Aging dog needs loving quiet home

Portland OR

Description

This is not easy for me, and in fact is one of the most challenging things I have had to do, so please read carefully and understand my heart is aching. My dog's name is Lady, and she is an unaltered American Staffordshire Terrier. She is 8 years old and a sweet dog with her people. My family rescued her when she was around 2 years old, and from what I know of her history, she had a rough upbringing and was abused. We rehabilitated her, and she became an extremely loving companion for our family. I have two children who were 5 and 3 years old when we adopted her. Last year, my family relocated from Washington state to live in an apartment here in Oregon, and Lady has not adjusted well. She was the only animal on our acreage and had far more room. She has always had aggressive behaviors with other animals, and we kept her as the only animal in our home for a long time. We adopted a cat, and after about 3 months of careful observation and smart exposure, she and the cat became comfortable enough with one another to cohabitate and be friendly. Recently, however, she has been exhibiting more and more aggressive behaviors to our neighbors' dogs and has become a liability for our home. She is aging, and not doing so very gracefully. Lady loves to sit in your lap, kiss your face, play, and in general love on her humans. She is protective and kind hearted and will give you unyielding devotion. She has been with our family for 6 years, and has been a blessing during hard times. I don't know what I will do without her, but I also know that the stability of my family is paramount. Her engrained instinct to go after other animals has become too heavy to ignore. I walk and run her with a harness, pinch collar, and muzzle and she does well on the leash. It is the unpredictable behaviors that are putting my neighbors and their pets at risk. I don't want to take her to a shelter, as a dog with her breed, age, and history will most likely be put down. She deserves to live the remainder of her days in a safe home with less hustle and bustle around her, a home without other animals, that she will receive all of the love. She is a tuxedo Am-staff with a greying muzzle, a blue hue to her eyes, a couple of lumpy age spots on her body, and years of love left to give to a family of older children without other animals around. She's smart, talks so much, lays as if she is made of Jell-O, and if she had opposable thumbs, she would be running our home (I say this with love and humor). She loves sweets, and will let you clip her nails as long as she gets candy corn. I don't want to see her destroyed and if I could change our surroundings for her, I would not be putting her up for adoption. We live in a community full of animals, and it isn't fair to my neighbors that their safety is put in question whenever Lady goes outside. She needs freedom to play with her people. If you are able to give her a permanent and safe home, with patience, care, and good hearts she would be a wonderful fit. She is housebroken and crate trained. She is not up to date on her shots as I have not found a vet locally since we have moved but she is microchipped, and I believe that can be transferred to a new owner account. She will come with her kennel, food dishes, leash/collars/harness/muzzle, nail trimmers, and bedding. I do not want any money, just assurances that she will be loved and not killed or used in any negative way. Please be kind in your responses as I am trying to do the right thing for her as well as my family. Only serious inquiries.