Copper

Shepherd + Vizsla + FMD Mixed | Neutered Male | 5 Years old | 55 Ibs

My Story

Copper was a rescue adopted from HARA back in 2017. His family has made the difficult decision to rehome Copper to ensure the safety of their children as Copper has some fear-based aggression issues.

Description of Copper from his current family who has taken care of him for the past 4.5 years-

Training and positive behavior:
When we first got Copper he was extremely fearful, unable to walk on-leash, and aggressive to strangers during walks. The first few years we had him we spent countless hours training him ourselves at home. He now walks or runs nicely at our sides on-leash. He also does very well off-leash on hikes and will come back to us at the command "come." He plays well with other dogs and we have left him at overnight boarding kennels where he played successfully with groups of other dogs for multiple days. He knows the commands: sit, come, stay, jump, shake, spin, no and down. At "down" he will lay down on the ground. If you place a treat on his paw and say "stay" he will wait until you say "ok" to eat it. When we feed him, he sits patiently and waits to eat until we say "ok." We also have him sit and wait while we put his leash on. He knows how to play fetch and will retrieve in order to get a treat (though he doesn't really enjoy the game).

Copper is affectionate and loves cuddling and being petted. Most of the time he is sweet and loving to our family. He does well when left alone at home for awhile and does not chew or destroy furniture. Our two year old daughter feeds him and he waits patiently while she puts food in his bowl. He loves to run and used to go on 10+ mile runs with me. The best behavior we saw from him was before we had children, when we were training him regularly and running him multiple miles a week and walking him three times a day.

Issues

I would say 95% of the time Copper is well-behaved. We often get compliments on his excellent behavior when out on walks. However, the remaining 5% of the time, usually when he is afraid, his behavior can be unpredictable. From what we have read, it is almost impossible to train this fear-based behavior out of him due to the trauma he most likely faced early in life.

Copper sometimes growls at our kids when they touch his feet or tail (though he has never bitten them). When strangers or even familiar people who are not part of our immediate family come over, he sometimes nips their legs and on one occasion has broken someone's skin. This usually happens when the person stands up and walks across the room or when Copper feels trapped in a small space like a hallway. For some reason, Copper is most comfortable when everyone is seated and will then come up to people and let them pet him.

Copper sometimes growls and lunges at people when on-leash. Again, this does not happen often but when it does, it is alarming. We have found that an e-collar works very well for him. We know this is controversial, but when we first got him, he was so aggressive and was lunging at so many people during walks that we thought we would have to give him up. The e-collar saved his behavior and caused him to be much calmer on walks. We use this collar to get his attention when passing other dogs or people on-leash. We don't use the "shock" feature much anymore, because the collar also has a sound option and when Copper hears the sound, he looks at us and does not lunge at the other dogs. We have also had success bringing treats on walks, saying his name when passing other dogs or people, and redirecting his attention with a treat. Copper does best when tired, and if he has adequate exercise, his aggressive behaviors lessen. The problem is that we are unable to get him the exercise he needs these days because of our three children. We have gotten to a point where we have to keep him locked in a bedroom or outside when people come to visit, because we are afraid he will bite them. We are also concerned that he may bite one of our kids when we are not looking, because they sometimes try to pull his tail, feet etc.

We think Copper would do best in a household with no children, with active adults who have the time to give him what he needs.

Tips for success with Copper:
- do not be disappointed if he is standoffish at first. He will eventually warm up and love you.
- when first meeting him, ignore him
- sit down and wait for him to come to you (standing makes him fearful)
- he is fearful of men and will take longer to warm up to men than women
- he does not like having his feet or tail touched
- when first petting him, pet under his chin instead of on top of his head
- have him sit before eating or getting leash on
- say his name and give treat when walking on-leash and passing others
- have new visitors sit down when meeting him
- other fears: loud noises, people in uniforms, black inanimate objects like garbage bags
- do not walk him off-leash until he trusts you
- he is terrified of having his nails cut. We stopped cutting them and rely on long walks on pavement to keep them short. The vet has said this is fine.
- he eats 1.5 cups of Kirkland brand dry food twice a day but has done fine with other dry food brands. The vet recommends his weight stay below 60 lbs because he is a barrel-chested dog whose weight could affect his joints later in life, so stick to this amount and try not to feed him human food.
- when bathing him, bring him in the shower with you instead of trying to give a bath. He loves showers but will jump out of the bathtub!
- wearing the e-collar calms his behavior. If you feel comfortable with it, bring the remote control along and push the "tone" button when passing other dogs or people. Giving treats on walks also helps.

SOCIALIZATION QUICK FACTS

GOOD WITH DOGS

Comments: Copper is generally great with other dogs OFF LEASH. At the doggie daycare we took him to he would play with large groups of dogs frequently and do great. He had also done well with dogs inside his home that he had a proper introduction wtih. On-leash, though, it is best to redirect his attention and keep walking instead of letting him sniff the other dog. He doesn’t bite them but just lunges and barks in a scary-sounding way.

Copper has never met a cat in a home setting but has tried to chase ones he’s seen outside.