Remember this guy? Lalo has been with BTRC since June of 2022. Handsome but decidedly hardheaded, Lalo’s behavioural rehab was best left to the professionals. Luckily for Lalo, he was able to find just the help he needed with Katherine Ferger and her talented team at Canine Country Kennels.

Lalo has been working diligently during his time away at boarding school. But it wasn’t all work – he also took the time to use his charm to win the heart of one of his instructors. Now we know that, in most schools, relationships between teacher and student are frowned upon. In this case, however, we couldn’t be more thrilled! In fact, today, we’re making it social media official: Lalo has been adopted!

We couldn’t have written a happier ending for Lalo’s rescue story, and having him home for the holidays makes it even sweeter! ❤️

Lalo Update

Lalo’s behavioural needs upon arrival to rescue

were far outside the scope of most foster homes. In a stroke of luck, we were able to find Lalo a board and train placement with the highly respected and accredited positive-reinforcement trainer Katherine Ferger and her talented team.

Turns out, Lalo LOVES to work! In fact, he has all the tricks needed to achieve his Novice Trick Dog Title (that’s 15 tricks!). Fantastic for enrichment and fun, this training is a great way for new people to interact with him.

The goal remains to get Lalo to a place where he can live successfully as a pet dog in an adoptive home. His trainer continues to work on conditioning him so that a startle is a good thing, desensitizing him to handling, and to people/dogs coming into his space when he has something he values (food or even space), so that he sees these as positive interactions.

All and all, things are progressing well and we’re optimistic that someday in the not-too-distant future, Lalo may be able to find a forever home of his very own.

If you would like to donate to Lalo’s care, you can do so   HERE. 

Learning from Lalo

Lalo came to us from a shelter at the end of June, surrendered because of his resource guarding. So we knew when we agreed to help him that he would aggressively defend anything he considered valuable – whether it be a piece of paper he found, or a special toy.

What we didn’t know was the level of Lalo’s reactivity, or his propensity to bite. In such a short time, two BTRC foster homes found that they could not deal with his behaviours. And of course, moving him around only added to the issues.

The question of what to do for Lalo became a difficult one. We can’t in good conscience place him in another foster home until his behaviour is professionally assessed. But he must go somewhere, and right away.

• Do we return him to the shelter where he will likely be euthanized?
• Do we label him as unable of being rehabilitated, and arrange to have him put to sleep?
• Do we put him into a boarding facility where he will stay until we can find someone to work with him knowing waiting lists are long?

These are the hard questions that must be asked when dealing with a difficult dog.

Fortunately, and nothing short of a miracle, in this case, we were able to find a respected, positive-reinforcement training professional willing to help Lalo by making special room for him.

Lalo will begin an intensive board and train in hopes that he can eventually be adopted into a loving home. But the road may be long, and it won’t be cheap. Even with an extremely generous discount, we will be looking at over $3000 for his training on top of any necessary veterinary care.

Lalo is young. We feel strongly that he deserves this chance at a happy life. If you would like to donate to Lalo’s care, you can do so   HERE. 

We will keep you posted on his journey. Please send good vibes his way!

Welcome Lalo!

Lalo is a young neutered male, who was surrendered to a shelter by his owner because of resource guarding – he will protect anything he considers ‘his’, including toys, food, and his personal space. With these behaviours, he could not be adopted into a new home, and his only option was to be transferred from the shelter to a rescue willing to work with him.

It’s our goal to find loving homes for all rescued dogs, so it is our hope that with proper training, patience and time Lalo will progress to a point where he too can be adopted.