The loudest dog at the shelter stopped barking by seeing his dad
For as long as Adopt An ANGEL animal shelter staff members have known Goose, he’s had a deep, howl-like bark. All of the workers know him as the loudest dog in the shelter.
“He’s got a hound bark that could seriously win contests,” Adopt An ANGEL director Jill Jones told us.
According to Jones, Goose’s barks coincide with his feelings. “He screams when he feels anxious and abandoned,” Jones said. “If he’s quiet, it’s because he’s happy.”
But by his third stint at the rescue, Goose’s life had been more sad than happy.
When the shelter took Goose in for the first time as an injured puppy, he howled after leaving his mom. And when his first adoptive family brought him back as an adult, staff assumed that he was crying out for them.
A young couple adopted Goose for a second time shortly after by a , but the relationship ended abruptly. And when the couple went their separate ways, one of Goose’s parents relinquished him back to the shelter without telling the other.
“[His dad] moved to Florida and had no idea that Goose was here with us in North Carolina,” Jones said. “We didn’t know that he was out there, either.”
Goose’s howls at the shelter were even louder the third time around.
Staff members knew that he needed a family he could stay with forever. So, they featured Goose in an adoption fair soon after.
“One of [Goose’s dad]’s best friends happened to come into the adoption fair,” Jones said.
The man stumbled across Goose, who’d been missing an ear since he was a puppy, and immediately recognized him.
“He was like, ‘Oh my God! Goose, what are you doing here?’ and just started texting,” Jones said.
Goose’s dad felt shocked to hear that his dog was at a shelter again. Although he couldn’t take Goose in himself, he was determined to adopt the loving pup into his family.
“He was like, ‘Let me figure this out so that I can get Goose out of the shelter and bring him back,’” Jones said.
Less than four days later, Goose’s dad drove from Florida to North Carolina and reunited with his long-lost pup.
When the time came to see him again, Goose, who is usually the loudest dog at the shelter, went completely quiet.
“It was like he was saying, ‘I know that my people are here, so there’s no need to scream,’” Jones said. “‘I was only screaming for my people.’”
He didn’t make a sound, but staff members could tell by his excited jumps that Goose was happy to see his dad again.
After their reunion, Goose and his dad set off on their first road trip together to Florida. Goose’s grandpa offered to give the pup a permanent home, and that’s where he’s been ever since.
According to Jones, Goose is thriving in Florida, where he spends his days running around his new fenced-in yard and playing with his dog cousins. Even though she misses him, Jones feels relieved to know that Goose no longer has a reason to cry.
“We explained that if these dogs are 10 and they had lived their entire lives outside, that they might not do well in a shelter environment,” Risch told The Dodo loudest. “It’s really hard to adopt out senior dogs, so it could lead to euthanasia. As far as I understand, the response was that she didn’t care … she needed to bring them in.”
What Is Alert Barking?
Alert barking is your dogs way of letting you know they’ve seen or heard something out of the ordinary. If your dog stares out the window & barks at everything that moves, or if he barks every time your neighbor starts his motorcycle that’s alert baking. Some people call it nuisance barking, aka when your dog barks at all the things all day long.
“He’s finally back with his humans loudest,” Jones said.
