Duncan is a 130-lb half Bernese Mountain Dog half Newfoundland. We adopted him 2 years ago from Sonoma County Animal Service 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 3 years old at the time and originated in Portland. But we took one look at him and loved him right away. Duncan is great with kids and all people. He is extremely affectionate, even to strangers. When we’re at home, he spends most of his day sleeping on the grass and only comes in when he wants water. Then he heads back outside and goes right back to sleep. He gets zoomies around 6pm, but then settles back down and falls asleep again by 10:30pm. He absolutely LOVES food and will eat anything unattended. So watch out for your freshly baked pies and cookies! He’s one of the most relaxed, loving dogs we’ve ever had and are heartbroken that we’re not a good fit. Duncan has challenges with separation anxiety and leash aggression. We discovered the anxiety after leaving him alone for two hours when we went out for dinner one night, early on. He can be very destructive and makes every effort to escape the house in order to come 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 he saw us, which was very sweet but also sad that he was so frightened. Since then, we have worked with him to try to systematically desensitize him to being alone. He is crate trained, so when we leave the house, we can keep a camera on him and watch for signs of distress. He does better in the afternoon being alone, and can handle 3 hours or so before started to appear distressed and yelping. The evening is a bit more challenging and he doesn’t last more than 2 hours without the help of Trazadone. He is a big guy, so the vet recommends 300-400 mg. He is also on daily Prozac, 50 mg, to help me stay calm when we have to step out. Because my husband and I work 12-hour shifts though, we can’t be at 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 gentle giant. His second challenge is with leash aggression. When Duncan is off the leash, he seems to get along great with other dogs and will even play with them at the dog park. But as soon as Duncan is on leash, he becomes very territorial and won’t let other dogs come too close. This has been an issue for 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 take a small nip from him to seriously hurt another dog. We just can’t take that chance. And with our baby due in September, it is hard to imagine being able to handle a situation like that while having 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 know that 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 his challenges are, so that his next home is his forever home. If you think you’d be the people Duncan needs, please reach out to us and to schedule a meet up. I’m sure Duncan would love to meet you. Contact: kellyduvardo@gmail.com or (707) 329-5786.