Alfie is believed to be a Mali X, male, aged about 2yrs old who recently came to GSRE from the pound, via another non-breed specific rescue centre. He is neutered, microchipped, wormed and fully vaccinated. As far as we are aware, Alfie does not appear to have any obvious allergies or medical issues. Volunteers have noticed that Alfie appears cautious of people handling him around his neck area, such as attaching a lead and collar, continuation of his training is needed to desensitise him in this area.

Alfie walks well on a lead and longline but when he is determined to explore a scent, he can pull strongly towards it and be a little stubborn. When walked in a local park he was aware of squirrels and birds but paid only passing attention to them. Although aware and observant of other people in the park, it was nothing more than general interest. When seeing dogs at a distance, Alfie was easily distracted with toys or treats but when dogs were much closer, he displayed what the volunteers believed to be excitement wanting to go towards them with slight vocals. As soon as the dogs moved further away his attention waned and he was happy to walk away, suggesting this behaviour is a lack of socialisation which can be addressed by appropriate means.
Alfie can be quite independent and confident, as expected from this breed mix.

However, he responds well to food and toy rewards and is very gentle taking treats. He enjoys playing with a squeaky ball and will happily swap toys to play fetch or for a treat. There has been no sign of food or toy guarding. Alfie travels well in the car and is happy to jump in for a toy or treat. He lets out the occasional whine en-route, which may be a lack of familiarity with traveling in a vehicle and should rectify itself with further exposure.

Once he gets to know you, he is happy to have affection but this can sometimes over-stimulate him which can result in him jumping up and mounting, but this is easily rectified and has already begun to improve in the limited time the volunteers have been working with him.

Alfie is a very big boy and will need an experienced owner to continue working with him on setting boundaries, socialisation and progressing his ongoing training. Alfie will need a confident owner that has experience with similar breeds to help him reach his potential.

Due to Alfie’s size and GSRE not having any history on this boy, he will not be placed with children under teenage. He is not cat tested. He was a little vocal at the vets (barked at the receptionist) but no aggression was seen, this reaction may have been from unfamiliarity. The volunteers have started to muzzle train Alfie although he is still not keen we continue to change his mind. Alfie appears to know SIT and has the start of a recall. He is also learning DROP to swap toys when playing.

From our time with Alfie so far, he doesn’t seem to shy away from anything new and would always prefer to move forward and explore new things which will help with his ongoing exposure to the world.

We asked a trainer for the prison service to have a look at this boy as we do feel a working home would suit him and although he told us he agreed that Alfie was a fine stamp of dog he would be too much for the novice handlers he was training up to work in a Cat A prison!

Alfie also had a very short stay ay a police training course where he appeared to take to training very well but after 6 days was returned to us because he mounted the kennel staff and bonded too quickly with the training instructor?!

We really feel that we have tried for this lad but have hit a brick wall. He really does need a very experienced home with the breeds that he is and the options of finding such people are getting less and less. You really do feel like you have let him down

Apply to adopt

Location:

Cornwall - KENNELS

Sex:

Male

Age:

DOB 5.2.21

Neutered:

Yes

Good with children:

Unknown

Good with other dogs:

Careful introduction

Good with cats:

No