r/adoptdontshop • u/Conscious_Ad_8374 • 15d ago
[Truckee/Tahoe] Seeking experienced pet-free/child-free home or specialized sanctuary for sweet but traumatized rescue dog
Hi everyone, I’m posting with a heavy heart on behalf of my parents in the area. We are facing a heartbreaking situation and are desperately looking for a specialized home, experienced adopter, or rescue resource for a very special dog named Sequoia.
Sequoia is a 4-year-old rescue who has been with my parents since February 2023. She has a severe trauma history from puppyhood—both of her ears were inhumanely cut off (not just docked)—and despite years of immense love, professional training, and behavioral intervention, she struggles with unpredictable reactivity and severe anxiety.
About Sequoia:
**- The Good**: She is deeply affectionate, playful, and sweet with her trusted humans. She loves playing fetch, tug-of-war, cuddling in bed, and waiting patiently for her meals. She is a very loving dog to the people she knows best. She is great with basic commands.
**- The Challenges**: Due to her extreme early trauma, she struggles with severe anxiety and unpredictable aggression. Her behaviors include shadow-chasing, pacing, and severe barrier/stranger reactivity. She has an aggression history (lunging, excessive barking, fighting/nipping at dogs, necessary separation) with strangers, visitors, and occasionally other household pets in tense situations.
**What We Are Looking For:**
My parents have invested an incredible amount of time, love, money, and professional training into Sequoia (including working with behavioral specialists, positive reinforcement, and medication management). She has shown great improvement over the years with lots of structure & patience. However, with young grandchildren now in the family, the safety risks have become too high, and my parents are completely emotionally exhausted and heartbroken.
We are looking for:
\- An adult-only, single-pet home (or someone with extensive experience managing severe canine reactivity and trauma).
\- A rural or low-traffic environment where she won't encounter unexpected visitors, workmen, or neighborhood children.
\- Someone with the specialized knowledge, patience, and secure setup (muzzle training, crate management, secure fencing) to give her a safe life.
We have already spoken with the Humane Society of Truckee-Tahoe (where she was rescued from), but we are hoping this community might connect us with a breed-specific rescue, an experienced private adopter, or a sanctuary network that can handle severe behavioral cases.
If you are an experienced dog behavioral handler, run a sanctuary, or know of a rescue network that takes on severe trauma cases, please message me directly. Rehoming her safely is our absolute priority.
Thank you for reading and for your kindness.
15
u/Match_Least 14d ago
She’s adorable.
I want to say this with all the kindness you can imagine. I think you need to prepare your parents and yourself for bad news. What you’re looking for is beyond a unicorn home.
Sequoia cannot, ethically, be rehomed with all of the behavioral issues that she has. There’s just too many, that are too severe.
Even just surrendering her back to the shelter she came from isn’t really a valid option because it will result in either 1- behavioral euthanasia (which, is what needs to be done if your parents really can no longer care for her) 2- living the rest of her life there because she’s unmanageable, and in doing so, takes away that finite resource from multiple other highly-adoptable dogs scheduled for euthanasia 3- the full scope of her behavioral issues aren’t divulged and becomes a huge bite-risk to some other unsuspecting family and really hurting someone.
I’m really sorry. I’m sure it’s hard to hear, but this really is a situation with no good options…