BAXTER in Cambridgeshire

Baxter has not had the best start in life. He was owned by a family who let him go due to work commitments. He was adopted very quickly (well, he is very handsome). Then, on his first night with his new family, a tragic event occurred and he had to be taken away.

We were unclear as to why this happened, at the time. Baxter had been very loving with his new owners and then he went for one of them without warning. We are sure now, that this was a case of mistaken identity and he thought that he was guarding his home and new family against an intruder. It is all the more tragic, as this had seemed like the perfect adoption until this happened.

Naturally, we needed reassurance about Baxter before considering his future and he has been in kennels, professionally supervised for the last six months. We are assured that there has never been an instance of aggression, during this time. He does kennel guard but then all the dogs there do that, and he is no more aggressive than anyone else. It is their hobby to fill the long hours of being alone. He has some bad habits of over exuberance, such as a little mouthing but none of this is aggressive. He is just a lovely happy bouncy boy, who likes, above everything, to play football with staff members and his boomer ball.

We are confident that Baxter is nonaggressive, in a general sense. The summary of the staff at the kennel is that he is a 'lovely boy'. Nonetheless, we will only rehome him to an experienced GSD owner and to a child free home, because he is such a strong guard. We will give a full account of the incident to anyone, who is interested in Baxter..

If you can cope with a management protocol to ensure that Baxter does not get confused and get himself into trouble again by over guarding, then please contact your area coordinator.