Featured Animal

Pippin
Anatolian Shepherd / Komondor / Mixed

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BETTER PHOTOS COMING SOON!!!

The first two breeds suggested by the Dog Scanner app as making up the majority of Duncan's DNA are not common in our area. But he definitely has traits of all four of the breeds listed. We've included a screenshot so you can see for yourself. Those first two breeds (Alpine Dachsbracke and Hanover Hound) aren't even in the list of breeds that we can choose from in our website database, so we've listed the next two breeds -- Plott Hound and Catahoula. Duncan looks a lot like the Hanover Hound, including a similar build. The Hanover Hound is a scenthound whose body seems long in comparison to their height -- but Duncan is smaller than the breed standard by 15-20%.  His weight is on the low end of the breed standard for both Plott Hound and Catahoula, but he's not nearly as tall as those breeds typically are. So he's a bit of a mystery to us!

Duncan showed up in our pasture on Maundy Thursday (4/6/2023), and surprisingly, our livestock guardian dogs decided pretty quickly that he's OK, not a threat to our livestock. When I found him, I put Duncan on a leash and walked him through the pasture, heading toward the house. One of the more protective does head-butted him broadside just for having the audacity to walk through her pasture within maybe 10' of her kids. Duncan didn't react to her at all. I was definitely impressed by that! We walked through the barn, and he didn't react to our barn cats. So before we ever got to the house, Duncan had proved to me that he's a great little dog!

He seemed to be in good health and was friendly, and he climbed over our 5' tall no-climb perimeter fence easily, so we thought MAYBE he had a home and had just gone on a walkabout. But he had no collar, he had large ticks that looked as if they had been feeding on him for a while, and he was intact, so we knew it was possible that he had been dumped. We scanned him -- no microchip. We made "found dog" reports to area shelters and veterinarians. We posted him on Facebook and Instagram and NextDoor. After a little more than two weeks with no one claiming him, we took him to our vet to be vaccinated, neutered, and microchipped.

Duncan gets along well with all the dogs in our home. He is very playful with the younger dogs. He craves human attention, so if he DID have an owner, I have to wonder if they ignored him, because he is just desperate to be loved. In the beginning, he would cry when we tried to put him in a crate overnight, but he would go into the crate by my desk of his own volition as long as I was working. We used that as a starting point for crate-training, so now, we can put Duncan in a crate at meal times, and when we leave the house, and he behaves very nicely. He wants to stay on the sofa with me as long as possible at night, but when I go to bed, I put him in the crate and he settles pretty quickly. So in just over two weeks, Duncan has acclimated to our home and our routine very nicely.

If you work from home, have the ability to take your dog with you as you work, or if you're retired, then Duncan might be just the dog for you. He's too young to be left uncrated in the house for hours, because he still thinks everything is a chew toy. And we don't want any dog going to a home where they will be crated 8-10 hours while you go to work, and then spend a few hours with you before going back into the crate for 8 hours at night.  Duncan absolutely can NOT be left alone outside, because he has proven that he can climb over 5' tall pasture fencing, 6' tall chain link fencing, and even 6' tall wood board-on-board fencing. He also is just trim enough to wiggle through the pickets of our 6' tall wrought iron fencing. We take him outside and watch him every moment while he has play and potty time. If we take him outside on a leash, he may or may NOT do his potty business, so he would need more practice with that. Duncan is not a dog you could take to the dog park, because even though he would probably get along with all the dogs, he could go over the fence in a flash. Duncan needs a human (or humas plural) who will be just as devoted to him as he will be to you.

If you would like to meet this sweet, handsome boy, please complete the application on our website.