There's a lot to learn when you have a new pet. Our sister brand, The Wildest, is here to support you—with new pet checklists, virtual training, and expert guides. Sign up for free.
I found a new home! Plenty of my friends are looking for one too. Check out other pets at this shelter, or start a new search.
Find a pet to adopt
My basic info
Breed
Boxer
Color
Tan/Yellow/Fawn
Age
7 years 2 months old, Adult
Size
Large 61-100 lbs (28-45 kg) (when grown)
Weight
60 lbs (current)
Sex
Male
Pet ID
–
My details
Good with kids
Good with dogs
Purebred
Shots current
Housetrained
Has special needs
My story
Share
Here's what the humans have to say about me:
Meet our sweet Fez. This handsome boy has lived a very sad life up until coming into our rescue a few months ago. Fez was seized by authorities from deplorable living conditions along with several other dogs. He is five years old and, we believe, a pure-bred Boxer.
Fez spent his life being used for breeding. He was living tied up outside year-round and only fed when the owner thought it was absolutely necessary to keep him alive. He came in severely underweight and ill – yet despite all that he is such a sweet, gentle and grateful boy. We love him and want him to have the best life possible from now on.
We have had Fez a little over 3 months. Initially helping him to gain weight was a challenge as everything he ate went right through him. Living in starvation mode for so long made it difficult for him to take in food. We fed him six small (increasing amounts as he tolerated them better) meals a day for weeks. He has steadily gained weight and is a much healthier weight (~60 lbs) now and eats two normal meals a day.
Unfortunately, living outdoors took an even greater toll on Fez. He is heartworm positive and has been undergoing treatment since two days after we rescued him. He had such a heavy heartworm load that the regular treatment was deemed unsafe (likely fatal) for him, so our vet has him on a “slow kill” heartworm treatment protocol until he is well enough to have the regular heartworm injections. He is still not out of the woods completely, but the worm load at least is not continuing to increase at this time. We will continue the “slow kill” until his lungs look better and our vet feels it is safe to use the more aggressive approach to clearing him. The main impact at this time is that Fez needs to be kept pretty quiet. It is not safe for him to run or play hard even though now he is feeling so much better, he'd like to do some of that. He will need a home where he can just chill with his people until he is fully recovered.
Fez is not neutered (remember, he had been used for breeding) as it is not safe for him to undergo surgery yet. He will be neutered as soon as our vet deems it safe and appropriate.
Now that Fez has passed the riskiest part of his treatment and recovery, our vet has cleared him to go to a foster home. We understand that it will be challenging to find an adopter who wants to take on all of Fez's current issues – but we know that he is such a great boy, and is going to make the right person so happy, that we thought we should at least post him and give him a chance for his forever person to find him. A foster or foster-to-adopt arrangement would be great for him now.
With his nature, we think he would be fine with children, other dogs, and maybe even cats but we haven't had an opportunity to test those things with him. He is very near other dogs all the time, but separated from them, and seems non-reactive. At this point, while he is still recovering, his ideal home will be a quiet one so most likely would not be one young children or very playful other dogs. He is house-trained to a doggy door, but has not lived in a regular home so he may need some training to learn to signal that he needs to go outside. Our experience with dogs who have lived outdoors their whole lives is that they are quick to housetrain because they only know about pottying outside.
If you think you might want to give sweet Fez a chance to live in a home (even a foster home) please email jojosdogrescue@gmail.com and we will send you an application, or visit our website: www.jojosdoghouse.com and download one.
Please visit our Facebook page JoJo's DogHouse (non-profit) to learn more about us and see many of the dogs we have rescued. We hope you'll join JoJo's family of adopters.
