Date of intake:: 7/15/2026

Means of surrender (length of time in previous home):: Owner Surrender

Previously lived with:: adults, children, other dogs, snakes

Behavior toward strangers:: Friendly, playful, and outgoing

Behavior toward children:: Friendly, playful, and outgoing

Behavior toward dogs:: Friendly, playful, and outgoing

Behavior toward cats:: Friendly, playful, and outgoing

Resource guarding:: none reported

Bite history:: none reported

Housetrained:: Yes

Energy level/descriptors:: Nyla is reported to have a medium energy level.

Other Notes:: Is unbothered by being held or restrained, moved from furniture, disturbed when sleeping, having her collar grabbed, paws touched, or when she is startled. She loves bath time and water, allows her family to bathe her, brush her, and trim her nails, and knows the cues yes, sit, stay, and paw, and she is accustomed to going on 1-2 walks a day for 20mins at a time. During her walks, she does pull hard on her leash. 8/2: When multiple handlers attempted to remove Nyla to move her to her new kennel, she was aroused and bit the first handler's right middle finger immediately after the kennel door is opened. The bit did not break skin or draw blood, but did cause the handler's fingernail to turn a light shade of purple, and left teeth impressions.

Date of assessment:: 7/27/2026

Summary:: 7/27: Leash Walking Strength and pulling: mild pulling Reactivity to humans: did not pass Reactivity to dogs: did not pass Leash walking comments: when attempting to leash, briefly grabbed wrist but redirected with spray cheese Sociability Loose in room (15-20 seconds): pants, unable to focus Call over: approach with coaxing Sociability comments: whine, pace, pant Handling Soft handling: pants, tolerates contact Exuberant handling: pants, tolerates contact Handling comments: Arousal Jog: follows, distracted Arousal comments: Knock: whines Knock Comments: Toy: grips, firm Toy comments: 7/17: Nyla continues to remain highly aroused and begins leash biting. A handling assessment could not be conducted. 7/16: A handling assessment could not be conducted due to Nyla's high levels of anxiety and arousal. She enters the room with a wide mouth, panting heavily, with her red/flushed, and vocalizing, but she is wiggly. Handlers are able to collar her with some difficulty due to her behavior. She does not take treats when the handlers attempt to refocus her. Nyla sees her drag leash and goes to grab it, but changes direction and jumps up towards the handler's lead, as if to leash bite, but she does not follow through. Due to her behavior, she is returned to her kennel. She begins leash biting as she is walked back to her kennel.

Summary:: According to Nyla's previous owner(s), she is friendly, playful, and outgoing with familiar and unfamiliar dogs both on and off leash. 7/23/26: Nyla is introduced to a fake dog to rule out any dog aggression. Upon entering the yard, Nyla immediately runs toward the fake dog displaying a soft body with raised hackles, and aroused. She investigates by sniffing underneath the fake dog and remains socially interested. When called by the handler, Nyla readily disengages from the fake dog and returns without hesitation. 07/20/26 Nyla is introduced to a novel male while off leash. She approaches the gate with a neutral frame but becomes aroused quickly, escalating to jumping up onto the gate, screeching, and biting at the gate. Nyla is guided to the back of the yard to give her a moment to decompress before allowing her to approach the gate. Again, she begins screeching and biting at the gate and is walked away.

Summary (6):: 8/3/26: Nyla is jumping, hypersalivating and hard barking at the front of her kennel as handler approaches. She continues to hard bark and jump up at the door as the handler tosses treats inside. She does not respond to a squeaker and has no interest in a toy that the handler hangs at the top of the kennel. When the handler attempts to leash her, she instantly tries to grab the leash as she jumps up in the air. The handler then gives her a break by locking the door and going to walk a different dog. When the handler then returns with high value cheese and chicken. She begins jumping and barking at the door again when she notices the handler. She has no interest in the cheese or chicken and continues to jump and bark at the door. When the handler attempts to leash her with treats, she instantly grabs the leash and tugs at it intensely and pulls it inside of the kennel. When the handler let's go, she brings walks forward to the door again with leash and the handler is able to step on the end of it. She continues to tug at the leash and is able to drop it when she finally gets tired. The handler then walks away and ends the interaction. 08/02/26 (PM): Nyla is laying down at the back of her kennel as the handler approaches. She comes forward and stands on all four legs in front of the door. The handler opens the door and places the leash near the opening, and Nyla attempts to bite it. The handler attempts to get her attention with a squeaky toy, but Nyla remains focused on the leash. The handler is able to use the toy to guide her through the loop, but as soon as the handler lets go of the toy, she grabs the leash. She tugs, but does not climb the rope, and the handler is able to get her to let go by tossing another plush toy at her. She goes outside and walks with a neutral frame. There is no further leash biting during the walk or return. 8/2: ACS staff report they were unable to remove Nyla from her kennel due to the intensity of her leash-biting. During one attempt, she bypassed their lead, and they reported feeling her teeth graze their hand. She did not take any of their treats and would not take any offered toys. Due her behavior, she was unable to be taken out for her walk.

Summary (7):: 07/29/2026 (Trainer Note): Nyla is standing at the front of her crate while barking as handler approaches. She begins to chew at the kennel bars as handler unlocks the crate. She is easily leashed and taken to the community room for a training session. She sniffs around the room and remains alert of any noise, often pulling towards the large windows. Handler is able to redirect using high value treats. Handler works on "Place" cue and Nyla intermittently focuses. She is able to sit on mat for several seconds, and towards the end of the session would offer a more relaxed sit position which she was rewarded for. She is returned to her crate without issue but begins to lick the crate bars as handler walks away. 7/27/26 (BA): Nyla is at the front of the crate as the handler approaches. She is barking and digging at the door. She will mouth the handler's hand as they are leashing her so a second handler uses spray cheese to remove her from the crate. Nyla will pull hard to the behavior office and is clipped to a drag leash. (See Assessment for more information) She is returned to her crate with no issue. 7/26/26: Nyla is observed to be screeching and hard barking in her crate while intermittently pulling crate door in intensely as the handler enters the room with another dog. The handler covers her crate but she continues to screech and hard bark. 7/26/26: Nyla is standing in her crate as handler approaches. She is able to be leashed with ease and she then pulls on the way to the play yard for playgroup. In the yard, she is able to be transferred to a drag leash, and she instantly runs towards the fake dog on the opposite side. She jumps up on the fake dog and would hover over it as well as jump up towards it when it lifted in the air. Please see dog to dog notes for more details. She pulls hard on the way back to her crate and would bark towards a dog in a crate next to her as the handler locks the door before walking away. 7/20/26 (Playgroup): Nyla is at the front of kennel jumping, pawing and barking. The handler attempts to get Nyla's attention with treats but she will continue to jump and paw at the door. She is eventually leashed and brought out to the yard. After the gate greet is over, she will pull hard to her crate and is secured safely. (see dog-dog for more info) 7/16/26 (Assessment): Nyla was lying down in crate as handler approached. She was easily leashed and taken to the behavior room for an assessment (Please see assessment notes for details). After assessment while be taken back to kennel she started to jump after leash and leash bite. She was put back in kennel.

Date of intake:: 7/15/2026

Summary:: easily leashed, scanned, walked, and placed in kennel.

Date of initial:: 7/17/2026

Summary:: loose and wiggly, Easily aroused, very excitable, handlers needed to stay calm and slow to prevent

BEHAVIOR DETERMINATION:: New Hope Only

Recommendations:: No children (under 13),Recommend no dog parks,Place with a New Hope partner

Recommendations comments:: No children (under 13): Due to the concerning levels of arousal that Nyla has displayed during her stay in care, including leash biting, we recommend an adult-only home at this time. Recommend No Dog Parks: Due to the concerning behaviors that Nyla has shown during playgroup (see DOG-DOG SUMMARY), we feel that she should not visit dog parks. The Behavior Department recommends that she be socialized in a more controlled setting until her behavior towards other dogs can be further addressed. Reward-based, force-free training can be utilized to help Nyla associate dogs with things she enjoys like toys or treats. Place with a New Hope partner: Nyla has not acclimated well to the kennel environment and has allowed only minimal handling since intake. We recommend placement with a New Hope partner who can provide any necessary behavior modification (force-free, positive reinforcement-based) and re-evaluate behavior in a stable home environment before placement into a permanent home.

Potential challenges: : Basic manners/poor impulse control,Anxiety,Leash-biting,Low threshold for arousal,Bite history (human)

Potential challenges comments:: Anxiety | Leash-biting | Low threshold for arousal: Nyla is highly anxious and begins jumping up persistently on handlers. Her face is red and flushed as she pants heavily with a wide-open mouth tongue lolling to the side. She quickly escalates to Jumping Up and biting the leash and is difficult at times to be redirected. Please see handout on generalized anxiety, arousal, and basic manners. Bite history (human): Nyla bit a handler when they were attempting to remove her from her kennel due to her arousal and leash biting. The bite did not break skin or draw blood but did result in cause the handler's fingernail to turn a light shade of purple, and left teeth impressions.