Diesel

Rochester MN

Description

Diesel (or D) is 8 years old. Extremely dog aggressive but great with people and children. Loves to play with cats but can get a little too rough. He's a great dog, I've just fell on difficult times with my health and he's too reactive to be my mobility service dog and also much to small. Rehoming fee applies. Let me clarify on some of Diesels past so that his aggression is better understood. I adopted D a little over a year ago from someone in Iowa. They had him for a few years after adopting him from an animal shelter. His history from the shelter (as told by my vet who contacted the shelter) was as follows; Diesel was found chained so tightly to a chain-link fence that the collar was imbedded in his neck, he could not sit or lay down, there was no food or water, he was emaciated, and -the worst of it all- he was COVERED in bite wounds and blood. Whether he lost a fight or won and was dumped anyways because of his wounds no one knows. What is known is that after that he has been extremely dog aggressive. I have been working on desensitizing him to other dogs being within eyesight so that walking isn't so traumatic for all parties involved. He is still highly reactive despite my best efforts BUT he is 100% manageable with a head collar on. Some fighters can be turned around as far as socializing them with dogs again but, like in D's case, some cannot. Now as far as cats go. He is prey driven so small things he likes to chase. When introduced to a new cat he does need to be supervised. Once he is familiar with said cat, he just wants to play. THE ONLY REASON HE IS TOO ROUGH WITH THEM IS BECAUSE HE IS 80 POUNDS AND THINKS HE IS 5 POUNDS. He is NOT aggressive with familiar cats. D loves his people and is an excellent guard dog. He would give his life for his family and its with an extremely heavy heart that I am letting him go. Background now on why he can't stay here. I have 2 Neuromuscular diseases. One causes myotonic episodes (extreme cramping that's debilitating) and the other causes muscular paralysis. Due to these physical ailments I am in need of a mobility service dog. My Fiancé is currently away and I have had to go to work to support our family while he is gone. In doing so it has triggered my muscle diseases to hit with full affect causing me to fall regularly and have issues with everyday life. I cannot bring a Mobility Service Dog into my home to help me how I need it to with a dog aggressive dog here. With all of this going on it also is becoming harder and harder on me to take him for the walks he needs and deserves. Part of our life struggles has lead me to moving into a small apartment where (within the complex) there are A LOT of other dogs (some of which are also dog aggressive). I recently learned that while I am away at work people have been bringing said dogs to my windows to get D fired up and they taunt him with their dogs attacking the outside of the windows (we live on the ground floor). Being where we are in life and location wise, this is no longer a good place for D and he deserves, after everything he has been through, to have a happy and healthy life with a family that can create an environment he needs. Diesel is in no way a bad dog, an unmanageable dog, a dangerous dog, or a nuisance dog. He is just a dog that was abused and misused and now has some permanent damage because of it. I will be very picky with who he goes to. We love our dog immensely. But it has come a time where we need to love him enough to realize that with us is not what's best for him.