Doggie Details

Current status:

Available

I am a:

Lurcher

I am:

Male

I would like:

Plenty of love and affection please!

I would not like:

To be left alone much

My favourite thing is:

As much fuss as possible!

My personality:

Loving, playful and silly

Child Friendly:

Adult only home (no children)

Dog Friendly:

Needs to be an only dog

Cat Friendly:

Not cat trainable

Location:

Devon

As his name suggests, to meet Lucas is to fall in love with him! Only around a year old, Lucas is a sweet lurcher boy who came into our care after he was found straying and never claimed. With his huge smile and impressive brindle mohawk, we’re expecting Lucas to get plenty of attention – but he is looking for a really special home.

Lucas absolutely thrives on fuss and affection from people. He’s a big baby who loves to snuggle, give kisses and enjoy a good belly rub. He can be a little bit shy around new people at first, but it doesn’t take long to become his new best friend! In fact he loves people so much that he really struggles with spending time on his own, and we think this could be why poor Lucas ended up without a home. We’re looking for a home where Lucas will not need to spend any time on his own at all to start with, so that he can work on this very gradually. With plenty of patience and time, he should eventually be able to cope with short periods alone; but he currently finds time alone extremely distressing so this will be a long term commitment. Lucas has a crate inside his kennel, which he is never shut inside but uses as his safe space – he will need a similar crate in his new home, since this is where he feels most able to relax when he is on his own.

Since Lucas loves food so much and is very intelligent, he enjoys learning new things and is a delight to train! He doesn’t seem to have had much basic training yet but picks things up really quickly. He does still pull on the lead somewhat (especially at the start of his walk when he’s excited to get going!) and is a big strong boy. He tries his hardest not to toilet inside the kennel, so should pick up on housetraining fairly easily. We suspect he has grown up in a home environment, but since he was found as a stray we can’t say for sure. Lucas loves going for car rides and travels brilliantly – he can’t pass our van without checking to see if there’s a chance of a trip out!

Although Lucas desperately wants to be friends with other dogs, it seems like he hasn’t been given much opportunity to interact with them so far. As such he is rather anxious around them, and this can come out as defensive or reactive behaviour on walks (barking and pulling on lead). With gradual introductions, Lucas is able to feel more comfortable with specific dogs, and this should continue to improve with careful socialisation and training in his new home. In the meantime, he will need to stay on-lead and muzzled in public, and will not cope with walks around a lot of other dogs (especially off-lead dogs). He is looking for a home as the only dog for now.

Lucas is a lovely bull lurcher (possibly staffie/deerhound?) and has a lot of bull breed traits. Like many bull breeds, he is super affectionate, cuddly, loves people and is a real clown – but also gets excited or frustrated easily and can struggle to cope with these emotions! He can show some fairly full-on jumping and mouthing behaviour when feeling overwhelmed, but has responded brilliantly to training and management put in place by our staff at the Centre and this should not be a big issue in the home. Our behaviour team will provide ongoing support to Lucas’ new family. We are looking for an adopter who really loves bull breeds and will enjoy this side of his personality! As a young dog, Lucas has plenty of energy and especially loves to play with his soft toys.

Although Lucas will need some extra support to help him grow into a well-rounded adult dog, he is a genuinely lovely boy and will absolutely make it worth your while! He truly is one-in-a-million, a real character and a firm favourite with all his handlers here at the Centre. If you’re up for the challenge of fitting this very big baby onto your sofa (and probably onto your lap) please get in touch!