Back from the SPCA

Quinn was pulled by the SPCA a couple weeks ago and was returned this past Friday. He was "not an ideal candidate for SPCA's adoption program." They house communally and he's dog selective. I'm not sure how much of their assessment I can share, but I can give the gist here.

resting after a long day

He was amazing for most of his Safer Assessment. He excelled in making eye contact, being touched, poked, squeezed and relinquishing toys. There were only two areas where he was less than ideal, and that was food guarding and interaction with other dogs.

They didn't give any notes on his food issues, but I've had no issues feeding him here. He's been fed at the same time right next to his sister and I've held his bowl while eating. I'm going to experiment and see how tolerant he is of me messing with his food. He wags while he's eating, even if you touch him. I'm not sure if that's because he's comfortable here or because he was uncomfortable there.

He was introduced to one, larger male dog for the assessment. He ran to sniff the other dog, then snapped and was unable to relax or break focus, though the other dog remained calm. We know this is an issue with him, and it's one we're going to try to work on. I do know he's very, very good with one dog.

Hopefully we'll figure out what his "type" is, and see if he can have a canine companion or if he will be doomed to a life of solitude. I'm sure I've seen other dogs that he liked when we were at the adoption event, but I need to be more scientific about this. We will not fail him!