King – Cambridgeshire

King the Guard

It would be possible to write what might appear to be a full assessment of King and you would conclude that he is the 'perfect dog'. He might be a little rusty now, after some time in kennels, but he has been well trained and this could be reinforced very easily. He is a joy to walk as he is good with other dogs and even tolerates them coming up to him and yapping in his face. He has not had much time off lead but his recall was once good, when tested by a behaviourist. All in all, King is a lovely affectionate well mannered boy, who is a kennel favourite. He is so wonderful that one prospective adopter insisted upon cutting short his trial period and adopting him within twenty four hours, as he had behaved so well. And then...

King has two issues, and he has failed two foster trials because of them. At the home where he was adopted so quickly, he was fine other than around food. To be fair, the couple who adopted him ignored advice, but King will resource guard. We advised shutting him away from all food and giving him his own meals carefully and then withdrawing. This advice was ignored and when King became threatening, over a supermarket delivery, his prospective adopters became intimidated. King is big dominant boy

The second issue is about guarding - well, both are really. King will guard his owner. He will guard from visitors, who come to the house, and he will even guard one partner against another. He bonds very intensely and will even guard a professional walker taking him out, on behalf of his owner. He briskly indicated that he did not need guarding and King stopped. In the home this would be harder to deal with, day in and out. This was the reason for his second fail. On this occasion he guarded his male owner from his female partner. In the kennels, though, he has bonded deeply with a female carer.

King does require an experienced owner. He can be intimidating but his management should be relatively easy, if someone was tactful enough to negotiate the early days and listens to what we say.This does not mean that he should be indulged. Not at all. It is important however not to provoke a confrontation. We recommend him being shut behind a dog gate when any form of food is being handled. And we do think he can only go to a single owner household. King marginally bonds better with men and so we would prefer a single male household, but he has shown that he can respond to a woman as well - a strong woman.

Are you a lonely male seeking a loyal and cuddly companion? King could be the dog for you.