am not ashamed to admit that there were
several very, very scary moments with him in the first months. He had to be put in a
separate room in the home he lived in, and the door closed with no humans in or he would
have chased them out. It took a long time and a lot of work to lessen his food aggression
and although not 100% gone - he is now ok with us being with him while he eats and no
longer tries to eat us as well! 

Buster has severe stranger aggression and we have no doubt he would do some serious
damage if allowed - but we will never put him in that position. He knows and trusts us here -
but we are the only ones he has accepted and boy have we tried with a few people! 

Buster is in good health, he does have a sensitive tum though, so can only tolerate
Forthglade wet food with a fish based dried. He loves food, treats and more food and more
treats. He loves pigs ears more than life and he would sell his soul for a pigs trotter too! 

Although we would love Buster to live in a forever home, we are realistic in thinking this may
never happen, but we never say never! For now he is safe, well fed, enjoys his walks and
has 2 people who he sees as his family. 

Thank you for reading Buster's story.