Rigsly

Rigsly is a 5 yo Black and Red large male who was surrendered to a local shelter because his prior family could no longer provide care for him. He initially weighed in at 110 lbs, which is far too heavy, but is gradually trimming down to a very healthy physique that allows him to enjoy his daily 3 to 4 mile walks like a champ!

Living indoors is very new to this boy. Even though he learned to navigate his way on tile and hard surface flooring with confidence, he may require time to adjust to new slick surfaces. He learned to use stairs in the foster home as well as the dog door without hesitation, and has demonstrated that he is completely housebroken. Within a very short period of time, he has also adapted to sleeping in a crate/enclosure through the night. Despite the comforts of indoor living, his healthy curiosity to 'go outside' may cause him to override certain barriers, such as a screen door. Training will be necessary to reinforce inhibition in these settings. He has learned to effectively, although begrudgingly, respect boundaries in the home with use of baby gates.

When Rigsly encounters new situations, he occasionally shows hesitation and may retreat. With patient introductions, he rapidly overcomes this. Eager curiosity may kick in, and he may choose to investigate, often in a pushy manner. Guidance and supervision is a must with this boy as he becomes more socially mature.

He has shown interest in meeting all humans with a friendly demeanor. In fact, when he reunites with his human, he will engage in a ritual of wiggly leaning, and mouthy gestures. For this reason, we recommend no small children. He is very food and chew toy motivated, and may counter surf with high precision but we are working on sitting and waiting for food to be offered to him. Because he wants to please his human, he responds to correction fairly well.

He does well alone in the home and respects the older male foster dog and females at his foster home but can sometimes become pushy with them causing the other dog to correct or avoid him. He can easily live as the only dog in a home, but would need to be slowly introduced to any resident dog to see if they get along. Due to his size and occasional strong determination. Further training with an experienced, strong handler will allow this boy to blossom into a superb companion.

Cats, are unknown but smaller dogs appear fine. He has shown significant prey drive toward small critters (squirrels etc.). He is a great boy that is eager to please and loves to play fetch. He is working hard to get the finer points of returning the toy to you but has the basics down.

This is a Level 3 Dog. Please be sure you understand what a dog of this Level requires.

Added March 2019