Chow Chow Rehoming

Santa Maria CA

Description

I recently adopted a chow chow puppy (about 4 months old) and he's been such a sweet boy - he follows me around quietly and lays at my feet, is very patient, housebroken well and not overly energetic. I think he'd be quite simple to train, as long as he was able to get his socialization in. The problem is, he does have a high prey drive and some food aggression. He bit my small dog around the head when she was sitting on a bone he wanted and snapped at him when he tried to move her, and while he doesn't take notice of my cat if she is just sitting there or ignores him, as soon as she runs or hisses and swats at him, he goes nuts and wants to chase her. I had him enrolled in puppy kindergarten, but when I brought these issues up to the trainer she refunded my fee and told me that she can't train him, he couldn't come to group classes and thus there would be no socialization, which is a big deal for his breed. He either needs a home with someone who knows his breed and knows how to train them and handle dogs with food aggression and prey drive, or someone who has no other animals OR young children at all. If I can't find him a good home, I'll have to put him down. The shelter I got him from won't take him back (they're overstuffed with dogs right now and have more coming in) and I know the other shelters not only charge a lot for owner surrenders, but they tend to not tell people who adopt any behavioral issues that they know about in an effort to empty the kennels - I've heard after the fact multiple times "Oh yeah we know that dog is dog-aggressive/cat-aggressive/aggressive around kids", but they legally are only obligated to report bite history towards humans, if they even do that. It'd be irresponsible of me to let them take him and possibly adopt him out to another person who is completely unaware of his problem and could get someone else's pet or small child hurt. He's such a sweet boy and I really hope I can find someone, I'd be heartbroken to have to put him to sleep. I'm only asking enough to recoup the adoption fee and the shots, microchipping, and grooming I've gotten for him already. I can give his shot information and the number for his microchip so the information on it can be changed by his new owners.