Bud - LIMITED VISION Australian Cattle Dog / Blue Heeler Mix Republic, WA

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Bud is a gentle soul with limited vision in his one remaining eye. He will turn 9 years old in January 2025, weighs about 60 pounds, and appears to be a Queensland Heeler mix.

His foster mom reports that he gets along well with her other 2 dogs (both seniors older than Bud), though needed a few days of supervision while they figured out where each stood in the pack hierarchy. All is peaceful in the home now, but Bud would enjoy a somewhat more active family, as he still has lots of energy and enjoyment in exploring.

His vision in his remaining right eye, with PRA (Progressive Retinal Atrophy), is about 30-50% good. It will decrease over time. He does bump into things sometimes, and sometimes something out of his vision initially will surprise him. Overall he's very well adapted to his limited vision, and with the slow PRA progression, he should do well until the end of his life even if he goes totally blind (assuming he has a stable home that doesn't rearrange furniture weekly).

He likes to guard bark at walkers-by and visitors, though by talking thru the fence a couple minutes, he's friendly when they come inside his foster mom's fenced yard.

Bud currently pulls pretty hard when being leash walked, a symptom of his pent up desire to explore as much as possible as quickly as possible. Once he is in a family where he can do more exploring than is available in his foster home, his leash manners should improve. On their occasional adventures, his foster mom can call him back to the car, but it takes a little coaxing.

Bud takes treats gently (dog treats and apple pieces) and has learned his bowl's spot on the kitchen floor, and to not butt in to the other dogs' bowls. He doesn't exhibit any resource guarding with the other dogs.

He could easily be a jogging partner, a regular walker, and a play-around-the yard dog. His interactions with cats have been limited to short visits with the office cat at the shelter, where he seems to understand the cat is a "friend." He would likely chase a cat that runs.

All pets arrive spayed/neutered, dewormed, microchipped and vaccinated. Adoption fee for Bud - LIMITED VISION is a suggested minimum of $75 (more gratefully accepted), or Senior for Senior (adopters over 65 may name their own adoption fee). All pets are placed with a 30-day money-back trial period, to give pet and family enough time to discover any unknown allergies or other conflicts.

Can't come to Republic? Don't let that stop you! We have monthly transports to the Seattle area, delivering adopted pets to their new owners. If you can add a little to your donation to help us cover our volunteer driver's expenses, that would be great!