Cappy Update:
Cappy was fostered by a long time volunteer and dog trainer in NY. Once he became somewhat settled in his foster home, he started escalating quickly, becoming more and more aggressive. First, he scratched the heck out of our volunteer, then a few days later, he almost redzoned over a minor leash pull (one of those minor “lets go this way, buddy” quick, easy, corrections), he bit our volunteer. It was not just an “I don’t want to listen to you, it was an “I am going to hurt you badly” bites (and not just one bite), it was as if he were just full of rage… We did the only thing we could do, we had Cappy put to sleep.
Unfortunately, this can happen with dogs that come into rescue with an unknown history. We don’t know what happened to him in his previous home life. We don’t know if he did this before and it’s the reason he was dumped at a shelter. Often, at the shelter, they act totally different than in a home environment so their off the hook rage may not be apparent while in the shelter system.
