More about Hunter
Hunter is a smart loving boy with huge potential but unfortunately, because of his lack of socialisation in the early stages of his life, Hunter has not had the opportunity to learn socials cues with other dogs and can behave undesirably at the sight of another dog. To begin with, he would run, lunge and bark as soon as he saw a dog at a distance. He has been learning to ignore other dogs and can now, in a controlled situation with no major distractions, ignore other dogs when they are just a few meters away. So, the most important aspect of a new home for Hunter is someone that will have time to invest in his ongoing training. You will also need to be patient with no specific expectations on his improvement around other dogs. Hunter may never be a dog that you can take to play with other dogs.
Hunter is currently in a loving foster home and has bonded well with his foster mum showing us how much he loves human attention, here is what she tells us about him in the home environment. Hunter is a lovely, well behaved, spirited boy in the home. His favourite toy is his soccer ball and he LOVES cuddles and being a “lap” dog (he thinks he is a lot smaller than he actually is!!) He is fully house trained and seeks out a sunny spot for an afternoon snooze. He is a great sleeper overnight, beginning on his foster mums bed (for a couple of hours) before taking himself off to his own bed and staying there until morning.
She says he needs plenty of exercise, mental stimulation and attention, but is good at hanging out and being relaxed too. He loves nothing more than interactive play with his person and likes to be with me most of the time so is not suited to full time workers but can be left for short periods as needed. Sometimes he is impatient and shows his impatience/boredom by barking at you. He is pretty excitable when visitors come in, but has modified his behaviour a lot and is not jumping up as much (although sometimes he still forgets). Although he likes to go out in the car he isn’t a fan of long drives and will sometimes react to seeing dogs out walking as we drive past, so absolutely needs to be harnessed in the car.
Hunter knows the following cues:
- “Look” (look at me)
- “touch” (touch your hand)
- settling on his mat
- “come” (still needing improvement with high distraction)
- “catch” (throwing him a treat)
- lead walking (still working on this with distractions)
- “on your mat”
Hunter needs his forever home to be patient loving and kind. They need to be ready to learn about Hunter and his ongoing training needs and have time to invest in daily training sessions for his ongoing progress. We will offer some initial guidance with our trainer and expect that all his future training will be with a fear and force free and based trainer. This home will have no other pets, have a calm and quiet environment and be ready to work with our team for the best outcome for Hunter.
If you think you can offer Hunter the home he needs please complete our adoption application and then demonstrate that essential patience you will need for him, while you wait for our team to get in contact with you.