Found a home.
Dexter is a Dalmatian X Staffy male just over 6 months old. His mom was a Dalmatian, his dad a Staffy.
He is an extremely friendly, bright happy boy. He has never shown any sign of aggression. Since 8 weeks old he has been living with me in my home, just the two of us. So he has no experience living with other dogs or any other animals. He has also had limited interactions with other people and has had no real time around children. For over the last 4 months I have been the one training him. He is fully potty trained and crate trained. While with me Dexter has two set nap times during the day of 2hrs each that he does in his crate. At night He is allowed to choose where he wants to sleep and most of the night he will sleep on my bed with me. He is also trained in sit, stay, lie down, settle, leave it, drop it, come here and heel walking. All these things he is very good at, but is still in training. At present he is heel walking on a slip lead 3 times a day for around 20 mins at a time around the neighbourhood. On a collar and lead he is still learning not to pull. He is fully trained in his commands while at home, while walking he is still learning not to be distracted by things like birds and other people. He still has a tendency to jump up at people while on walks in a very friendly 'I want to play' way. Training to stop that is ongoing, at the moment when we see someone coming we move to the side and he is told to sit till they pass. Giving him a treat while he sits also helps. He is highly motivated by food, so training has been going very well, easy and fast. He is also extremely smart. I have been using his main kibble food as walking/training treats because it helps to keep the calories at the right amount each day while he is growing, as well as a mix of puppy training treats and frozen carrot sticks for daily training sessions at home, which he loves.
Dexter is very energetic and loves to play tug of war. As long as you keep plenty of chew toys around he will not chew on any of the furniture, just keep shoes away from him. He has just finished teething and now has all his adult teeth in.
He is already a big boy, 50cm tall at the shoulders and 26kgs. He has received all his vaccinations for the year and has been getting his monthly liquid worming med and flea med. His worming med is about to change to once every 3 months. He is too young to be desexed yet.
He is entering his teenage phase, so training needs to be kept going as he will now push boundaries that he didn't before. He also has just started to go for short trips to the park. He gets extremely excited and hyper when he meets other dogs, eager to play. This is when he can switch off from listening to your commands. He still needs training in calming down when first meeting new people and dogs. Socialising and behaving with others should be the main focus of ongoing training.
I work from home, so Dexter is used to having someone around almost all the time. Which is why, when he has his naps, his crate is in another room so he is used to being alone. He will cry for a min or 2 when you first leave him, but then he settles down and just has a nap. So he is easy to leave alone at home. When you are home expect him to follow you everywhere.
As he has not really been around children, even though he is extremely friendly he is a big dog, I wouldn't recommend him for a new home that has kids unless they are teens or other pets unless they are used to having a large energetic puppy around.
When fully grown Dexter will be between a medium and a large dog who will need plenty of exercise.
The reason for finding him a new home is personal unforseen health issues that mean I won't be able to take care of him the way he needs.
Dogs have access to: warm bedding, water at all times, ample space to exercise, natural light
Dogs have enrichment provisions: Yes
Dogs are exposed to: people with different appearances or ages, different sounds
Offers lifetime rehoming: Yes
