Cleo: female dog to adopt

Cleo is a 2 year old large sized female believed to be a GSD ( 75% ) x Rottie (25% ). 

Cleo was on Red alert in the pound and due to be PTS if no home was found. We were informed Cleo was dog reactive when agreed to take her from the pound. She was collected wearing a muzzle without any issue. She did get car sick on her way to emergency boarding kennels.

Cleo arrived into emergency boarding to save her life on the 2nd February 2025.  She was collected from the emergency boarding by a dog trainer who assessed her for dog reactivity and integrated her into his pack of large breed dogs within minutes. She showed no signs of reactivity under his supervision and it is believed that her reactivity can be minimised under a confident owner.

A foster home was found for Cleo and she moved into foster on the 10th February 2025. Cleo flourished there she loved being fussed, and was very loving and friendly. She was very well behaved in the house and didnt rush to the door when someone knocked. She could be excitable but would settle down easily.  When meeting people for the first time, she sniffed people and then sat calmly. She was very playful, loved being outdoors and would stay outside all day if she was allowed. She loved mind games and mental stimulation games and would sometimes take an egg or a tomato out of the fridge.  She loved playing in the water, loved the hairdryer,  the shower and would play with the towel after any bath.

Initially she did resource guard but the fosterer worked on this successfully. Cleo was travel sick in the car but seemed to do well on short journeys with herbal travel sickness pills. Cleo was reactive to dogs and people when being walked on a lead as she had not had much socialisation. This was something that her foster found difficult to overcome for Cleo and for her to fit into her lifestyle of lots of travelling in a camper van due to her reactivity and travel sickness. Cleo was surrendered back to PPTF in May 2025.

Cleo moved to her current foster home in May 2025 with the understanding that her reactive behaviour would need to be worked on with a behaviourist. She can be strong on the lead and will lunge, bark and pull when she feels nervous and insecure.

Unfortunately Cleo had a short period of lameness soon after moving to her new foster which delayed her training whilst she recovered. This has not reoccurred since.

Following recovery Cleo began a distance training programme with a behaviourist who worked with reactive dogs and rehabilitation.  Her daily routine mainly consisted of on lead walking as many times a day as possible in the house and garden, and adding in distractions incrementally. She ate once a day at night rather than the 2 meals she was having previously. She was then taken to the garden and went to the toilet on long lead to allow her to sniff, marked by the command "toilet". Her crate was then used as a decompression space after a walk. She went in it after every session for a small amount of time with the door closed and then she was let out followed by lots of praise and fussing. The crate remained open the rest of the time and she sometimes chose to sleep in the crate and seemed to enjoy the time in there but didnt sleep in it at night.  She wasnt walked outside for some months as per guidance from the trainer to enable her to work through increasing distractions. She was not to have toys but had nylabones and antlers for chewing as recommended by the behaviourist. She wasnt  bothered by the no treats rule. She enjoyed  the fussing and praise that was give her when calm and was lots more relaxed.

She was then introduced to front garden walking for a while to get used to road noises and passing people, etc. Unfortunately,  once progressing back to outdoor walking after this Cleos fosterers still struggled with her reactivity and the time needed to really work on this with her.

In November 2025 Cleo’s fosters made the difficult decision that they did not want to adopt Cleo and believed that her reactivity was too much for them to manage long term. They therefore asked us to start the process of looking for her next home.

Cleo's Fosterers say ' She is a very good natured dog in the home and very affectionate with us and loves a belly rub and a scratch of her bottom. She has mastered basic commands and is good at them in the home and garden. Her reactivity to other dogs and her guarding of visitors means that she needs to be managed on walks and when people are in the house. She has a loving personality and could make for a great dog if the owner is willing to support her with her anxiety and reactivity'.

Cleo barks at the doorbell and is very excitable to begin with but then settles and is very affectionate. She has shown reactivity around visitors to the house since being in this foster home. If someone comes to the door she really barks and jumps at the visitor. If she in her safe space she goes bezerk when people arrive, so she is put on her lead when visitors arrive. She has nipped 2 visitors whilst with her current fosterers. One person was nervous of dogs and was nipped when entering the house and the other nipped when they were leaving the house. She has also nipped her fosterer once when she tried to get to a delivery driver but the fosterer wouldn’t let her. The behaviourist suggested that her behaviour with people in the home is a type of resource guarding.

Cleo has not shown any food guarding but has growled when the fosterers attempted to remove toys early on but they haven’t seen it for a while as she hasn't been having toys while in behaviour training. She is head shy because of her past.

She accepts lead and collar. She wears a flat collar at all times and has a martingale collar for walks. She does not like a harness and when in a harness she is non responsive so she has 2 collars as above. Cleo is very anxious on the lead. She responds reluctantly to being asked to sit. She pulls quite a lot and can be easily overwhelmed if there is a lot going on. She is reactive to other dogs and barks and lunges at them, she tends to ignore them unless triggered or over stimulated and in that situation she can bark at people too. She can occasionally bark at bikes and scooters. Her fosterers have started muzzle training with her, she is making progress but treats are still needed for her to accept the muzzle. After a time she does try to scratch it off her nose so she will need to go back to basics with her training for this as she will need to be walked wearing a muzzle until her reactivity has been minimised.

Cleo has not been around children. She is a big dog and likes to get close to people, can be pushy for attention and can be reactive to people. She would therefore need an adult only home. Somewhere away from town where there is a less dense dog population with more outdoor space to enjoy would be ideal for her so that she didnt have to navigate so many dogs on walks.

Cleo can not live with other dogs as she is dog reactve.

Cleo has a strong prey drive so can not live with cats or small furries. Sometimes she also barks and jumps for birds in the garden.

Cleo has been left for 4 hours in her safe space and has settled with no destructive behaviour as long as  she is let out for the toilet first. She doesn’t mind being left alone but her new home will need someone around most of the time to commit to her training and any alone time should be built up gradually once she has settled.

Cleo is toilet trained, crate trained, and settles well overnight. She does not like dog beds, she sleeps in her safe space on blankets on the floor. She can be stressed in the car especially by triggers if she sees them which leads to barking. She also gets travel sick in the car but has previously responded well to herbal travel sick tablets on short journeys.

Cleos new home will need to have proven experience in training dogs with reactivity, experience with large breed dogs and be around most of the time to dedicate to her training. She knows some basic commands.

Once she has overcome her reactivity she will make someone a big, loveable friend for life who will love to play and cuddle with you. She needs someone to understand her past and work with her to have a future both her and her forever family can enjoy together.