Date of intake:: 6/21/2025

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

Previously lived with:: 3 Adults, 1 Child (5y/o)

Behavior toward strangers:: tolerant, friendly & outgoing, plays gently.

Behavior toward children:: tolerant & respectful, plays gently with the 5 y/o child he lived with.

Behavior toward dogs:: Relaxed, affectionate, respectful,plays gently with familiar/unfamiliar dogs he sees on leash. shy/a

Behavior toward cats:: No experience.

Resource guarding:: No known reports of Resource guarding.

Bite history:: No known reports of a Bite history.

Housetrained:: Yes

Energy level/descriptors:: Zeus is noted to have a medium energy level in the prior home.

Other Notes:: Zeus is anxious when left alone and is fearful of storms and fireworks. He pulls hard on the leash and jumps up, often out of excitement at seeing his family. He is unbothered when disturbed while sleeping, being held or restrained, moved off furniture, having his paws touched, or his collar grabbed. Zeus is social, affectionate, very active, and playful. He spends most of his time where people are and outdoors. He loves bath time/water and allows his family to bathe and brush him. He does not have a walk schedule and is trained to relieve himself when on walks. He has never been crated. He has accidents during car rides. He likes playing tug of war. He responds to the cues sit, down, paw, stay & come. He eats home-cooked meals. His previous owner favorite thing about him: Zeus is a very playful, gentle giant. He jumps high out of excitement

Date of assessment:: 6/26/2025

Summary:: Due to Zeus defensive behavior in care and making it difficult for the handler to remove him from his kennel, a handling assessment will not be conducted at this time.

Summary:: According to Zeus's previous owner(s), Zeus is relaxed, affectionate, respectful, and plays gently with familiar and unfamiliar dogs he sees on leash. He is also noted to be shy and actively avoids unfamiliar dogs he sees off leash. 06/23/25 Zeus is introduced at the gate to a novel male dog while off leash at the care center. Zeus will approach the gate, as does the novel male dog, both standing adjacent from one another. They scent each other and Zeus will appear nervous as he walks away panting, while the novel male dog remains tense as he walks away as well. Both dogs are escorted back to the gate line and this time the novel male dog begins to low-growl at the gate. The low-growling will intensify to full on hard barking, making Zeus seek an exit. The novel male dog is moved away from the gate as he snarls while Zeus will linger by the exit, heavily panting. Zeus is returned to kennel, concluding the interaction.

Summary (6):: 6/30/25: Zeus is at the middle of his kennel, laying on his bed snoring when the handler approaches. Zeus is startled a bit by the door being unlocked and will continue to lay down, looking at the handler. Zeus will begin to slowly eat certain treats that the handler offers, and others sniffing and ignoring. The handler test multiple treats and will give Zeus the ones he seems to have more interest in,. Zeus will finally stretch, and approach the handler as he follows a trail towards the handler after a while of coaxing him (around 5 min), and is clipped to his collar and he flinches a bit, but immediately leaves his kennel. Zeus is walked out of his kennel, walking around the office shaking but his tail in a neutral position. Zeus will tolerate petting along his back, neck and head and approaches handlers. Zeus after a bit in the kennel room exploring on a drag leash, he remains aloof from staff for the most part and will paw at the exit door. Zeus is taken on a walk where he pulls mildly and explores his surroundings. Zeus will begin to tense, stare and pull hard towards other dogs outside, but is guided with leash pressure. Zeus is brought back to kennel where the leash is easily removed, and allows petting on the top of his head. 6/29/25: Zeus is at the back of his kennel laying down when the handler approaches. Zeus will initially begin to shy away from the handler and stay towards the back of his kennel. Zeus is not growling at this time and when the handler opens the door he continues to stare at the handler, and begin to eat treats that they toss. Zeus looks back at the handler hands when he is done eating, and when thrown more begin to lean forward to eat some more. Zeus's tail is untucked in a neutral position, looking at the handler with a soft face/eyes and will crawl towards the handler to get treats. Zeus is tolerant of being close to the handler and will eat out of there hands. Zeus is thrown treats away from his kennel, and the handler sets up a loop on the floor with the leash and begins to slowly create a trail towards the leash. Zeus will begin to eat through the loop, and is a bit hesitant of the fast movement of the leash and the handler slows down, finally after about 10 minutes lets the handler leash him and he slowly walks out of kennel with a bit of coaxing. Zeus walks into the behavior office and is initially anxious/fearful, exploring with a tucked tail and shaking when standing in certain areas of the room. Zeus will approach staff, and will lean his rear into petting and tolerate petting along his head, neck and ears. Zeus remains fearful, trembling and seeking exit at times but does display interest on greeting new staff that walk into the room. After awhile, Zeus will be walked back to a new, bigger kennel where he begins to nudge the door when the handler walks away and paw at it. Zeus is then later noticed to be rubbing his head on his bedding, and sleeping in his kennel shorting after.

Summary (7):: 6/28/25: Zeus is at the front of his kennel during cleaning and runs to the back of his kennel and begins to growl. Zeus will look away from the handler and begin tremble. Zeus is offered wet food and given a tray to eat on his own, when he does and begins to approach the front of his kennel with a low body, Zeus will retreat but does not growl at the while they offer more food, and his tail is slightly untucked. 06/27/25 (KSV): Zeus is sleeping on his kuranda bed as handler approaches. He stands up as the kennel door is cracked open and retreats to the back corner with a slightly tense frame. Handler speaks to him with a soft tone before dropping an enrichment item into kennel and closing the door again. Zeus will slowly come to the front to investigate as handler walks away. 6/25/25: Zeus is at the back of his kennel sitting on his bed, growling and displaying a tense face and hard stare as the handler approaches. Zeus will begin to hard bark at the handler, and the handler attempts to throw high value treats towards his bed which he ignores and begins to look away from the handler. The handler begins to attempt to leash Zeus by throwing the leash over his head, but each time he will growl, hard bark, lip curl and snap at the leash when coming close. Zeus's kennel was very soiled, and had to be removed and was successfully leashed. Zeus walks outside with a tense body, not pulling with at tucked tail. Zeus in the yard is aloof with the handler, but will approach to sniff and lean his rear end into the handler while they speak to another staff member. Zeus is tolerant of his neck being touched, and allows the handler to clip his leash and bring him back to kennel due to the extreme heat. Zeus enters kennel with no issue. 6/23/25: Zeus was sleeping soundly on kuranda bed and could be heard snoring. He awoke and pushed kuranda bed forward, cowering behind it. Zeus was lying down as handler attempted to lasso him. Zeus opened his mouth and began to vocalize so handler immediately gave him space and ended interaction. 06/22/25: Zeus is lying on his kuranda bed as handler approaches. He becomes slightly tense and will low growl as handlers toss him pieces of chicken. He shows no interest and remains planted and growling at the back of kennel. Handler pushes the kennel door inward and uses a lasso technique to drop their lead over Zeus's head. Handler uses directional leash pressure to guide him forward and once in the hallway, Zeus's displays as unbalanced and his feet slide out from under him as he walks down the hallway. He is walked to the Canine Behavior Office where he immediately relieves himself before walking around the room. Handlers take him outside and he appears to be steadier on his feet on the sidewalk. He spends time scenting and is returned to kennel safely. 06/22/25: Staff report that Zeus is growling at the back of kennel and will not allow leashing.

Date of intake:: 6/21/2025

Date of initial:: 6/24/2025

Summary:: calm demeanor, shaking intermittently with tail tucked, leaning into ear cleaning and petting, toler

BEHAVIOR DETERMINATION:: New Hope Only

Recommendations:: No children (under 13),Place with a New Hope partner

Recommendations comments:: No children (under 13): Due to Zeus's fearful behavior, we recommend he be placed in an adult-only home at this time. Place with a New Hope partner: Zeus came into the care center due to his owner having medical issues and not being able to care for Zeus anymore. Zeus has not adjusted well to the care center environment he has displayed fearful behavior and has made it difficult for handlers to walk him due to his kennel behavior, including growling, hard barking, lip curling, and snapping when approached or when leashing is attempted. In the kennel, he often retreats to the back, ignores treats, and exhibits a hard stare or tense body language. However, once out of kennel he has shown to tolerant gentle handling around the neck once outside the kennel. Zeus may benefit from placement with a New Hope partner able to provide a calm, low-traffic environment, experienced handling, and a decompression period to help him build trust and feel secure.

Potential challenges: : Basic manners/poor impulse control,Fearful/potential for defensive aggression,Separation anxiety,Strength/leash pulling,Kennel presence,Other

Potential challenges comments:: Basic manners/poor impulse control: In Zeus prior home he is noted to jump up often out of excitement when seeing his family.Consistent training to teach him to sit or stay when greeting people, using positive reinforcement and redirection, will help manage this behavior. Please see the handout on Basic manners/poor impulse control. Kennel presence/Fearful/potential for defensive aggression:Zeus has not adjusted well to the care center environment he has displayed fearful behavior and has made it difficult for handlers to walk him due to his kennel behavior, including growling, hard barking, lip curling, and snapping when approached or when leashing is attempted. In the prior home he is noted to be fearful of storms and fireworks. Please see the handout on Basic manners/poor impulse control. Separation anxiety: In Zeus prior home, he is noted to display anxious when left alone when left alone. Strength/leash pulling: Zeus is noted to pull hard on the leash.To address this behavior, it's important to implement positive reinforcement methods to improve his leash manners. Training techniques such as loose leash walking and teaching him to walk calmly beside his handler can help reduce pulling behavior over time. Please see the handout on Strength/leash pulling. Other: He has accidents during car rides.