Judge: Needs a Forever Home

• Age:  6 years (DOB: October 2007)

• Weight: 70 lbs

• Color: Brown with white markings

• How we came to own Judge:  adopted him as a 6 week old puppy from the Waco Humane Society

• Current medical information:  Current with all shots (5/15/2014) and heartworm/flea prevention (Trifexis monthly). Takes Prozac daily for separation anxiety. He currently eats grain free Blue Buffalo brand dog food which has significantly improved his skin. Previously ate Beneful dog food and had recurring itchy skin/ears and would scratch or lick his skin raw. 

• Behavior around others: 

o Judge loves people and kids! When he first meets someone, he will be very excited and want to lick faces. He calms down pretty quickly though. He loves to play fetch and Frisbee. He is wonderful with babies and kids. We have a 1 year old and he has been awesome with her since she was a newborn. Doesn’t howl or anything when she cries, and plays very gently with her. We are careful with her around his food bowls, but there have been a couple of times she got away from us and he has NEVER growled or shown any signs of aggression. She climbs all over him and pulls his ears and gets on his bed and he is fine with all of it. His only thing is sometimes he can get carried away licking her face. 

o Judge also plays well with other dogs. He has several friends he plays with when with his dog sitter. When he was younger there were a few times he showed some aggression towards other dogs when around his food or toys but nothing serious, if you intervene quickly. 

o He has never been around a cat. 

o He travels well in the car, when in the back of an SUV. 

• Potential behavior problems:  

o Leash: Judge can tend to pull on the leash, especially at the beginning of a walk or when he sees another dog or children playing. With frequent corrections, or after playing hard, he will heel better. 

o Separation anxiety:  This is the sole reason we need to find a new home for him.
           We started him in a crate, but ultimately, he couldn’t be crated because he would break out or destroy every crate. When he is uncrated, he can be destructive but not always. For the last two years, he has stayed in our bedroom with the door shut when we leave. 95% of the time he jumps on our bed for a snooze and is just fine. But occasionally, he will get destructive and chew or scratch on the door frame (he has completely ripped off a piece of the door frame twice), he has torn up 2 bed skirts, and has chewed a hole in our box spring. We love Judge and he is a WONDERFUL family dog, but it has become that our home and family is no longer equipped to handle the unpredictability of his anxiety.  I am certain there is a home more suited to manage his anxiety in better ways than we have managed thus far. 

• Normal day/routine:  Wake up around 7-8am. Go outside to urinate. Eat breakfast. After about 30 minutes, go outside to have a bowel movement.  He just enjoys being part of the morning activities during this time. Around 9-11, my daughter and I are out of the house for our activities during the day. We come home and he goes outside again sometime in the afternoon. If we leave again it is around 3pm for an hour or so. Sometime around 4-5pm, we will spend about 30 minutes or so outside, playing chase with the baby, throwing and fetching the ball, etc. During this time, he will often have another bowel movement.  We take long walks on the leash about 3x a week.   He spends his down time in the house napping in the living room or on his bed.  At night, he sleeps on his bed outside our bedroom door. He does not get up during the night. He also does not get on furniture (except our bed when he is alone). If you tell him “out”, he will immediately leave or refrain from entering a room you do not want him in (in our case, the kitchen and the rug where the baby played when she was an infant).  He is a very pleasant inside dog!

• Donations: While searching for a home, we will gladly provide Judge’s food and medication while in a foster or shelter environment. When adopted, we will send Judge with at least a month’s supply of Prozac, his dog bed, and a full bag of dog food.