HANK Mixed Breed Cape Girardeau, MO

Hank is a two year old terrier mix with an energetic, and playful personality. He came to us under socialized, from a home where the other dog regularly aggressed him. At first, we couldn't touch Hank, and it took everything just to get him to come inside, but with a very small amount of focused interactions and training he has come miles and miles since then. He now is trusting people and is slowly meeting more and more dogs and getting to be in larger playgroups, with more personalities.

Hank is a very driven dog, meaning that when something seems fun, or interesting to him, he can lose focus on everything else and just care about that one thing. Hank absolutely LOVES to play tug of war. So much so that sometimes he will try to play with the leash as you walk him. We know this can be a hassle during walks, so we have started to remedy this by using a simple clicker treat method. Once he is on leash, we get a spare leash/rope/toy and allow him to start pulling on it. After a few seconds, we get down in front of him and say "Drop it", in a calm, stern voice. Once he does this we immediately hit the clicker and reward him with a treat. We have also been implementing this same method when he is overly focused on anything, i.e. animals and/or people walking by, or toys. This has helped not only his recall, but his overall "being present" when people are around. In two days alone he has picked up on this tremendously and with continued training we believe these issues would be next to non-existent.

We are looking for a home that understands Hank's situation. Someone who is willing to take their time to work on his quirks, and sees his potential. Animals in the home are welcome, but we would require a meet and greet first. He has not openly met a cat, but never seems to notice all the cats in the lobby that we have, so we think that he would be alright with a cat, as well. We think he would love to have kids to play and cuddle with, but would recommend older kids just because Hank can play rowdy if he gets excited.

Hank takes treats very nicely, loves ear and neck rubs, and even knows a few commands. So please come say Hi and take him out to play, we bet he will win you over!