Gonzo’s new mom was kind enough to write us a letter after they adopted the little man, telling us about their experience searching for him, finding him, and knowing that he was their One (well, their Other One). She sent us photos, too!

“Dear foster family,

Thank you so much for everything you have done for us and our newest addition. It was so important to us to have a well balanced, well behaved dog because of our other “little one” and you gave us just that.

Since the first day we got our first dog, Laila, we knew we would never own anything but large bullies/mastiffs from that point forward. There is just something so special about them. For the past few months we had been casually surfing the internet for rescue dogs. We wanted to rescue this time but were scared by accounts saying that they were a lot of work and would really need a strong leader and plenty of experience with difficult dogs who had gone through horrible situations in order to get the pet we wanted. We were also nervous about our Laila. She may look intimidating but she is just a goofy, gentle girl and what we consider an ambassador to her breed since we can’t go a day without someone either asking us what breed she is because she is so nice and pretty, or because they are scared of her. We are proud to say she can change the image of what a “bad” dog is. The last thing we wanted was to add an unbalanced or aggressive male to the picture that could adversely affect our girl.

So we continued to search for weeks for dogs that fit our criteria… “bully”, “mastiff”, “extra large”, “male”, “good with dogs”, “good with kids” etc. and we just weren’t finding dogs that really fit the bill. So, much to the chagrin of my husband (who was looking solely at 100+ lbs boys!), I started to search for smaller dogs. He eventually warmed up to the idea of having a smaller dog as long as we could stay with the bullies.

Then it happened. One day, after looking at large dogs for an hour or so I decided to uncheck the “size” box and there they were. Those glorious ears. They truly do have a special power! He was the cutest thing I had ever seen! I couldn’t wait to show Gonzo to my husband.  I was so worried because a dog that cute would for sure we gone in an instant. We read your blog, saw the pics and fell in love. He definitely had everything we wanted in a dog and felt that he had remained available for so long because he was meant to be with us. And if it were just the two of us, he would have been ours in a heartbeat! But there was someone whose opinion mattered more than ours, and she would have the final say.  And after giving the two a few chances to meet and some careful consideration we knew he was the one for all of us.

As far as integration goes it is honestly going better than I had anticipated. Even though it has only been a few days, I am sure we made the right decision for our small family. Gonzo is really smart and he listens to us very well. He won’t walk off too far if we drop the leash and doesn’t go running around the house if we tell him to stay with us. He has been super affectionate and attentive and been following all our rules. I started the training on lead with him today and he had his eyes on me the whole time. So great! Laila was not like that at all, but she was very young when we started working with her.

Laila wants to play a little rough inside but she hasn’t been trying too often today. They’ve had a few short off leash play sessions and they went great! Gonzo was teasing her because she just can’t keep up with him! He is airborne half the time!  Seeing Laila chase Gonzo the rocket around the backyard, him holding his own in a WWE style wrestling match, and the two of them napping side by side is the greatest feeling ever! The two like each other a lot, and I hope that once Laila learns to calm down and be cool around him, it will turn into love. 

And lastly we should do a DNA test for him just because I am now sure he has bunny in his blood. He doesn’t run around the yard, he hops, leaps and bounds. If I didn’t know any better I would think we had a really, really big bunny. He is constantly flying around and poor Laila does her best to keep up but she is just no match! 

Thank you so much again for the wonderful work you do. Your blog really helped us get past a lot of insecurities about adopting a dog. You gave Gonzo and will give other great foster dogs a safe place to rehabilitate and the best chance at finding a forever home.

❤ Gonzo, Laila, and their people”

AND a very important announcement from yesterday:

“We are going to rename him “Oswald”! His nicknames will include Ozzie, Oz, Bunny Ears, brown bottom, and who knows what else!

The back story to the name is the character Oswald the Lucky Rabbit . They have a couple of things in common… of course the fact that both of them are bunnies and lucky is important, but there is one more thing that I think ties them together.  Like I told you on Sunday he was Mickey Mouse’s predecessor. Due to legal issues and money Walt Disney left behind Oswald and soon created Mickey Mouse who of course is Disney’s flagship character. Now after decades of being in obscurity and forgotten he has been given a second chance just like our Ozzie! He is back with his Disney family and Gonzo/Ozzie is in his new family too!”