Date of intake:: 5/19/2025

Means of surrender (length of time in previous home):: Stray( Unknown History)

Date of assessment:: 6/28/2025

Summary:: 6/28/25: Leash Walking Strength and pulling: Loose Reactivity to humans: N/A Reactivity to dogs: N/A Leash walking comments: Sociability Loose in room (15-20 seconds): Social- seeks attention, leans into touch Call over: Readily approaches- soft body, demand petting Sociability comments: Handling Soft handling: Allowed- Leans into touch, neutral body Exuberant handling: Allowed- leans into touch, neutral body Handling comments: Arousal Jog: Follow- bouncy Arousal comments: Knock: Approaches - soft body Knock Comments: Toy: grip assessor toy, growl bite hold dummy hand multiple times Toy comments: ***5/22/25: Please refer to the prior handling assessment for more details.*** ***4/20/25: Due to not receiving vaccines, a handling assessment is not conducted at this time.***

Summary:: Due to Turtle Dove entering the facility as a stray, there is no prior dog-to-dog history recorded. 05/22/25 While off-leash at the Care Center, Turtle Dove is introduced to a novel male dog. At the gate, Turtle Dove approaches with ears back and a flagging tail. The novel male dog remains loose and wiggly, licking Turtle Dove’s muzzle through the gate. Turtle Dove remains in place but stiffens with a forward posture. The dogs are then separated, concluding the interaction. 05/21/25: When off leash at the Care Center Turtle Dove is introduced to a novel female dog. At the gate is Turtle Dove is cautious on approach. The novel female approaches with a loose frame. Both dogs will scent one another at the gate. Turtle Dove will display a high curved tail when scenting. The novel female will become avoidant, as does Turtle Dove. Both dogs will seek out handlers and not take any further interest in one another. This will conclude the interaction.

Summary (6):: 06/15/25: Turtle Dove is sitting at the front of his kennel and will allow the handler to leash him. Once leashed, he immediately tries to push his head out of the kennel and pulls forward out of the room. He is escorted to the live room for enrichment. Once inside, a drag leash is placed on him, and he begins to roam the room freely. The handler tosses a handful of treats into a snuffle mat, which Turtle Dove engages with enthusiastically, consuming the treats quickly. After finishing most of the treats, he begins to roam the room, finding toys and engaging with them. As he passes the snuffle mat with a toy in his mouth, he drops the toy and returns to the mat to finish any remaining treats. He then continues exploring the room, picking up and eating scattered treats from the floor. When the session concludes, Turtle Dove is escorted back to his kennel and returned without any issues. 06/10/25 (Trainer Note): Turtle Dove is standing at the front of his kennel with a loose body as the handler approaches. He is easily leashed and pulls moderately to the canine training room. Turtle Dove engages readily with the various enrichment items and orients towards the handler between each, taking a breath. He leans into contact with a soft body and is returned to kennel without issue. 06/04/25 (Trainer Note): Turtle Dove is standing at the front of his kennel with a neutral body as the handler approaches. He is easily leashed and pulls moderately to the canine training room. He is loose and social with staff. He engages readily with the various enrichment items, orienting towards the handler between items. Turtle Dove leans into the handler with a soft body. He is easily leashed and returned to kennel without issue. 05/27/25 (Trainer Note): Turtle Dove is standing at the front of his kennel with a loose body as the handler approaches. He is easily leashed and pulls moderately to the canine training room. He is loose and social with staff, interacting with a sweeping tail wag and neutral body. Turtle Dove is not interested in treats until the handler finds high values. He engages readily in the various enrichment items with the high value treat, moving with the handler between items. He leans into contact briefly, but stills when the handler pets him. The handler pauses and he reinitiates. The handler begins to pet him again and he stills again so the handler pauses again. Turtle Dove walks away. He pulls moderately back to the kennel room. As they enter the kennel room, Turtle Dove lunges towards the first kennel. The handler pulls him away and he continues to attempt to pull towards the other kennels until he enters his own kennel. Turtle Dove allows the handler to remove the leash without issue. -

Summary (7):: 05/22/25 (PG) When being removed from kennel today for play group, Turtle Dove will attempt to bite his lead. Once the loop of the lead is around his neck he will stop attempting to bite his leash. He is rushed out of the kennel room and taken out for play group. Turtle Dove will maintain a moderate pace as he displays a neutral frame. Turtle Dove will be kept on leash due to him attempting to leash bite. (See BA in Dog-to-dog section for insight). Turtle Dove is returned to kennel with no issue. 5/21 (assessment; attempt 1): Turtle Dove is at the front of his kennel with a wiggling body and begins to jump up on the kennel door when he sees a handler approach. He drops to the ground to take treats as the kennel door is unlocked. He is easily leashed and pulls moderately to the behavior office for his assessment. Once in the office, he greets the assessor briefly, still wiggly before walking away to begin exploring the office. When the handler touches his collar to clip a drag leash, Turtle quickly tenses and moves away. Both the handler and assessor see the quick shift in his body language, and the assessor gets spray cheese to refocus him so the drag leash could be clipped. He readily eats the cheese but stops and stiffens with a slow head turn when he notices the handler. His collar is tight, so they continue to offer him high-value treats so his collar could be loosened. Turtle walks away, and they allow him some time to settle before attempting his assessment. The handler opens new leashes and hangs them up. Turtle follows them to the garbage bin as they throw away the wrappers, with bounces. But he suddenly jumps up and chest bumps the handler on their thigh. Once he lands, he spins away and approaches the assessor, who calls to him to begin his assessment. Turtle Dove approaches with a loose body but immediately tenses once in position for the handling portion. During jog, he fixates on the assessor's legs, chest bumping once. During the toy portion, he takes away the toy and does not return; once the assess-a-hand moves forward toward the toy, Turtle Dove, stiffens, hovers and growls. Once done, he is leashed easily and is walked back to his kennel. He attempts to lunge at a neighboring dog.

Date of intake:: 5/19/2025

Summary:: Upon intake dog was social with staff. Dog allowed staff to scan for m/c, collar. and pet.

Date of initial:: 5/20/2025

Summary:: - loose and wiggly, loves treats, seeks affection

BEHAVIOR DETERMINATION:: New Hope Only

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

Recommendations comments:: No children (under 13): Due to Turtle Dove Potential challeges we recommend he is placed in an adult only home at this time. Place with a New Hope partner: Turtle Dove arrived at the care center as a stray, so we don't have any previous behavior history for him in a home environment. In the canine training room, he engages enthusiastically with toys and enrichment items, orients toward handlers, and leans in for contact when comfortable. Turtle Dove has shown the ability to decompress in quiet spaces and enjoys treat-based activities like snuffle mats and food puzzles. However, he has displayed some sensitivities during close handling, particularly around the collar area, and has occasionally escalated to growling or lunging when uncomfortable or overstimulated. He has also shown leash-biting behaviors when highly aroused. Due to these behaviors, Turtle Dove would benefit from placement with a New Hope partner experienced in working with dogs who may require structured decompression, gradual handling, and ongoing training to support emotional regulation and reduce arousal-based reactions.

Potential challenges: : Resource guarding,Handling/touch sensitivity,On-leash reactivity/barrier frustration,Leash-biting,Low threshold for arousal

Potential challenges comments:: Resource Guarding: During his handling assessment, Turtle Dove displayed resource guarding behavior by Growling, gripping the assessor's toy, biting the dummy hand multiple times. This indicates discomfort with sharing valued items and suggests a need for training focused on building trust, using trade-up techniques, and reinforcing calm behavior around resources. Please see the handout on Resource Guarding. Handling / Touch Sensitivity: Turtle Dove shows signs of touch sensitivity, including a tense body, lip licking, a high tail, and a tight facial expression when petted. These subtle stress signals suggest he may be uncomfortable with certain types of handling. A gradual desensitization approach, paired with positive reinforcement, can help increase his comfort with touch. Please see the handout Handling / Touch Sensitivity. On-Leash Reactivity / Barrier Frustration / Leash-Biting / Low Threshold for Arousal: Turtle Dove exhibits a low threshold for arousal, particularly in and around the kennel. He engages in leash-biting and lunges at other dogs during transitions in and out of his kennel, indicating barrier frustration and reactivity. Training should focus on reducing arousal through structured routines, impulse control exercises, and desensitization to other dogs and handling equipment. Please see the handout on On-Leash Reactivity / Barrier Frustration / Leash-Biting / Low Threshold for Arousal.