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Adopted

Clarence ADOPTED:) American Staffordshire Terrier & Great Pyrenees Mix Waverly, IA

  • Adult
  • Male
  • Large
  • Tricolor (Brown, Black, & White)

About

Coat length
Short
House-trained
Yes
Health
Vaccinations up to date, spayed / neutered.
Good in a home with
Other dogs, cats.
Prefers a home without
Children.
Adoption fee
$195.00

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Meet Clarence ADOPTED:)

WE ARE NOT A SHELTER. WE ARE A NO-KILL 501-C-3 NON-PROFIT RESCUE: To see an animal, you must fill out an application first and then once approved, we can set up for you to meet the animal you are interested in.

Here is the Dog Application that you can copy and paste into a browser: https://fs17.formsite.com/waverlypetrescue/form028182466/index.html

Clarence was a stray in Bremer county and he went unclaimed. When his time was up, Waverly Pet Rescue took him in. He is living in a foster home. He is up to date on shots, tested heartworm negative, dewormed, and neutered.

Clarence is about 4 years old as of April 2019. Clarence is a large breed dog, weights about 95 lbs and is currently at a healthy weight. Clarence's foster mom and dad got him a doggy DNA test! His breeds are: 25% American Staffordshire Terrier, 25% Great Pyrenees, 25% Tree Walking Coonhound, 12.5% American Bulldog, and 12.5% Boxer.

A fenced in yard is REQUIRED to adopt Clarence. A home with older children would be best.

Clarence does well with other medium/large dogs as well as cats when properly introduced in a neutral environment. He currently lives with his foster parents, 2 dogs and several cats. He is potty trained, and crate trained. He knows how to sit, shake, and hi-five, and he is working on lay down, and wait. Also it has taken him a long time to learn his name, so he is still working on the come command.

-- One note.. he has a good amount of energy, and plays alot with the other dogs, and likes to 'play' with the cats.. which involves running around with them when they run. (Which may seem like he's chasing them similar to pray drive).. but he has never hurt, snapped at any of the cats.. including getting swatted / clawed in the face.

Clarence has been exposed to house guests, visiting with neighbors, including kids, and has does great as long as he gets to interact with them, however he gets very nervous if he's in a crate while there are visitors. He does need work on obedience and controlling excitement in those situations.

Clarence loves riding in the car, and he will jump into any open car door. (Including the neighbors SUV across the street with leather interior). He does well riding in the car, and typically lays in the back or looks out the window. He also seems to do Ok in the car while waiting in a parking lot. He also does fairly well on a leash.

There is one concern with Clarence that he is not comfortable with any unusual physical touching such as flea/tic topical treatment, vet exams, nail trimming, etc. Granted other dogs could be the same way but with his physical size and power, it is hard to handle him in this situations. Our vet has recommended sedatives, which we have used once successfully, however the second trip either we didn't time the effect correctly, or it didn't have as much of an effect, and he was able to react to the nail trim.

We are currently working on recommendations by a pet behaviorists, to give him good associations with vet visits, which means:

Go to the vet on a regular basis (1-2+ times a week), and all he gets is treats.. (typically chicken nuggets and meatballs).. then we go home. The first visit he was very nervous, and slow to take treats. The second visit, he was happy to go in but still nervous in the exam/treatment area. The 3rd visit, he was pulling me into the vet and happy to see everyone and enjoy his treats.

Another thing we are working on is to come to hearing his name while in distracting situations. -- This is taking longer.. because he is being stubborn about it. But we're making good progress.

We feel that the vet/touching issue is going to be a long term recovery item, so we are also going to work on muzzle training, so when these events DO happen, he is easy to muzzle and everyone is comfortable and safe.

In getting to know Clarence, we quickly learned that he was once an in-home pet of someone, as he came neutered, and knew several commands instantly. And at sometime was once in an abusive home, as he is deathly afraid of belts. We have tried to be very positive in our training with Clarence. We also noticed that after we started these training items with positive reinforcement, he has been much more relaxed around the house and around our other dogs.

If you choose to adopt Clarence, we will fill you in on all of his training items and his stubborn tricks.

Clarence has shown signs of being a great guard dog around the house. He will bark at unusual things outside, but not at every leaf that blows by the window. We have started to try to leave him out of the crate for short periods of time while we are gone and there have been no issues with him left alone.

We need to work on manners when someone enters the home, but once they are inside and he has interacted with them, he is calm and relaxed.

For toys, he loves to play tug with rope toys. He is also learning catch a ball. The foster home allows animals on furniture, so he spends his free time sleeping on the couch, or on our bed.

Clarence will do best with an experienced dog owner family, who can express a sense of a pack leader, but he will be a great companion.. (he is laying at my feet as I finish typing.)

12/18/19 UPDATE: Clarence is continuing to make great progress in the foster home. After months of work at home. While sitting on the couch with us, Clarence is becoming tolerant to touching his feet and playing with this toes and toe nails, Also we have introduced the nail clipper with this interaction, and he is becoming tolerant of the nail clippers. We have gotten to the point where we could clip 1 or 2 toe nails. All with no sedatives, and no muzzle. It will still take a lot of work, but there is great progress.

We have focused more on in home training than vet training.. partially due to scheduling issues, and further vet training will be best with this forever vet.

A few new things we've learned about Clarence in the last few months:
He knows his name.. and will (eventually) come when his name is called... but it's still on his schedule. He loves kids, so I think he would be fine with kids 10+ (The only reason I say 10+ is he is a lap dog and doesn't realize his size.. I'm not sure if he knows to be slow and gentle with smaller kids.)

A potential adopter with dogs will want to introduce the dogs before deciding on adopting Clarence. The foster Family is available to schedule several meet ups as needed.

We had one application with an older dog (12+), and while they really wanted to adopt Clarence... The meetings went well, and the dogs got along fairly well at the meetings. Their older dog and Clarence were both dominant, we were afraid if something were to happen, their older dog could easily get hurt, and not worth the stress at his senior years.

Overall, Clarence is doing great, and ready for adoption.. The muzzle and sedative will likely be needed for vet visits until he gets comfortable with his new vet. The foster family will fill you in on how we did the training and conditioning to get Clarence comfortable with foot play and home trimmer, as some of this work will need to be redone at his forever home.

Will someone please adopt Clarence and give him a forever home? $195.00 adoption fee.

WE ARE A NO-KILL 501-C-3 NON-PROFIT RESCUE. All donations are tax deductible. We do not have a shelter. All pets live in foster homes. We only adopt to indoor homes. To see an animal, you must fill out an application first and then once approved, we can set up for you to meet the animal you are interested in. We do background checks on all applicants. If you have assault, domestic abuse, or drug charges please do not apply. If you have questions, please send an email to waverlypetrescue@mchsi.com

All animals see a vet for shots and normal exams. If they appear healthy and there are no obvious health concerns, then extensive testing is not done. This is normal procedure for pet rescues and shelters.
Waverly Pet Rescue puts a lot of money into medical care for each dog and cat we take in. $300 is the average cost for basic care. This does not include if the animal had an injury, required extra flea / ear mite treatments, or needed extra days at the vet office.

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Clarence ADOPTED:)

Clarence ADOPTED:)

  • American Staffordshire Terrier
  • Adult
  • Male