Rocco | Toy Poodle | Male | 1 year | 9 lbs | Black | Neutered | Vaccinated |
*1: Challenging , 5: Great!
Good with male adults: 💖(Depending on the person) (1~5)
Good with female adults: 💖💖💖💖💖 (1~5)
Good with kids: (1~5)
Good with other dogs: 💖💖💖💖 (1~5)
Good with cats? Unknown (1~5)
Energy level: Pretty calm overall but can be playful
Vaccination up to date
Diet info: Gently cooked food (Beef, Veggies and Fruits), kibble
Rescue Story
One of our board members rescued 12 dogs from a grooming school. The grooming school bought them from puppy mills and used them for grooming practice. The school has promised to stop using dogs to teach their students.
About Him/Her
Rocco is an absolute sweetheart and is born to love and be loved. He is extremely affectionate and has a friendly personality towards gentle adults. He also adores giving and receiving any kind of love and affection, running and playing on the grass, and going on adventures.
He is very good with gentle female adults, but he is fearful of strangers, male adults, and kids who make loud noises. When scared, he will bark or growl. If he’s really scared (for example, around kids having a tantrum), then he might nip to give a warning that he is really uncomfortable—but read below to understand why.
Until he was rescued, he lived in a small crate and was taken out only to be practiced on by grooming school students. For his whole life until now, human attention led to unpleasant experiences. He hasn’t fully realized yet that he’s been rescued and taken far from that terrible life. But he is slowly learning that here in Canada he’s safe and humans love him.
He made progress with the first family that adopted him, but the man traveled often for work. Whenever he’d come back home, Rocco would bark at him. But if the man stayed home for a while, Rocco would start to warm up to him. The women traveled for work, too, so it was too much change for Rocco. He needs a consistent daily routine and structure to build a bond with the family.
At the second family that adopted him, Rocco was the sweetest boy when he was alone with the mom. But he was very scared when the kid would have a tantrum, and he nipped at the kid out of fear. (The kid wasn’t hurt.) Although life for Rocco was more consistent and routine at this family, he also needs all the humans around him to be calm and gentle.
Rocco is not aggressive, he’s still scared from the trauma of his life before being rescued. He needs more time (and training) to learn that he’s safe now and humans here won’t hurt him. He needs a family that’s very calm and stable, perhaps a retired woman, or a retired couple if the man is very gentle.
We are working with a dog trainer to teach him the world is safe, and he is on CBD oil (temporarily) to reduce his anxiety until he feels confident. The current foster mom is working on building confidence for him with some agility training and also slow exposure to the public.
Rocco is still very puppy-like and needs to learn a little structure, along with some potty training. He is very bright and knows how to communicate with people. Good things take time, and he’s absolutely worth it. He has a gentle and loving soul, despite the hardships he has faced in his previous life.
We are looking for an adopter who doesn’t have kids, doesn’t have frequent visitors and also not living in a big city to start small for him. The male adapter should work on his bonding issues and fears in a positive way.
There will be a condition for his adoption to work with a trainer.
Medical Notes
🐾 Overall healthy
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