Avocado

Avocado (Cardo for short) came into care in April from rural NSW and has absolutely thrived. After being afraid of everything he’s now a confident, boisterous boofhead. He still finds shiny floors a challenge but his confidence is improving daily with the help of yoga mats.

Cardo is 3 years old and we believe him to be a Bull Arab x Neapolitan Mastiff with possibly Great Dane and other big heavy breeds! He is already 43.5kg and is still gaining weight.

Cardo LOVES meeting new people. He must say hello to everyone and brighten their days with his wiggly bum and happy nature. In fact he gets upset if people don’t stop to greet him when walking past and is rather vocal about his displeasure. He also enjoys yelling out about all the amazing smells he’s experiencing during a walk, and his joy of being in a car. His exuberance for life is infectious and makes even strangers smile on their walk. I’d liken it to a husky talking.

Cardo enjoys a beach walk and dipping his toes in the water, but he hasn’t been let off lead yet, and is still learning how to walk on a lead. A halti is assisting with the pulling, although he is still adjusting to it. He needs ongoing leash training with a strong, confident (and patient!) handler.

He hasn’t met a person big or small that he hasn’t loved, but he is completely unaware of how big he is which can be intimidating. He’d make a great family pet, but youngsters would need to be dog savvy or over 1m tall. He still paws people in excitement but we are working on this.

He’s incredibly affectionate and will do anything for a snuggle. He’s also proven to be trainable with food now that he’s decompressed and will continue to grow into the perfect family pet with further training. He knows how to sit and is learning stay. He’s shown no resource guarding behaviour and food can be removed from his bowl without issue. He’s got a healthy appetite and we’ve been working to fatten him up but he still could stand to gain a bit more weight.

True to his breed he tends to drool a little bit, but nothing a quick wipe with a towel won’t fix.

Cardo has been fine when left alone for the day while his foster paw-rents are at work and busies himself with rope toys and his kong. He’s usually peacefully sleeping when they arrive home from work, but he loudly expresses his displeasure for the first 5-10 mins of being left alone.

This beautiful boy currently has his tail bandaged as he suffers from Happy tail syndrome and whacks it on hard surfaces causing it to bleed.

He is crate trained and has been sleeping in the dining room in his crate overnight without a peep. During the day he’s had access inside and outside and hasn’t damaged anything. The only time he’s been destructive is when his people have been home and not paying him attention (in the spa, playing computer games with headphones on etc). That’s when his beds have been destroyed - and a couple of cushions.

He’s toilet trained.

Cardo would be happy to be your one and only but he’d also love a doggie friend he could play with who isn’t intimidated by his size. He’s been friendly to all dogs he’s met so far, but since he’s yet to be desexed he is dominant so a submissive pal would be best.

Cardo will be a great addition to the family with ongoing training. He needs to be allowed to live and sleep indoors and be made part of family life. He is extremely affectionate, loving and needs a family that is committed to loving him for the rest of his life.

He will be desexed on 19th May.