About Harvey

We adopted Harvey from a rescue organization back in the late spring of 2017, he was estimated to be 4 months old at the time. We were initially drawn to Harvey, because he seemed so mellow compared to the other pups, and he looked like a black lab, which is what we were looking for. He was also failing his puppy interview miserably, he was clearly very scared and anxious to be there, and he was getting looked over by the other people at the adoption event, so we took pity on him and we took him home. We adopted Harvey in Western Washington, but he had come from Texas just a couple months before Hurricane Harvey hit (the name is an ironic coincidence). Harvey was the sweetest puppy, he loved to snuggle with his humans, and he loved sleeping in bed with my husband and myself, right smack dab in the middle of us (we let him until he got too big). He initially fit in very well. He even got along with our other dog, a two-year-old Border Collie mix. Unfortunately, a couple of months after we brought him home he began exhibiting aggression towards other dogs. I believe this is a fear-based aggression, probably resulting from conditions he was exposed to in the Texas shelter from where he came, where overcrowding is a major issue. I am guessing he was probably exposed to a lot of aggressive dogs at a young age. We have tried to compensate for this, and we have tried to work with him on this. We do not take him to the dog park, and when we walk him, we use a secure leash and collar system, and he wears a muzzle. We have managed to have him around other dogs on occasion (trusting family members have allowed us to expose him to their dogs), but we had to watch him very closely, and we had him wear a shock collar, and had to shock him with the shock collar on occasion to keep him in line around our friends' dogs. Lately, however, he has been showing aggression towards our other dog, and very recently when he attacked her inside of our home, he ended up on top of me, I was four months pregnant. He gave me pretty good surface scratches on my leg, which did not break skin, but they did bruise. He did not and has never broken skin on any dog that he has attacked. We realize that with a new baby (a surprise baby), that we need to find Harvey a new home. We don't think he would intentionally hurt a human, but I would hate for my baby to be caught in the middle of a scuffle between my dogs. Harvey needs to be in a home where there are absolutely no other dogs. We have cats, and he gets along with them fine, but there has been an occasion or two where he has given chase, so I would be cautious if you have a home with cats. He is great with our children, who are teenagers, but I do not recommend that he go to a home with children younger than 12 or so. Harvey is a sweet and loving dog with his humans, and he has never shown aggression towards a human. He needs to be in a home where he will get lots of attention and affection, where he gets to live inside. He does not like cold or wet weather, he loves the heat. He also enjoys camping and running around in nature, but only in areas where he will not be near other dogs. He is treat driven, but he is also pretty dumb, and although we have worked with him quite a bit, he still will jump on guests when they visit our home (he loves visitors), and he still chews things he shouldn't on occasion (you never know what will strike his fancy). He was crate trained initially, although we haven't used one for some time. He is house broken. Harvey is a medium sized dog, he is neutered (he was when we got him), and he is micro-chipped. I estimate he weighs about 50 pounds. We are getting to the point where we are either going to have to surrender Harvey, or have him euthanized, which breaks my heart. We didn't plan on having any more babies when we adopted Harvey, but now that we do, it's just not feasible for us to have a second dog that requires so much attention. My husband works night as a nurse, and with the new baby, I just don't have the tome or energy to give him what he needs. He really is a good boy, and he deserves a loving home. Please consider adopting him. Thank you.

Pima County
Tucson, Arizona 85710