About Damien

**EXPERIENCED OWNERS ONLY** Damien is an incredibly sweet and loving boy...�%A0 who is also just an absolute hot mess, hah.�%A0 He is about 2 years old and very healthy physically.�%A0 He is neutered and up to date on all shots; he has no physical health concerns whatsoever. I believe that Damien's original family must have let him rule the roost, because he was an absolute tyrant when he first came to us.�%A0 He has a bite history at the shelter (he bit one of the officers), and he had to wear a muzzle his first week with us - he was so scared and riled up that he was just trying to bite constantly. We've had Damien since early this year, and we have worked with him *extensively* on becoming part of a family.�%A0 I really think that fear underlies most of his behavior, because now that he's settled in and gotten to know us, he is *VERY* submissive with people he is familiar with.�%A0 He loves to play with toys, he's snuggly and cuddly, and he adores belly rubs. At this point, Damien has two specific problems left that we are working on.�%A0 1) He takes a looong time to warm up to new people.�%A0 By a long time, I mean you would probably have to visit 3-4 times, and be willing to sit and let him go crazy and bark at you, before he decided it was okay to trust you.�%A0 He absolutely will still try to bite people that he doesn't know, if he just gets turned loose with them, so you'd have to consider that you could not have him loose when visitors come over to your house. 2) Damien likes other dogs and gets along with *most* of them, but he does play a little rough and can get a little snappy.�%A0 He also will hold a grudge for a long time...�%A0 we have a couple dogs that he got into little spats with over food or other issues, and now he absolutely cannot be with those dogs anymore.�%A0 That's 2 out of 16, but the potential is there.�%A0 He just needs to be closely supervised and not left alone where he has the potential to start a squabble.�%A0 With all of our other dogs, including several Chihuahuas that are much smaller than him, he is almost completely trustworthy. Damien has started on a daily regimen of Prozac, just to help ease his mind and take the edge off some.�%A0 It's helped him settle down A LOT, and even with visitors to the home, I'm starting to see him get less crazy and less riled up each time.�%A0 It's very possible that he may be fine with strangers down the road, or he may never be at all.�%A0 With the people in his family, he is 100% trustworthy, he loves kids, he is an absolute lover and snuggle buddy.�%A0 But he is not an 'easy' dog to manage, and we understand that he may have to stay here forever if the right home doesn't come along.

Rockdale County
Conyers, Georgia 30094