Gus in the early years

We regret to inform you of the passing of Gus Elwood, Healthy Futures’ longtime Therapy Animal, and family pet of Mia, Todd, Tiger and Lucas Elwood.

Gus crossed the Rainbow Bridge peacefully after a very brief, but tragically, catastrophic illness, on Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2022. He passed away at home surrounded by his family.

Gus was born on Halloween Day in 2008 to a dog breeder but was abandoned to All God’s Creatures animal shelter for not being perfect enough. He spent most of his first year at that Texas shelter, but was adopted by the Elwood family on Sept. 17, 2009. Mia, Todd, Tiger and Lucas picked up Gus at Sky Harbor airport, opened his crate, and immediately fell in love with this perfectly imperfect little guy, who, at that moment, resembled Slash from Guns ‘n’ Roses. (Much better haircuts followed).

His first night in his forever home, he piddled on the floor, but immediately learned the ins and outs of the doggy door, and never had another accident in the house. In fact, he took to puppy training very well, and in addition to always doing his business in the proper place, he counted among his other skills: “Leave it,” “Wait,” “Park it,” “Sit,” “Walk-walk-walk,” “Gimme Paw,” and other impressive tricks.

Most impressive, though, was his intuition, which made Gus a world-class Therapy Animal. He sat in countless group sessions at Healthy Futures and would often sense when someone needed a furry companion at the moment. He was soft, quiet, and – when needed – he was lovable.