Luca

Updated 2/9/12

Luca, age 1

MATCHED

Luca has been matched to his forever home, but all GRR dogs deserve a place on the website, so here’s his story. 

Luca and his brother Rocco came to GRR after the third dog in the family decided he didn’t much care for the two young Goldens & took a few bites out of Luca. Their owner decided that, for the brothers’ safety, she had better relocate the gorgeous duo pronto! After a short stay at the vet for neutering and treatment of his bite wounds, Luca settled into his foster home. Here’s the report:

We are new to fostering and Luca was our first.  (Our own Golden, Charlie, is about a month younger than Luca.) When we picked Luca up from the vet, he’d just had neuter surgery and he’d been separated from his brother for the first time… he looked so apprehensive.  After the 20-minute drive home, we introduced Luca to his new “brother” & then took them on a short walk—everything was just fine. Luca’s next move was to explore the backyard… and, of course, spend plenty of time marking things out there to establish his territory! Within about an hour, he & Charlie were busily sniffing each other, and Luca was much more relaxed and playful.

I have had Goldens for over 20 years, and I’ve never seen one so young with such nice manners. (It’s early days, but still…!) Luca didn’t assume that he could jump onto the couch or the bed, he ate nicely, did his business efficently outdoors, and slept nicely through the night.

He loves to be stroked, brushed, talked to; loves to have his belly rubbed, doesn't mind us touching his feet or brushing his tail… I'm so impressed.  Another thing: his coat is silky & he doesn't have a thick undercoat, so there is a lot less shedding than with my Charlie.  This is nice! My previous Golden had a coat like this, and it dried so quickly after a bath as well.  Luca seems to be interested in stuffed animals, but he hasn’t chewed on the Nylabone much. (He does like an occasional dog biscuit.)

As far as we can tell, Luca just loves people, no issues there! We’ve had two small dog-to-dog  “disagreements”—once,  Charlie decided to try to establish dominance & straddled Luca's shoulders while he was busy… Luca wouldn't have any of that and air-snapped at Charlie in warning.  I really don't blame him! The second time Luca wanted to have all the toys for himself, even though there are plenty for two.  We’ve just had to be vigilant and keep an eye on the dogs as Luca & Charlie get used to each other.

Luca is a beautiful young Golden who's very mature and well mannered; he definitely will round out any family lucky enough to adopt him. And because Luca was  surrenderd by a caring & responsible owner, we know his medical history, his birthday, and have a good idea about who he really is.  Luca has surely been a gentle way for us to ease into fostering!

Adoption Procedures