Meet Rusty

Meet Rusty, the 4 year old German Shepherd. Rusty arrived to the Shelter after his previous caregiver was unable to continue caring for him due to his own medical needs. Rusty is a loyal, sweet Shepherd who would thrive in a Shepherd savvy household. He has been in a home with adults and children as young as 11 years old and has done well. In a recent temporary home, he slept in bed with the 11 year old child. Rusty coexisted with a senior lab in the home after a slow, thoughtful introduction. He has also met other dogs at the Shelter. Rusty may do well in a home with another dog but is required to meet at the Shelter prior to adoption. Rusty may not enjoy high traffic dog areas like dog beaches or West Cliff. Due to prey drive observed in a previous home, Rusty is required to go to a feline free home. He is house trained (would whine at the door when he has to go out) and does fine when left home alone. Rusty's adoption fee has been sponsored by the Santa Cruz Animal Shelter Foundation's Leave No One Behind fund - a fund that draws adopter's eyes towards animals that have been waiting a little bit longer than average for the right adopters to come along and bring them home. The Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter Foundation is now offering “Pawsitivity Bucks” with every dog adoption. This $200 training voucher is a way for newly adopted canines and their guardians to connect with local positive reinforcement based behavior consultants and get their relationship started off on the right paw! Please note: Our Santa Cruz location’s Shelter hours are 11-6pm, 7 days a week! Although clients can walk through and see any animals in their kennels during open hours, we end “meet and greets” (aka meeting an animal out of the kennel) at 4:30pm every day. If you’d like to meet an animal out of the kennel, please arrive before 4:00pm to allow for time to discuss individual animals and meet them.