Rocco – Cambridgeshire

Poor Rocco is unwanted now because he killed the family cat. The cat intruded into his garden, and he has a strong prey drive.

It is fair to say that Rocco has not been socialised or trained as most dogs would be. The family have land and Rocco's life has been to roam this as a guard dog. He is described as safe with most of the small animals such as chickens and ducks - what an angel - but we are told that he also chased a small deer, once. What dog wouldn't? Rocco is also very friendly with their smaller dog. He clearly has a sense of his pack and accepts and guards his fellow members. A cat might be seen as not a part of this, as they are less static and will run when nervous. I do not regard any of Rocco's behaviour as abnormal, in the circumstances.

As Rocco has not been walked outside the perimeter of his land, he is not socialized and so therefore is very aggressive with outside dogs. This could be an issue for intending owners, as this has not been addressed. It would only be possible to rehome Rocco with an experienced owner with some strength and the capacity to cope with his lack of lead training and dog aggression when out.

Having said that, our assessors found Rocco's guarding strong when they first arrived, but afterwards, when accepted as visitors, Rocco relaxed and was an affectionate friendly boy. He is basically a very sweet dog , who has been encouraged to guard and has not been socialised.

Will it be possible for Rocco to live in a more normal environment? Absolutely. You can 'teach an old dog new tricks'. There is every chance that he will respond to training, as his basic nature is sweet. He will probably only ever learn to ignore dogs rather than love them. It is not easy to undertake socialisation for most of us. But it happens all the time.

This lovely boy is worth another chance. Will you be the person to give this to him?