About Vaako

We've had Vaako since he was 13 weeks old, he's now almost 4 years old. His entire litter at the puppy store was very anxious and afraid of people. We don't know his story before we got him, but he acts like a rescue more than our other rescue. He bonded great with her and she practically raised him. He has also done well with another male rescue dog that we took care of for a couple of months. They met on neutral grounds and had to adjust, but get along great even today. The 3 of them can play great for a short time, but they all get a little excited after a while and Vaako tries to dominate the other male dog. He does fine one on one with either of the other dogs though. He does well with patient and consistent training, eager to please, but is sometimes too scared to obey (ex: walking by a recycle bin, he cowers and tries to dart. He's improved with this with training, but still is nervous at times.). He loves walks, but gets nervous and pulls. We tried a gentle lead, but he periodically panics and tries to remove it from his face. His favorite activity is being outside to explore and chase the wildlife, to include hunting lizards. He will occasionally chase a ball or toy, but rarely brings it back. He loves tug-a-war, and loves hands on rough housing. He can get a little riled up, but if he's told to be gentle, he's great. He picks up on our emotions very quickly and tries to comfort us when we're upset. He listens very well to commands when there are no distractions. (We are willing to give a list of commands he's familiar with). He has learned the basics and few tricks too. He does well when left at home (with our other dog), but tends to act out when he feels ignored for too long. (The worst: pooping in the corner and getting up on the couch. Nothing major like chewing and isn't destructive at all.) I'm not sure how he would do all alone though. If kenneled, he will bark non-stop, but he doesn't mind a kennel, it can be a safe place for him. He just doesn't like being alone. The major reason we're having to find him another home is that his instincts tend to take over when he gets scared. He reacts in fear and won't listen to commands when he feels threatened. We have a hard time determining what makes him fearful. He's not an aggressive dog, but can come off as aggressive when he's scared. Any outside noise can put him on guard. When we have guests over, even family that hes been around for years, he tends to follow extremely close on their heels ready to nip at any sudden move. He can eventually calm down, but everyone is on edge for the whole visit. We have to typically keep him in the other room while we have people over, which makes him bark at having intruders and being left alone, even when our other dog is with him. We've used a collar that beeps with a remote and that seems to help with the barking, but only sometimes. We can't trust him with other people, which makes it very difficult to have dogsitters, and although he travels decently, it's hard to stay with family when he doesn't like them. All of this has been difficult, but doable up to this point. However, now we have a baby on the way and don't feel that we can trust him enough to be around our baby. We don't know how he would react and don't want to risk our child or Vaako with his reactions to her in his home. He's really a great dog and we hate having to find him another home, but we have to do whats best for everyone involved, including Vaako. We'd love to find someone that's willing to be patient and meet him several times before adopting to ensure that he finds his forever home. We think he'd do best with a single person or couple without kids. He's about 40-45lbs, medium sized.

Pima County
Tucson, Arizona