About Fig

Fig is a 13 month old Australian Shepherd Mix (we did his DNA which came back as mostly Aussie with 17% mini Aussie, 7% border collie and 3% husky). We got Fig last September when he was about 3 months old and he has been a wonderful addition to our family - for the most part! We are having to rehome him due to more recent reactivity and fear aggression when people he doesn't know come to our house. We had a minor bite incident about 4 months ago at our house, which was under unusual circumstances; I will describe this canvain detail below. We are a LOUD household, with 4 children ages 5 to 15 and 5 cats. Fig has been amazing with our kids-our littlest boy is 5 and pretty rough, and Fig is VERY tolerant of him. We have never had any issues with aggression of any kind inside the family. Fig gets along well with the cats as long as they don't run away (when they do his herding instincts kick in and he will chase. If he catches up to a running kitty, though, he just wants to play). We have 3 cats that like dogs and he'll play with them as long as they will have it! Fig is a very active guy. He loves playing with us, running after anything we throw, chasing his huge herding ball, playing tetherball and enjoys his time at the dog park tremendously. He is sometimes leash reactive with other dogs and cars (loud and barky but most of the time when he gets up close to another dog he wants to play, minus a few interactions that did not sound friendly). We have been working with a trainer privately and his leash reactivity has improved a lot. Every dog he has met off leash has become a friend instantly, including throughout our neighborhood and at the dog park. Regarding obedience and listening-Fig learns pretty fast, and has great eye contact and attention. He knows all the basic commands and also loves doing tricks (he's got a great High Five) and is eager to learn. He needs physical and/or mental exercise daily. His recall is spot on inside the house but if he is outdoors and distracted he may well push boundaries-he is a teenage Aussie. Fig is house broken and crate trained. We have been working with Brianne Harris at Positive Partners Dog Training for reactivity, and although he has been doing well in the program and showing improvements, she says our household is not ideal for a dog that needs a more predictable environment. We are heartbroken about it, but we have come to the decision that we need to find Fig a new home. What fig has had: all shots, hernia surgery, neuter and a surgery when he injured his foot on broken glass several months ago-this is when the bite incident happened. Regarding the bite incident: cut his foot open when he got out of the yard (right back foot), and had to have surgery that day. The next day we had a house full of neighborhood kids (not ever an issue since Fig had never shown aggression). A kid was making food in our kitchen and he jumped up, putting pressure on his back injured foot. She pushed him off the counter and he froze and got a weird look in his eyes, then bit her, breaking skin. The cut was not deep but of course very upsetting. We spoke to the vet and felt like this was an isolated incident, but did not let unknown people in our home for a couple of months. He was healing from the foot surgery, then had a neuter and hernia surgery and we did not want him around anyone while he was healing. When we cautiously let friends back into our house after this period, we had him on a leash. He was okay with some people but sadly with a few people he has shown the same behavior-appeared spooked, frozen with a scared look on his face and lunged as if to bite. We have only had him meet people in our house on leash and he has not bitten anyone else. However, because the behavior is unpredictable and we have a very busy household, we cannot keep him. Ideal home. We believe that Fig will do well in another household with someone that knows the breed and is willing to continue put in training time with him. We have been working with the behavioral specialist, Brianne Harris and she has said she thinks with continued modification, desensitization and positive association training he can work through this. We have a lot of training materials from working with her which of course would be passed on to his new owner. Fig must have space to run and play (or an owner that will put in time to exercise him). A home with land for him to run-a farm space with animals to train and herd would be AMAZING! He ideally would continue to get time to play with other dogs (he could live with other dogs if they meet and get along), and a more predictable home, ideally with space to separate him when visitors come over, for as long as this is needed. We do not have this as our house is TINY. Again, this is a hard and heartbreaking decision for our family, but the best we can do for him is minimize his chances of biting and let him go to a better suited home.

Watauga County
Booone, North Carolina