Chevy

Chevy Chevy Chevy. Where to even begin? Chevy, the one and only.

The positive: Chevy is housebroken and absolutely lovely with people. Chevy loves the almost 4 year old human in his foster home. He especially loves to share snacks. And sharing toys. He’s happy and silly and has the best butt wiggle. Chevy loves his people. Chevy loves his toys. Chevy loves his food. He’s loves the car, but definitely needs to save you from the killer windshield wipers, so he only loves the car on nice days.

The Medical: Chevy ate a child’s toy in his first home… it’s unknown exactly when/how long the toy was in his stomach. It created severe reflux, which lead to multiple aspirations and chronic pneumonia. The object (a 2 inch tire with axel) has been surgically removed and Chevy is healed from surgery. But, he still suffers from reflux. This may go away or it may not. He is on two medicines to help settle his stomach and stop regurgitation when he eats too quickly. He may need these for life, or his stomach may return to normal after an extended healing period. While he has reflux, there is always a threat of aspiration/pneumonia. He also does have an occasional cough that can be attributed to the reflux and/or changes in his lungs from the chronic pneumonia. This has not, nor has it ever, slowed him down. He LOVES to play.

The Weird: Chevy is a strange strange dog. He’s got an odd duck personality as well as unpredictable crippling anxiety. On a daily basis, Chevy can appear very normal when going through his routine. BUT he has phobias and impulse control issues when his routine is changed. For example, Chevy is happy to go up all flights of stairs of all materials outside of the home. He is happy to go up the carpeted stairs inside. The 5 hardwood stairs to the bedroom level are TERRIFYING. Shaking, panic, flight and fight all happen if you push him to go up the stairs.  If you lift him, which is also something anxiety producing to him, and manage to get him to that level, he hides in the corner of the bathroom shaking, and he will snap at you if you try to lift him out. The only person who can help him when he shuts down, is the child, which is also completely odd for dog behavior.

Chevy likes to hold objects in his mouth for comfort. It’s his way of managing his anxiety. You absolutely CANNOT under ANY circumstance try to take an object from his mouth. He will lock his jaw, with your fingers inside, and he will not let go for very literally HOURS. Or he will swallow the object. Chevy is very good at “trading,” which is the only way you will get him to drop what he’s holding. Hold up a piece of cheese, and that object will fly out of his mouth.

There are many many more weird Chevy specific behaviors. He has been described as an anxious toddler. He is definitely looking for some one who is calm and can roll with his oddities.

The Ideal Home: Chevy is a suburbs or rural kind of guy. He tried big city life and it was too stressful. He doesn’t necessarily need a house, just a quiet neighborhood. He’s looking for a fenced in yard, because he has selective bulldog hearing and his leash manners are unpredictable- some times he’s absolutely perfect, some times he’s very unpredictably impulsive, some times he’s unpredictably fearful. He’d love to work more on leash walking with a strong person with a ton of patience and training experience, but it’s not a “must.” He’s very happy to roam a fenced in yard and chew on trees and large sticks.

Chevy is great with low key dogs, but definitely wants to be the center of attention. He will use his sizable head to head butt dogs that are in the way for his attention. He is known to curl up close with the resident grumpy old Frenchie. Chevy is unknown with cats and we truly cannot predict his reaction to them. Chevy is wonderful with children, but has been known to steal snacks and toys. Also, any ball in the house is his and will likely be destroyed. From very dangerous ping pong balls to large medicine balls, Chevy loves them all so hard they explode.

Chevy is crate trained, but has no need for his crate. Also long as small objects are cleaned up, he mostly just wraps himself like a burrito in blankets and sleeps. He will go on your furniture, whether or not you want him too. His prior home said that he chewed shoes, but his current foster home has not seen that behavior at all. Chevy knows sit, down, wait, drop, and come, but it’s 50-50 if he chooses to listen. If you hold up some cheese, he’s the world’s best listener.

Chevy would prefer some one to be home, so he could pester them with his ball. But a midday potty break is fine too. He would be happy to go to work IF you took a lot of time to work with him and his anxiety. Going to new places isn’t recommended until his is really settled and trusts you and you really know him; this could take 6 months to a year.  You also probably wouldn’t get any work done because of the nonstop butt wiggles and ball being pushed into your calf.

To Summarize: Chevy is seeking an even keeled rock steady leader that can take a joke. His ideal person/family better love his name, because they will be saying 500x a day with the full range of emotions. He is handsome; he is sweet; he is weird; he is funny; he is NEVER boring. He is Chevy, the one and only. If you are the ring master to his show, fill out an application today.