Leon

My story

EXPERIENCED  ADOPTER REQUIRED.     Meet Leon. Don’t let his size fool you. He is a 8.5 year old, 7 pound spitfire.  Due to his reactive nature, adopting him will come with several requirements: •NO small children •Completion of Rehabbing the Reactive with Forever K9 Training (he's quite the celebrity there) •Strict consistent set of rules and boundaries &#226&#128&#139Although he will not run away, he does require a yard with a fence. It will allow for a more controlled environment, which he needs. From our assessment, he was allowed to behave badly without proper boundaries being established. We are now training that out of him. This training will need to continue in his adoptive home. He is currently in a Rehabbing the Reactive class.  When adopted he will be required to retake the class so his new mom and dad don’t let him fall back into his bad behaviors.  Consistency is key with this little guy.  He LOVES training. He will work for treats until the treats run out. His ideal adopter would be one whom could continue ongoing training with him.   He absolutely loves his Saturday morning training classes and has become a regular at Forever K9 Training in Hampshire, IL.  He has the potential to be a great stunt dog.  He is extremely smart and picks things up quickly. He would do best in a home with no other dogs or with a dog that doesn't stand for being bullied.  Leon likes to push his weight around and will continue to do so unless corrected. This is also why he will require a very strict set of rules and someone that will give him structure. If you waver, he will pick up on it immediately.  Consistency is key.  Leon has a bit of a story behind him. He was dumped at a shelter in Southern Illinois by a puppy mill breeder.  He was eight weeks old with an umbilical hernia, thus imperfect.  Pet stores won’t take puppies with visible issues so to the shelter he went.   In his first year and a half of life he was adopted, given away to a second owner, dumped at animal control and then back to the shelter. The shelter at that point couldn’t put him on the adoption floor, so he was made available for rescue only. That’s where Rescue Warriors Corp came in.   He was in foster care with us for a month before being adopted. It was like taming a lion for the first ten days at his fosters house. He came out of his crate on his own terms after refusing to come out for the first 24 hours.  He would guard it so you couldn’t come near it.   After that ten days he won the hearts of his foster parents.  He was then adopted out to a home with no children, which was a requirement even back then.  His adoptive family loved him like crazy. But then they found themselves pregnant.  They tried for eleven months to make it work but he could not be trusted with the baby and keeping him at a safe distance was causing Leon to deteriorate mentally and physically.   So after five years in his loving home he found his way back to our rescue. He came in like a lion once again.  He required sedation and bite gloves.  As time passed and he acclimated to his new foster home he slowly became less abrasive.   Although, there were many set backs that had his foster mom wanting to throw in the towel.  We just couldn’t give up on him, although at times that is what seemed to be the choice his actions were pointing towards. We could see he was fighting with his inner demons and wanted to help him fight.  He has the sweetest eyes, loves belly rubs and being the apple of your eye. If you travel a lot, he also loves to be your co-pilot. He has become an expert passenger and heart throb at the local Starbucks drive thru. We have him enrolled in the Rehabbing the Reactive class and took away privileges that he was mentally not equip to handle and he is heading in a much better direction. You can see him in action here:   https://youtu.be/aXddgfFUK-s We have been using essential oils and recently CBD oil treats to manage his disposition as an alternative to drugs that have negative side effects.   If you think you have what it takes to keep Leon on tract and find it rewarding to help a animal be its best self, apply today.  For a quick look at his progress, watch his YouTube video:  https://youtu.be/IoarpU1W4pQ To learn more about Leon, visit Rescue Warriors Corp on Facebook and find a daily journal of his journey.  He is UTD on his vaccinations, is microchipped, dewormed, has been given flea and tick prevention and has been spayed. He is currently being fostered in Woodstock, IL and would love to find his furever home! His adoption fee is $300.00, if you are interested in meeting him or adopting him please apply online at www.rescuewarriorscorp.org and we will arrange meet and greets with approved applicants only at this time. Are the dogs currently listed not what you are looking for? Do you have a favorite breed and are having trouble finding it? Feel free to send us an email at  info@rescuewarriorscorp.org  as we come across hundreds of dogs everyday and we would be happy to help you find your perfect dog, perhaps another one of our fellow rescues might have exactly what you are looking for! We partner with & are constantly networking with some of the best rescues in the area, and if we are not the perfect fit, we will help you find one that is! More lives are saved if we all work together. If you can't adopt, please consider a donation care made directly to the rescue via paypal or contact us at  info@rescuewarriorcorp.org . We will do our best to respond to any and all requests and contacts as soon as possible, but we are a 100% volunteer run rescue. It is great because that means we can keep our adoption prices low because we are not paying salaries, but all of our volunteers do have families and "real" jobs in order to support our passion of saving animals from euthanasia often just days or hours before they are scheduled to be put to sleep. That being said, one of us are going to do our best to contact via email or by phone within 24 hours of any inquiry. It is not uncommon that when you have made the decision to add to your family and committing to adopting a rescue dog that you are very excited, we just ask that you be patient with us.  

If you have any questions or would like to adopt Leon, please reach out to the adoption group directly. PetSmart Charities does not facilitate the adoption process. Thank you.