Date of intake:: 12/31/2025

Spay/Neuter status:: No

Means of surrender (length of time in previous home):: Returned (Approx. 1 week in foster)

Previously lived with:: 2 adults

Behavior toward strangers:: No experience

Behavior toward children:: No experience

Behavior toward dogs:: No experience

Behavior toward cats:: No experience

Resource guarding:: None reported

Bite history:: None reported

Housetrained:: Yes

Other Notes:: It was reported that Chestnut is reactive to dogs and select people while on leash. Previous stay- 12/31/25: Stray, No known history During her previous stay in the care center Chestnut was observed to be mildly fearful and have poor impulse control. **Previous assessments can be given upon request**

Date of assessment:: 1/4/2026

Summary:: Leash Walking Strength and pulling: Hard Reactivity to humans: None Reactivity to dogs: None Leash walking comments: Sociability Loose in room (15-20 seconds): Highly social Call over: Approaches handler readily Sociability comments: Soft body, jumps up on handler, receptive to treats Handling Soft handling: Accepts contact Exuberant handling: Accepts contact Handling comments: Soft body, jumps up on handler, lip licks Arousal Jog: Follows handler exuberantly Arousal comments: Loose body Knock Knock Comments: Approaches handler exuberantly Toy Toy comments: Sniffs, No reaction

Summary:: 2/4/26: Chestnut greets another dog at the gate with a loose and wiggly body. When the other dog reacts towards him, Chestnut barks back with neutral body.

Summary (3):: 3/16/26: During her morning walk, we took her to the back yard. She only attempted to leash bite 3 times, wasn't intense and very treat motivated, she doesn't pay any mind to toys. 3/15/26: During her morning street walk, Chestnut displayed severe leash biting. Handler had to make a trail of treats to keep her from biting the leash. While on her walk, Chestnut lunged at a stranger but was immediately redirected. Upon returning to the manager's office, Chestnut was consistently jumping on handler while being returned to kennel. During her evening walk, Chestnut was taken to the play yard. She relieved herself then started consistently jumping up high and biting the leash. Another handler noticed this behavior and began tossing treats which redirected Chestnut until she noticed there were no more treats and immediately began leash biting again. Handler had tossed another treat to redirect Chestnut and returned her to kennel.

Summary (4):: 3/15/26: During her street walk, Chestnut displayed severe leash biting. Handler had to make a trail of treats to keep her from biting the leash. While on her walk, Chestnut lunged at a stranger but was immediately redirected. Upon returning to the manager's office, Chestnut was consistently jumping on handler while being returned to kennel. 3/13/26: Chestnut is at the front of her crate, prancing and wagging her tail as handler approaches. Using a treat lure, handler is easily able to leash her. Chestnut is offered a toy as she comes out of her crate, which she takes briefly but then drops and jumps up to leash bite. Handler squeaks the toy on the ground, which captures Chestnut's attention, but then she looks at the leash again and jumps up. A secondary handler picks up the toy and squeaks it, which again redirects Chestnut's attention, and then throws it out the door as the primary handler begins to walk out of the room and into the hallway. Chestnut stops to sniff the toy on the ground and briefly grabs it to carry in her mouth, but then drops it and begins to jump up and leash bite. Handler uses their squeaker, which is effective in getting her to stop leash biting, and then throws treats when she disengages, which she eats readily. Handler brings her out to the driveway and throws treats to distract while they clip to her harness. Throughout the walk, Chestnut is in a very high state of arousal and will continuously turn to look back at handler. She occasionally jumps up to leash bite - treats are moderately effective in redirecting her but towards the end of the walk they become less effective and Chestnut begins to bite the leash intensely while tugging at it. At one point during the walk, a MOP passes by and Chestnut tenses and lunges while growling at them. Handler pulls her away and is able to redirect her attention with a verbal cue. When returning to shelter, Chestnut pulls very hard but is easily returned to her crate and left with an enrichment item.

Summary (5):: 3/12/26: Chestnut is lying down in her crate as handler approaches. She gets up and stretches then stands at the front of her crate with a loose body and wagging tail. She gets more exuberant as handler kneels to unlock her crate - toe tapping, wiggly body, soft whining - and is easily leashed and brought out of the crate. As soon as she exits the crate, Chestnut jumps up and bites at the leash repeatedly. She is not redirected with a squeaker but does let go when handler throws treats for her - but after eating the treats, she immediately returns to jumping and biting the leash. This pattern continues out of the building to the driveway, where handler throws several treats on the ground and is able to clip on to Chestnut's harness as she eats them. After eating all the treats, Chestnut shakes off and then turns and jumps to bite at the leash again - she is redirected with treats. Once they begin walking on the street, Chestnut ceases jumping up to leash bite and will turn to check in with handler throughout the walk - she is rewarded with treats and verbal praise when she does so. At one point, Chestnut sees a MOP exiting a store as handler is waiting to cross the street - Chestnut alert barks in the MOP's direction and then looks at handler. She is rewarded with treats and cued to sit, which she does. The walk continues with Chestnut consistently checking in with handler; she pulls moderately throughout the walk as she explores her surroundings but is easily called back to stop pulling. A dog is exiting the driveway as handler brings Chestnut back to shelter - there is a visual barrier (car) between Chestnut and the other dog but she focuses in their direction, crouching down and pulling hard towards the other dog but not otherwise reacting. She is easily redirected with treats and a verbal cue and is then brought back to her crate with ease.

Summary (6):: 3/10/26: Chestnut is reported by staff to be panting in crate. When approached Chestnut barked (interpreted as demand barking). 3/8/26: Chestnut is standing in her kennel with a wagging tail. When the handler approaches and begins to undo the crate clips, Chestnut begins to bark (frustration/demand). She takes treats. She is leashed with treats and pulls hard out of the building. She allows her harness to be clipped. A volunteer approaches and asks to take videos for her profile. Chestnut sits for treats then catches them, and jumps up towards the volunteer occasionally. She resumes her walk and continues to pull hard. She relieves herself. She sees another dog 15-20 feet away and pulls harder towards them. She is redirected and resumes walking. She allows petting. She is returned to kennel and gets in willingly. 3/5/26 (midday): Chestnut has been observed to pull his crate cover in, as well as pawing his crate to the point of moving it out of place. 3/5/26 (AM): Chestnut has been observed to leash bite in the yard. As she is on a drag line, she jumps up to bite and tug the regular leash that a staffer is using, as well as growl while shaking it. K9 behavior assists with leashing her as the staff member stands on the drag line. Chestnut also quickly jumps towards them a few times. The handler holds treats in their hand and lures Chestnut to leash her; then they toss treats on the ground, and as she eats the treat, the handler remove the staff's leash and the drag line. The handler walks Chestnut into the building and returns her to her crate 3/2/26: Chestnut is in her pop up crate barking, she is easily leashed and she pulls very hard out of the crate. The leash is clipped to her harness and she pulls hard towards the street. Once out on the street, Chestnut starts walking with a mild pull for the rest of the walk. She sits nicely for treats which she takes with moderate pressure. Chestnut will stare at dogs with her head high but is easily called away. She sits for treats as people pass without reaction. Chestnut then relieves herself before walking back to the shelter. She is returned to her crate without issue.

Summary (7):: 2/26/26: Chestnut is at the front of the pop up crate when handler approaches, she has a loose and wiggly body. Easily leashed by the handler. Readily exited kennel and jumped on another handler socially. Second handler tossed treats onto the ground, Chestnut jumped off to eat the treats while first handler clipped leash onto harness. Went onto elevator, where Chestnut jumped onto second handler and with treats was easily able to jump off and eat the treats tossed on the floor. Once in the yard, Chestnut was very bouncy, sniffing the snow, social with handler and sitting for treats. Chestnut sees another dog in a neighboring play pen and was neutral with a medium tail, she disengaged and sniffed around, then approached the fence again with same body language and disengaged went back to sniffing. Throughout the time in the yard, she started jumping on second handler for pets and then seeks exist at the gate by pawing at the door. She began sniffing again, then pawing at the door when handler was able to bring Chestnut back inside the building. While waiting for the elevator, she was sitting for a second handler when a volunteer walked by, Chestnut jumped at volunteer but was easily redirected with treats. Once upstairs, Chestnut was easily brought back into pop up with no issue. 2/15/26- Chestnut is at the front of her kennel with a loose and wiggly body, as handler tired to leash she jumped on the door and leash got caught around her neck and one front leg. Handler was able to easily readjust the leash getting her leg out and she had a mild pull exiting the room. She allows handler to clip to her harness once in the driveway and is taken for a street walk. She has a moderate pull and continuously sniffs throughout the walk. She allows handler to scratch her head, neck and back. She gently takes treats from their hand. She has no reaction to any stimuli. She is easily returned to her kennel and allows handler to unclip her harness. 1/4/26: Chestnut is siting in her crate as handler approaches. She is able to be leashed with ease and is then taken outside for walk. On the walk, she would pull hard ahead as she explored. She has no reactions to dogs and would jump up on familiar handlers in the hallway while on the way to the behavior room for her assessment. In the room, she would jump up on the handler with a loose and wiggly body and would take treats. She has a tense body and would lip lick while being petted. Please see behavior assessment notes for more details. She pulls on the way back to her crate in the managers office and enters with no issues.

Date of intake:: 12/31/2025

Summary:: Nervous, but warms up

Date of initial:: 12/31/2025

Summary:: Tense at first but warms up with food

ENERGY LEVEL:: We have no history on Chestnut 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:: New Hope Only

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

Recommendations comments:: No children (under 13): Due to on leash reactivity and handling sensitivity we recommend an adult only home. Single Pet Home/ No Dog Parks: Due to on leash reactivity we recommend a single pet home with no trips to the dog park, We recommend placement with a New Hope rescue partner who is able to provide an experienced, adult-only foster home. Force-free, reward based training and/or consultation with a professional trainer/behaviorist is highly recommended.

Potential challenges: : Basic manners/poor impulse control,Handling/touch sensitivity,Fearful,On-leash reactivity/barrier frustration,Leash-biting

Potential challenges comments:: Basic Manners: Chestnut has been observed to jump up on handlers in a social manner. It is recommended that default behaviors such as "Sit" and "Off" are reinforced to substitute any frustration and teach them to control their impulses instead of simply reacting; proper management is also advised. Force-free, reward-based training only is recommended. Please see handout on Basic Manners. Handling/ Touch Sensitivity: Chestnut's foster states that she has reactivity to touch anywhere on her body. However, they did not further go into details. Positive reinforcement, reward based training should be used to pair touch with good things such as food rewards in order to teach Chestnut to be more comfortable with this. Please see handout on Handling and Touch Sensitivity. Fearful: During intake Chestnut was observed to be tense at first but warms up. They should never be forced to approach anything that they are uncomfortable with or submit to petting or handling. It should always be their choice to approach a new person or thing. Chestnut would do best in an initially calm and quiet home environment and should be given time to acclimate to their new surroundings. Please see handout on Decompression Period. On Leash Reactivity: Chestnut's foster states that she is reactive to dogs and select people while on leash. She will hard bark and lunge towards the stimuli. The foster parent states "Chestnut brought them down" several times when lunging. While in care Chestnut has been observed to growl and lunge at people on the street. Chestnut will need positive reinforcement, reward based training to teach them to look at you rather than other dogs. We recommend a front clip harness to help manage this behavior. Please see handout on On Leash Reactivity and Barrier Frustration. Leash biting: Chestnut's foster states that she will bite the leash when it is time for a walk. While in care Chestnut has been observed to jump up, bite and tug on the leash. This behavior is not able to be easily redirected using squeaky sounds and treats. We recommend walking them with a toy to dissuade them from grabbing the leash. Positive reinforcement, force-free training is advised to teach them to focus on you rather than grabbing the leash. Please see handout on Leash Manners.