We adopted Duncan 3 1/2 years ago from Sonoma County Animal Services after he was dropped off a month prior, in June 2020. The lady who dropped him off gave no information about him, other than that he was roughly 3 ½ years old at the time and originated in Portland. But we took one look at home and loved him right away. Duncan is great with kids and all people that we have seen. He is extremely affectionate and will try very hard to be petted at home. He spends most of his day sleeping in a cool place in the house or back yard and only comes in when he wants water. Then he heads back outside and goes right back to sleep. He gets the zoomies around 6pm, but then settles back down and falls asleep again around 10:30 pm. Duncan absolutely LOVES food and will eat just about anything. So watch out for your freshly baked pies and cookies! He is one of the most relaxed, loving dogs we’ve ever had and are heartbroken that we’re not a good fit. This gentle giant has challenges with separation anxiety and intermittent leash aggression (towards other dogs). We discovered the anxiety after leaving him alone for 2 hours when we went out for dinner one night, early on. Duncan can be very destructive and makes every effort to escape the house in order to try and find you if he doesn’t know where you are. When we were rounding the block, nearly home, we spotted him not far away. He came immediately to us when we called his name, which was very sweet but also sad that he was so frightened. Since then, we have rearranged our lives to make sure Duncan is never alone. He has been able to be alone for up to 3 hours with the help of Trazadone, but this is inconsistent. Duncan is currently on daily Prozac, 70 mg, to help him stay calm when we step out. Because my husband and I work 12-hour shifts though, we can’t be home all the time and it’s really not fair to Duncan. If you have someone who is at home to watch him, or you have experience with separation anxiety, you might be a perfect fit for this boy. Duncan’s second challenge is with leash aggression. When Duncan is off leash, he seems to get along great with other dogs that we have seen and will even play with them at the dog park. But as soon as Duncan is on the leash, he can be unpredictable. At worst, he is very territorial and won’t let other dogs come too close. This has been an issue with us as we have friends who have dogs and Duncan has gotten into a scrap too many times. With a dog his size, it only takes a small nip from him to seriously hurt another dog. We just can’t take that chance. And with our new baby, it is hard to imagine being able to handle a situation like that with a newborn nearby. When we realized that Duncan couldn’t stay with us, we were both devastated. We’ve developed a strong bond with him, and we know that a lot of his challenges stem from a strong attachment and instinct to protect us. It’ll be a long time before we’re ready to adopt again. We take comfort in knowing that we’ve given Duncan a good home while he’s been with us and now know what he is truly like, so that his next home is his forever home. He is microchipped and up to date on all vaccinations. Contact: kellyduvardo@gmail.com or (707) 329-5786.