Dante

Dante is a stunningly beautiful Shephard boy who was abandoned to our dog running parks just before New Years Eve. His face, fur and eyes are mesmerizing, in different circumstances, Dante should be the cover model of dog magazines. Contrary to the stressed, hurt and anxious dog that we see in the shelter, Dante in fact is a great dog away from the shelter stress. Just 500meters away from the barking surroundings of the shelter, Dante shakes of the stress and his blood pressure drops immediately. He then enjoys slow sniffing, calm walking and rubbing his back on grass and flowers beds. He really enjoys taking his time to smell and sniff every patch of grass. Dante would be absolutely happiest in the nature environment, where he would not need to be confronted with too many other dogs. He loves long slow walks, but he is also a great companion for jogging, and doesn’t pull you down from running like an emu! He is very good to guide on the leash and he builds a connection with the human quickly once he is in a peacefu environment. Dante also loves to be close to the volunteers, to be touched and have his belly rubbed while he is doing “bicycles” on the grass, on his back! During his physiotherapy sessions, Dante gives quite a handful to the physiotherapist, as he is so happy and active to be in the session, that he jumps up and down on the therapy room sofas. After the sessions, the therapist is usually sweaty and tired, but Dante is happy, hihi! When he first arrived to us, he was so anxious and panicked in the shelter environment, that he was desperately trying to climb over the fences, just to escape the horror. That is not the case anymore and he enjoys going to the dog parks without trying to escape, but the rest of the 23.5 hours of every day, while in the shelter, are still living hell for him. From the stress, he chews up his beds, and runs constant circles around himself in his little room (a toilet). So even while the physiotherapy for Dante is going so well, his progress is not as fast as it could be, because he sleeps on a hard cold floor - otherwise he would be destrying beds and potentially digesting the materials of the beds, which is dangerous. Dante was tested for a working dog position but unfortunately he does not have the 1000% level of concentration that is searched for in a working dog, as he is interested in other dogs and reacts on them, so no police work for Dante, but he would be excellent in other types of working exercises like agility, search missions in the forest, obedience - preferably working alone without other dogs. He loves to do little exercises like sit, stay, obstacle courses, and he is very capable for A LOT more, he learns very fast, of course, like a potent Shephard does. For Dante we are looking for a confident, dog-experienced family to guide him and help him win back his confidence in a positive way. Like this he will be better able to cope with his reactiveness towards other dogs. Yes, he is a potent German Shephard who needs training and an experienced home, but Dante is not a problem dog, no. Dante’s shortcomings are showing due to the stressfu enviornment that he is forced to live in, and the absolute lack of physical and mental activity, which are hell on Earth for him. Like we see with many many other high-potent dogs in our shelter - as soon as they leave from the shelter, they are different dogs.