About Lenny

Pal's Place would love to introduce you to a very special dog looking for a very special, experienced, and patient guardian. Lenny is a 3 to 4-year-old, 55-pound male Hound mix/ Dutch Shepherd/Boxer/Lab mix. We did a DNA test on this dapper dude and it gave us quite a bit of insight into his behavior and characteristics! He is 40% hound (Coonhound/Harrier/Foxhound) 17% Dutch Shepherd, 15% Boxer, 14% Lab, and has a tiny bit of Doberman (4%) Jack Russell (4%), Husky (4%) and 3% Mexican Street Dog! While the breed doesn't make up the majority of his DNA, Lenny seems to embody the characteristics of a Dutch Shepherd most closely. He is extremely focused, driven, agile, active, eager to please, and intelligent but he is also a fiercely loyal and protective dog that bonds closely with his person. He can also be a bit stubborn and has a strong independent streak. This handsome fellow has a lot of amazing qualities. He is incredibly loving and obedient to those he knows and trusts. He is very well behaved in the home, is housebroken and not destructive, is crate trained, and gets along well with most dogs. Lenny, however, is protective and wary of some strangers, can be pushy with unfamiliar people, and needs an experienced handler. He is not the dog for everyone and certainly not for first-time dog guardians. He is a one or two-person dog that will thrive in the right environment. He originally came to Pal's Place rescue in October 2019 from a high-kill shelter in rural Kentucky. He was in foster care for several weeks and did excellently. He settled in quickly and bonded closely with his foster mom. However, there was only one person in the home and not many visitors during his first stay in foster care. Late December 2019 Lenny was adopted into a home with two young roommates. Once Lenny bonds with a new person and really trusts them, he is endlessly patient, loyal, and affectionate but we have learned he does not extend the same courtesy to strangers. He was wonderful with the adopters from the get-go but about a week into his adoption, his adopters started to have issues with Lenny and visitors coming into the house. He would bark at some newcomers coming in and needed to be introduced properly and in a controlled manner to visitors coming into the home. His previous adopters also noted that he would be friendly with some strangers at first and would even cuddle on the couch with them but after some time, he'd get up, snap at them and get off the couch. He seems to be overstimulated in the company of guests and is tolerant for only so long with unknown people. He can also be very protective of his space and nervous with people he does not know very well. The first two weeks he was in his new home, he did snap at two visitors but had not bitten. We tried to work with the adopters and gave them lots of information on letting a new dog decompress in a new environment and asked them to limit his exposure to visitors for several weeks until he had more time to bond with them and to acclimate to his new environment. A little over three weeks into his adoption, a friend of theirs who Lenny was unfamiliar with come in to walk him. The friend tried to buckle a harness underneath him and he freaked out and nipped her. After the incident, Lenny came back to the care of our rescue. Once Lenny came back to our care, he spent a few weeks in a board and train program with professional trainers. They found him a pleasure to work with, incredibly intelligent, energetic, and eager to please but also noted that he is strong-willed, dominant, and a bit anxious. The trainers felt his best match for a forever home would be a single person or a couple that is well versed and knowledgeable in handling dogs that can be dominant and pushy and ones that need a firm but fair hand. His adopters are really going to have to work on his manners when greeting visitors and he may never be the type of dog that can be around a lot of strangers, so off-lead dog parks, beaches, or really any environment where there are large groups of people off-limits to him for now. He is also a dog we would not trust to really be around children so if children are in the home or visit frequently, he is probably not going to be the best match. Lenny is extremely motivated, eager to please, and athletic we think he'd really benefit from having a job to do or a dog sport to participate in. We think he'd excel at agility training, scent work, even Schutzhund training. If you are interested in participating in these activities with a new companion, then Lenny could be the dog for you! Lenny is a fantastic dog in many, many ways and great with a confident, experienced dog-lover. He will thrive in the right home and will be a loyal and fabulous friend in the right environment. His adoption fee to the rescue is $275. He is currently in a foster home in Chicago and can be seen by appointment. Please email [email protected] for more information.

Cook County
Chicago, Illinois 60618