Rocky - the dog with the sad record of being left in the Canberra pound for the longest time - has found a loving new home. And he's also rocking a pretty cool new name.
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The three-year-old cross-breed was finally adopted after a record 328 days staying at the Domestic Animal Services shelter on Mugga Lane.
His new owner is Kate Aspland, who adopted him on Valentine's Day.
Obi is living in a house in Belconnen with a big backyard, also being showered with love by Kate's daughter Eve Aspland-Burns, 20, and Eve's boyfriend, Dustin Copelin, 19.
Kate gave Rocky a new name, as well as a fresh start. He is now a proud Oberon or Obi, after the king of the fairies, as featured in Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream.
"He's so gentle, so I just wanted to give him a gentler name," Kate said.
Kate, Eve and Dustin are all disability support workers on different shifts so Obi is rarely at home by himself.
The family can't understand why Obi (formerly Rocky) languished at the pound for almost a year.
"I feel like we've just really hit the jackpot on this one. He's just so perfect," Eve, 20, said.
"I think when you go to the pound, you never really know what you're going to get but it's such a great opportunity. You get to help a dog out and give him a good home.
"I just think it's great for the dog and for us as well."
Kate had no idea how long Obi had been in the pound until she started searching for a dog.
"We had a cat and it was killed on New Year's Eve and in the ensuing weeks I just felt - I felt very lonely, not having a little companion in the house," she said.
"So I decided to get a dog this time and I was looking through the adoption agencies and making a little list and I put him on my list. I wanted a staffy or a staffy-cross and when I realised how long he'd been in there, I thought, 'We'll see him first' and we met him and we were just really impressed by him.
"He was manic and crazy, but I had a feeling he'd calm down when he was out of the institutional environment."
Obi has been in his new home in Weetangera for a week on Wednesday. Already, he is comfortable in his new surroundings, happy to be living with an active family, and appearing to find some inner peace.
Hawker and Weetangera ovals are favourite places for him to walk.
"He would walk forever," Eve said.
"And the more we walk him, the more calm and relaxed he is. He sort of just flops around and goes to sleep. He snores like a person. So he's very loud, but it's okay because he's very cute."
On Tuesday, Domestic Animal Services adoption coordinator Tara McMahon visited Obi to see how he was going in his new home.
"We are ecstatic for him," she said.
"Coming here and seeing him in his home environment, a super-settled boy, it's the best outcome we could have ever have hoped for."
Ms McMahon said there was nothing wrong with Rocky-now-Obi but some dogs were just overlooked. DAS kept the dogs until the right owner came along, unless they had medical or behavioural issues that could not be fixed.
"There's always that right home, it's just patiently waiting for the right people to come through those doors and take them home," she said.
Domestic Animal Services will have a display at the Royal Canberra Show this weekend of dogs now up for adoption, including others like Obi that have been there for a long time.
"At the moment, we have four dogs that are set for over 200 days in the facility and all up 14 dogs who have been there for more than 100 days," Ms McMahon said.
"So there is absolutely no time limit on these guys finding their forever home."
Megan Doherty
I like telling local stories and celebrating Canberra. Email: megan.doherty@canberratimes.com.au
I like telling local stories and celebrating Canberra. Email: megan.doherty@canberratimes.com.au
