Date of intake:: 10/1/2025

Means of surrender (length of time in previous home):: Stray, no prior history

Date of assessment:: 2/19/2026

Summary:: Leash Walking Strength and pulling: Hard Reactivity to humans: Pull towards staff, loose body Reactivity to dogs: None Leash walking comments: Sociability Loose in room (15-20 seconds): Moderately Social, Distracted Call over: Distracted Sociability comments: When coax is very exuberant, jumps on staff, heavily panting, red hue to face, dilated pupils, aroused Handling Soft handling: Accepts Contact Exuberant handling: Accepts Contact Handling comments: Accepts contact, head whips, begins to squirm out of hold, aroused Arousal Jog: Follows neutral bodied Arousal comments: increasingly becomes more vocal, red hue to face, panting heavily Knock: Ignores Knock Comments: Toy: Grabs toy, does not relinquish, tenses slightly Toy comments:

Summary:: Due to entering the facility as a stray, there is no prior dog-to-dog history recorded. 11/10/25 Benny is introduced to a female helper dog while on leash at the care center. Benny will approach the gate initially with a loose, wiggly body and high flagging tail, appearing sexually motivated. Benny is fixated on the female dog and as he is guided into her pen, he pulls intensely towards her, hyper-salivating. Benny is tense, attempting to mount the female dog but is quickly pulled away. Benny is moved back into his pen before being returned to kennel, concluding the interaction. 10/09/25 Benny is introduced to a female helper dog while off leash at the care center. Benny approaches the gate with a loose, wiggly body and a wagging tail. Benny appears sexually motivated as he tracks the female dog with a fast-wagging tail. Due to Benny's leg injury, the gate isn't opened for a face-to-face interaction. Benny is returned to kennel.

Summary (5):: 02/25/2026: Benny is sitting on his bed as the handlers approach. He comes to the front of the kennel and jumps up on the door. He then jumps into the corners of the kennel, barking at the ceiling. The handler is able to get his attention with treats, and he is lured through the leash. On his walk, he pulls moderately. He often turns around to solicit attention and treats from the handlers, jumping up onto the first handler at one point. His attention is easily redirected with treats. For the majority of the walk, he sniffs around and engages with the environment. When reentering the kennel room, he pulls towards the kennel next to his. He follows a treat scatter into his kennel and is secured safely.

Summary (6):: 2/19: Staff report on multiple occasions, they have seen Benny fixate on his reflection on the saddle door or stare up at the ceiling for prolonged periods of time. When an ACS attempted to take him out for his evening walk, they stated that he had his back turned to the kennel door and was jumping up and barking at the top back corner of his kennel; seemingly towards his neighbor on that side. Once the ACS leashed him, Benny immediately bolted out of his kennel towards the dog that he was seemingly barking at in his kennel. The ACS walks him to the throughway between the rooms, and Benny begins jumping up persistently before grabbing their treat pouch. Due to his size, strength, and persistence, another ACS double-leashes Benny, and he is brought to the behavior office for further assistance. 2/18/26: Benny is reported to jump on the walls of his kennel, vocalize and lunges towards the fogged glass where another dog is barking and is hard to distract. 2/14/26: Benny is standing up at his kennel door as handler approaches. He is able to be leashed with treats and he pulls hard on the way to the live room. In the room, he would constantly jump up on the counter and knock down the treat buckets to eat the treats. He would growl when the handler would try to take him away. He is able to taken away from the counter and would continue to search around the room for more treats. He pulls hard on the way back to his kennel and enters with no issues. AC 2/7/26: Benny is standing up at his kennel door as handler approaches. He is able to be leashed with treats and he pulls hard on the way to the live room. In the room, he engages in a snuffle mat full of treats and a cheese lick mat. He would approach the handler with a loose and wiggly body and would jump up to receive treats. He pulls hard on the way back to his kennel and enters with no issues. AC 1/2/26: Benny is easily leashed at the front of his kennel and will paw at the kennel as they begin to leash him. Benny pulls hard outside, sniffing certain areas of the sidewalk intensely and is brought to the play yards. Benny sniffs around, leans into petting and heavily pants around the yard. Benny will see other dogs, runs over to the gate and stares, but can be refocused with treats, engaging in sit cues. Benny is easily brought back to kennel, while still pulling hard. 11/16/25: Benny is brought to the Canine Behavior Office for harnessing due to reports of him pulling extremely hard on walks. Benny is highly aroused throughout his time in the room, pacing, heavily panting, with a flushed face and dilated eyes. He takes treats very roughly from hand as handlers harness him. After his session, he is returned to kennel safely.

Summary (7):: 11/10 (PG): Benny is facing the back of his kennel when a handler approaches. He spins and jumps on the kennel door when he hears the handler. The handler drops some treats into the kennel so he can stand fully on the ground before being leashed. Once leashed, he readily exits and pulls hard to the play yard for the playgroup. The handler turns their lead into a makeshift harness due to his hard pulling. Once in the yard, his interaction begins. Once done, he is returned to his kennel and walks in without issue. 11/07/25: Benny is standing at the front of his kennel, jumping up on his hind legs, and allows the handler to leash him easily. During his enrichment walk, Benny pulls forward with strong momentum, leaning into the leash. He fixates briefly on passing dogs but only observes without pulling toward them. He continues to explore the environment, sniffing and relieving himself while maintaining a neutral frame. Benny is returned safely to his kennel without any issues. 10/23/25: An ACS staff is observed to be struggling to handle Benny and is helped by another staff member. When the staff member went to leash Benny, Benny ducks his head back and begins to lower his body, but recovers quickly. Continuing on his walk with the new staff member with no issue, pulling mildly and is reported to go back to kennel with no issue. 10/9/25: Benny is standing up on his hind legs with a loose and wiggly body at his kennel door as handler approaches. He is ale to be leashed while being distracted with treats and he then pulls hard on the way to the play yard for play group. In the yard, he has a loose and wiggly body as he greets the other dog at the gate. He would jump at the gate with a loose and wiggly body when the other dog disengages with him. Please see dog to dog notes for more details. On the way back to his kennel, he would pull hard and hard stare to look back at the dog that was still in the play yard. Once exiting the yards, he pulls hard on the way back to kennel and is able to enter his kennel with ease when the handler jogs him in.

Date of intake:: 10/1/2025

Date of initial:: 10/2/2025

Summary:: loose body, wagging tail, seeks attention, allowed all handling

ENERGY LEVEL:: We have no history on Benny so we cannot be certain of their behavior in a home environment. However, they will need daily mental and physical activity to stay engaged and exercised. We recommend long-lasting chews, food puzzles, and hide-and-seek games, in additional to physical exercise, to positively direct their energy and enthusiasm.

BEHAVIOR DETERMINATION:: Level 4

Recommendations:: No children (under 13)

Recommendations comments:: No children (under 13): Due to Benny's exuberance and lack of manners, we recommend he goes to an adult-only home.

Potential challenges: : Resource guarding,Basic manners/poor impulse control,Social hyperarousal,Anxiety,On-leash reactivity/barrier frustration,Strength/leash pulling,Kennel presence

Potential challenges comments:: Resource guarding: Benny is noted to resource guard his food/treats. He will display a tense body and will growl.Training should focus on trading exercises, reinforcing voluntary release, and building comfort around people approaching valued items. Please see the handout Resource guarding. Basic manners/poor impulse control/Social hyperarousal: Benny quickly becomes over aroused in the presence of people, jumping up excessively. Positive reinforcement, force-free training should be used to teach Benny to remain calm when people and other exciting things are around. He should be rewarded with treats when calm. If he escalates to jumping or mouthing, people should immediately walk away from and separate themselves from Benny. Anxiety: Benny is a bit anxious in the care center. We recommend long walks and puzzle toys to help alleviate his anxiety. See handout on Generalized Anxiety. On-leash reactivity/barrier frustration: Benny is noted to kennel fight in the care center and pull towards other dogs in kennel.Training should focus on increasing distance from kennel-side triggers, reinforcing calm behavior during transitions, and using structured, low-arousal exit routines to help reduce reactivity. Please see the handout On-leash reactivity/barrier frustration. Strength/leash pulling: Benny is a very large, strong dog with the capability to pull over an average adopter. His adopter must be prepared and able to handle a dog of this size and strength. It is recommended that he be walked on a front clip harness or head halter, which help diminish his strength through leverage, and that he be trained using positive reinforcement, reward-based training to not pull on leash. Kennel presence: Benny is noted to jump up in the back of his kennel, remaining fixated.