Just Gus

​Gus is a live­stock guardian dog with one job — pro­tect­ing his farm from coy­otes and fox­es. He likes keep­ing the sheep, the chick­ens, and his humans safe, and he’s very good at it.

One day, Diego and his dad come to vis­it the farm, and Gus imme­di­ate­ly con­nects to the small boy. They both like to sit still and enjoy the qui­et, and Gus can tell that Diego likes being around a gen­tle giant of a dog, that it helps relieve the boy’s con­stant worry.

When Gus detects the scent of a bear in the woods, he rush­es to pro­tect his flock, injur­ing his leg in a fight with the dan­ger­ous beast. Wound­ed, Gus needs to rest and heal away from his sheep, so he doesn’t risk rein­jur­ing his leg. Diego sug­gests Gus come home with them to the North Car­oli­na coast.

Sud­den­ly, Gus is thrust into a new world of salt­wa­ter and sand and neigh­bors who don’t appre­ci­ate the pres­ence of a large guard dog, like the neigh­bor who reminds Gus of his first own­er — the junk­yard man with the heavy boots.

Gus real­izes Diego might need a friend as much as his sheep need a pro­tec­tor, but if he can’t learn to con­trol his instincts, like bark­ing and patrolling the neigh­bor­hood, Gus might lose his chance to stay in his new home. If he can’t pro­tect the farm or his boy, Gus wor­ries he might nev­er find his place in the world.

Just Gus is a ten­der sto­ry of belong­ing and of two friends who learn they are bet­ter togeth­er than they were alone.