Pet of the Week: Huckleberry
ID #A328463
3-yr-old neutered male Great Pyrenees

Handsome Huckleberry is the quintessential “gentle giant”! He arrived at the Shelter early last month as a stray, with a young, energetic Belgian Malinois friend (who we named Finn). Finn has been adopted, and we’re really surprised Huck hasn’t gone home yet! Huckleberry’s behavior has been fairly typical for a livestock guardian breed – initially slightly wary and a bit aloof in a new place and with new people, but he’s warmed up sooo nicely: opening up, showing highly sociable behavior, really enjoying people and becoming more friendly, animated and goofy as he’s gotten more comfortable. He is known to lean against his people and he enjoys soaking up any attention he gets.
Huckleberry has now gone to numerous events around town with our volunteers and he’s done extremely well! He’s calm in all kinds of situations, even with lots of noise and busy energy all around him. He’s done well meeting dozens of people of all ages and even meeting and interacting with other dogs since his arrival at the Shelter. That’s sort of unusual for livestock guardian dogs – they are usually a bit suspicious of, or can even be aggressive with other dogs. But Huck seems to really love other dogs and is good at matching the play style of the other dog.  He most enjoys goofy, wrestle-y, roll-around play sessions with other dogs, as opposed to lots of running or jumping. A home with another dog may be a fit after a meet and greet at the Shelter to check for compatibility.
He spent time in a foster home and the foster reported that he’s a really easy dog: He’ll readily get in the car and is quiet and calm for the ride, he likes to go on walks and doesn’t pull much, even just on a leash and collar. He slept quietly through the night and seemed 100% potty trained.
On the medical side, this big guy weighs over 100 lbs, so it’s not surprising that he doesn’t have a super-high activity level, or that he has a little bit of stiffness in his hips and knees. Giant breed dogs have significantly shorter lifespans than smaller dogs, so even at just 3-4 years old, Huck is into “middle age” for a dog his size. He’ll do best if he’s kept on a high-quality diet, gets some joint health supplements and regular mild to moderate exercise, and has a comfy, supportive bed to sleep on. An adopter should also talk with their vet about whether and when he would benefit from anti-inflammatory medication to help keep joint pain away.
Also, Huck & his friend Finn had a whole BUNCH of ticks on their heads and necks when they arrived, and we discovered that Huck had been exposed to 2 different tick-borne bacteria: Anaplasma and Lyme. Thankfully, most healthy dogs can fight these off, but some cannot. We’ve provided Huck with a long round of antibiotics to help him do just that, but he’s a reminder of just how important proper PREVENTION is: all dogs in our area should be on regular, high-quality flea & tick preventative – especially if they spend quite a bit of time outdoors or hike, walk or live in wooded or grassy areas!
Huckleberry’s adoption fee has been sponsored by the Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter Foundation’s Leave No One Behind fund- a fund that draws adopter’s eyes towards animals that have been waiting a little bit longer than average for the right adopters to come along and bring them home. And the Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter Foundation provides “Pawsitivity Bucks” with every dog adoption: a $200 training voucher for use with local positive reinforcement based trainer!
Come meet Huckleberry and any of our other adoptable pets at our Santa Cruz Shelter location, 1001 Rodriguez St where we’re open 11-6pm every day, or you can find listings of all our adoptable (and lost & found) pets at our website www.scanimalshelter.org  !