Levi is a neutered male Boston terrier. He is large for a Boston and weighs 35+ pounds. He is red and white with beautiful chestnut eyes. His date of birth is listed as 7/18/12 on his original medical record. I started fostering Levi in July of 2018.

When Levi came to me, I had my own small, male Boston terrier and another foster (young, female pit mix). Levi did not get along with the pit mix. They both wanted to be the boss and that ended in multiple fights. Once she was adopted, Levi settled down. He doesn’t often interact with my Boston, who is very friendly and submissive. Levi will grumble or growl at my dog if he gets too close. He stops immediately if I tell him to “shush” or “be nice”. Levi will also stand and stare at him to make him move out of the dog bed. My dog is clueless to body language so it takes him forever to respond.It doesn’t escalate, but Levi will stare forever. He doesn’t give up. They have gotten into a couple of small fights over treats, but tolerate each other aside from that. When my dog jumps around Levi trying to play, Levi will just bark at him. At the vet, Petco or other community locations, Levi seems to mirror the energy of the other dogs. He will ignore quiet, low energy dogs and will bark at loud, high energy dogs.

Levi took a very long time to warm up and become affectionate. He initially walked around slowly and cautiously without making eye contact. He has grown to become a sweet, loving boy. He will come up to me and paw at me or the couch for attention. He loves to be scratched, but is uncomfortable being hugged. He will give kisses and greets me at the door wiggling all over with a huge smile. He likes to sit by me on the couch and will sometimes sleep in the bed. He has just begun to play with me. He needs to learn to play appropriately because he will get over excited and nip (like a puppy). He hasn’t broken the skinbut it pinches.I stop playing and walk away when it happens rather than raise my voice at him because he shows some signs of fearfulness. For example, if I reach for something over him or stand up quickly, he might flinch or start to cower.

Levi is over-protective. I had a trainer come out to assess him during the first few months that I had him. She felt that he will need to work with his family to learn confidence and proper behavior with strangers. Levi took fluoxetine for several months to help him adjust tochanging homes. He needed a belly band at night when he was on the medication, but has not had accidents since the medication was stopped.Levi has bitten/nipped a couple of strangers. I keep him in a separate room when I have visitors to avoid that problem. I do not put him in a kennel. The vet noted that he has several broken teeth that she thinks came from biting on the wire of a kennel. He barks very aggressively and kicks his back legs whenpeopleapproach the fence, even people that he sees regularly. However, I have not had problems with him out in the community (vet’s office, Petco, parks). He ignores most people, but will occasionally approach someone to be petted. I usually discourage people from petting him if he does not approach them first. When vet techs or Petco employees have initiated petting him, he just stands very still, but does not misbehave.He behaves well for the vet. They put a muzzle on him for nail trims but he has been okay with other routine treatments.

Overall, Levi is a very mellow dog that is usually quiet and basically lazy. He likes to walk the fence in the back yard and lay in the sun. He will also run the fence to bark at neighbor dogs. He fixates on and barks at cats, but has not been allowed to interact with them.He spends a lot of time looking out of the window. He doesn’t like baths and will try to hide when he realizes its bath time. He likes to chew on nylabones, but hasn’t learned to fetch or play with other toys. He nurses on his blankets (he has one in every room) multiple times a day. He also humps his blankets. He is not territorial about toys or his food, but I do keep an eye on him at meal time so that he doesn’t steal my dog’s food.Levi uses a dog door during the day. I walk the dogs to the dog door first thing in the morning and last thing at night to make sure that they go (mostly because my dog will pee in the house). Levi does not like to go out when it is raining and I sometimes have to go out with him to make him use the restroom. He will wake you up in the middle of the night if he doesn’t go right before bed.

I love Levi. He continues to grow and show more aspects of his personality even after having him for over a year and a half. He is a very special boy that will excel is an understanding, responsible home. He is well behaved when his life is structured. He should excel with alpha leadership with owners (calm and assertive), in a house with more submissive dogs, and ideally work with a trainer to learn more how to calmly accept guests into the house.

Levi is doing so very well in foster care but would be an amazing pet. This boy deserves a forever family. He is great with kids and wants a life of love.

Please consider this beautiful little man!

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The Adoption Application Process:

1. The first step of our adoption process to submit our adoption application online (at the bottom of this page). We require a $20 application fee which we will contact you about once we have received your application. You can pay your application fee here. This is a nonrefundable fee, so make sure you read through the requirements before you apply.

2. Once your fee is received we review your application and place a call to your veterinarian to make sure all past and current dogs have been well taken care of.

3. After your vet check we do a home visit where one of our volunteers comes to your home to meet and talk with you and your family. 

4. Finally after your application has been fully processed, our Adoption Coordinator will contact you to let you know if your application has been approved. If so, we will begin talking about the dogs you are interested in. Approved adopters get to chat with foster parents about the dogs as well as set up meet and greets to meet the dog they are interested in.

Foster dogs will not be considered for adoption placement until the home visit has been conducted and approved.  The entire adoption process can take two to six weeks.  Home visits that are outside of NC, or in VA, SC and GA cities where no BTRTOC volunteers reside may require additional coordination and time.  

Our adoption fees are as follows:  

Purebred Boston Terriers
$400.00 for puppies less than 1 year
$350.00 for dogs 1 year  up to 7 years 
$200.00 for senior dogs of 8 years and older

Boston Terrier Mixes
$250.00 for dogs less than 1 year old
$225.00 for a dog between 1 and 7 years
$175.00 for mixes 8 years and older.

All dogs will receive a complete veterinary check-up, be micro-chipped, spayed or neutered, heartworm tested, and be current on vaccines prior to adoption.