Meet Penn! Penn is another intake from the euthanasia list at the Maricopa County shelter. Penn adjusted quickly to life in his foster home. He is timid to indifferent around his canine siblings and doesn’t pay much attention to the small dogs, including the 4lb chihuahua! He does sometimes try to play with the larger dogs, but is not remotely overbearing. He is not good with cats and must go to a home with no kitties.

As he has adjusted, Penn has had some issues with marking inside the house, mainly by doors and on the cat scratchers. His fosters are still working through this with him. He’s a typical energetic husky, but he responds well to both correction and redirection. He does not like to be crated, though this would likely improve with some positive reinforcement. He does well on leash and absolutely loves going on walks – he whines with excitement when he’s allowed to explore!

Penn absolutely loves his people once he gets settled into his environment. He enjoys belly rubs and cuddling and LOVES to be brushed (so he’s especially soft for top-notch snuggles). He’s happy to settle nearby while people are relaxing or working. He’s a very loving dog who learns quickly.

Penn landed on the e-list from two bite incidents, though the details of both led us to believe they were unfortunate circumstances and that he did have a lot of potential and was not a viscous dog by any means. Both reported bites were the result of a human physically pushing him. In one instance, someone tried to push him down into a sit, and in the shelter, a staff member tried to push him into his kennel “by his face”. He had previously been adopted by a family with young kids and actually did well with them, but because of his bite history, we will not let him go to a family with very young kids (older kids would likely be okay). We will be exploring some in-home training to see if we can understand his behaviors even more for his future adopters.

Ultimately, Penn is just a sweet boy who was the victim of aggressive handling and a struggling shelter system. All he needs is a kind home with enough breed experience to give him the space and time he needs to decompress (and not shove him, obviously). He would do equally well in an active or mellow home. He can be an only dog or live with others. Fill out an application today to open your home and heart to this loving boy.