update Luna was with a family who thought they would adopt her but that has not happened and she is available. LUNA HAS SOME SPECIAL NEEDS. PLEASE READ BELOW:
UPDATE LUNA IS I A HOME ON A TRIAL BASIS FOR ADOPTION THEY HAVE ADOPTED HER LUNA just came into the rescue on 5/12/20. She is being housed by a foster in the Naples area. She has a sad tale to tell. Her owner passed away in her home with the dog and was not discovered for a few days. The dog remained with her owner until the police broke down the door and extracted her. She was then placed (by them) in a home in Miami. The adopters were not prepared nor qualified to own a GSD like her and decided to relinquish her to us. She has all shots, spayed, HW Neg, house trained and was well cared for. Luna is about 11 months old. She is a female long hair black and tan GSD weighing about 45-50 pounds. She is smaller than most but will get a bit heavier and fill out a bit in time; but she will always be petite! Luna has been in foster for a few weeks and has shown behaviors that are not the easiest to control without an experienced handler as her alpha. She is quite possessive of her person. She does prefer females but tolerates males. I had no issue handling her but I did see her in action and I know her reactions might startle many inexperienced owners. Her reactions are somewhat inconsistent in that she may be just fine for a while and then when approached by a stranger react aggressively. We feel this entire behavior may be a management issue rather than a training issue in that she may have this type of behavior for her lifetime and the only way to control it is to manage it. She has never bitten anyone but her reactions are non the less intense and could be a pre-bite motion. She is fabulous outside, no problems there with most anything but these reactions seem to only happen in the home. We are lead to believe that she was protecting her deceased owner and learned that behavior while trapped in the home. She is fine with other dogs and untested with cats. She would only be available to an experienced GSD owner because she is currently extremely possessive of her human. She bonds quickly and she is good with other dogs and untested with cats. We do NOT recommend her be re-homed with kids because of her reactivity to protecting her person. She has no food aggression. She lived with 2 families who let her get away with anything, thereby creating a dog who was alpha to the families, rather than being controlled! She was controlling the home and the people there were incidental to her life. They fed her, loved her, walked her and created the worst possible scenario for the dog to accept direction. She is housebroken and beautiful, but without a strong leader, will be a problem child. Since neither of two families who had her had any alpha to control over her, her next owner will need to take control and train her to be a responsive loving dog. This task is definitely doable but will be a project rather than a cake walk. She has lunged at people, never bitten, but because she feels she needs to protect her person, she has lost sight of who is in charge. If after considering all of this you would like to meet her please call us for an appointment. Bottom line is with work this can be a great dog, failing to do the work with her will result in an unpleasant rescue experience.
