Jonah American Staffordshire Terrier & Pit Bull Terrier Mix Minneapolis, MN

To submit an application please click here
http://www.pethavenmn.org/adoption-3/dog-adoptions/

Jonah is a gentle, quiet dog (we may have heard him actually bark once) who can also be a hilarious goofball. When he is excited he scrambles around like a crazy little potato. He LOVES playing with toys and will occupy himself for several hours hiding them under his bed and then being surprised when he moves his bed and they are still there. Occasionally you will walk in on him sitting in on the couch like a human just casually mouthing at his squeaky toy.


He loves other dogs and is good with cats. Our cats don’t like dogs so hiss at him when he tries to play with them and he doesn’t take offense and gives them their space. He has been excellent meeting other dogs—all tail wags and play bows. If the other dog is easily put off by an exuberant greeting, it may be better to take them for a walk before introducing them nose-to-nose so they aren’t overwhelmed, but Jonah has been good at reading and responding to other dog’s body language.

Jonah does have anxiety that we believe stems from not being socialized as a puppy. Many things he sees are new to him and have the potential to be scary. Over the last two months, he has become pretty comfortable in our house and backyard. Initially, he was terrified on walks but after he was started on anti-anxiety medication he really came around and now seems to enjoy them. We still stick to less-travelled areas to keep him comfortable but he has been on several walks now that were over an hour long and had a great time.

Considerations:

1) We believe he may be claustrophobic. He panicked in a medium-sized crate to the point where he broke the door and cut himself all over his face to escape. We have a larger crate for him now and have worked with him on positive crate associations. He occasionally puts his nose up to the bars to test it but isn’t panicky and doesn’t make any noise. Recently he has started being excited to get into his crate for bedtime or jump in it to rest during the day.

2) He does guard high value items from dogs and shouldn’t have them around other animals (we haven’t had him guard anything against a person and feel comfortable removing high value items from him). He currently considers water to be a high value item and we are working on overcoming this.

We believe that Jonah would be ready to go into a home right now and would make someone a fantastic, low-key pet. If you are looking for a dog to hang out with you on the couch and can entertain himself with toys but is up for a long walk once in a while, Jonah is your man. He doesn’t require as much physical stimulation as a young, physically-fit dog typically does. He is ‘ripped’, super muscular and gorgeous but most of that seems to be genetics!


As he has gotten to know us he has begun enjoying sitting on our laps and cuddling with us. It usually doesn’t take him long to fall asleep and start softly snoring.

We are just starting to work on obedience training with him but he is already a well-behaved dog. He is almost house-trained (he’s only had one accident in the last two weeks) and does a nice job of standing by the backdoor when he needs to go to the bathroom.

Jonah is available for adoption or foster-to-adopt on the condition that his new family understands that he is on the shy side and will need help continuing to come out of his shell. For the next several months, he should stay on his anti-anxiety medication (it is a $4/month generic). We anticipate that Jonah will continue to do well, grow and come out of his shell whether he is with his new family.


Jonah will not be attending adoption events. His adoption fee is $320 (cash or check only) and includes spay/neuter, heartworm check, current vaccinations, and microchip and registration.

Due to post-adoption services provided, it is Pet Haven's policy to only place dogs into homes within a 60-mile radius of the Twin Cities area.