Snickers - URGENT!!! - Will be PTS 7/6/2016

Name: Snickers

Breed: Shiba Inu

Age: Estimated 10-11 years

Sex: Male (altered)

Location: Richmond, VA area

Vet Info: Snickers is confirmed neutered and up to date on vaccines.  A heartworm and test and fecal test in May, 2015 were both negative.  Snickers is on preventative yearly.  Snickers weighs about 32 pounds.  

Owner Info: Snickers is a gorgeous Shiba Inu who was adopted in 2011.  He is a wonderful and very sweet boy, but he's also very strong, and his owners are having difficulty keeping him in their yard.  They write that it's gotten much worse recently, and as they now both work full time, they are not able to meet his needs.  They are hoping we can help!

Snickers did escape his yard recently and ended up in the local shelter, where they found him.  "He is a wonderful sweet and very strong dog and in good health except for being blind, which has never been an issue for us, except now he does not wish to stay in his yard. We build him a 20X20 kennel inside of our fenced in yard and now he is pulling on the kennel with his teeth until he gets something loose and then he escapes and finds a way to escape the yard and we are so afraid he is going to get hit by a car....We have talked to people, we have talked to the Shelter, he was picked up on Saturday, after escaping, and taken to the shelter and that scared us so much... Please help us." 

Snickers is an outdoor dog with a fenced yard, he is housebroken but not leash trained.  Snickers knows the command Sit, but doesn't come when called unless you have a treat.

Snickers is good with both men and women and other dogs, but he's not good with cats or other small animals.  "A rooster got in our yard once...and that almost turned out badly, but the rooster flew."  His owner tells us he's never been around children.  Snickers is not possessive of toys, treats, or food.  

Snickers owners feel he adapts well to new situations and surroundings and write, "It takes a little bit for him to figure out where things are, but once done, he does very well."

Snickers is completely blind, and his owners gave us more details:  "He started with pressure in his eyes...he had eye surgery by a doggie eye doctor in Richmond, but it was too late. He is 100% blind".   Other than his blindness, Snickers is in good health.  They tell us their vet said that "that he is a very healthy dog, no urinary problems, no hip problems, heart sounds good ..we are not even sure he was 6 when we got him. He is nothing but 32 pounds of muscle!"

His owners want us to know they love him very much, but they are "so afraid he is going to get out and be hit by a car", and realize they can no longer keep him.

Update 7/5/2016: We are reaching out as a last ditch effort to try and save this sweetie. We received an email from the owners tonight and they say that Snickers has once again gotten out of the yard and they just don't know what else to do. They feel they can't keep him and plan on making an appointment tomorrow to PTS. We are wondering if anyone has any suggestions or if anyone can help. He does seem to be displaying some symptoms (aggression not towards people but just in wanting to get out of the yard). I suggested that she have his thyroid tested as a forum mentioned that those symptoms can go hand in hand with a thyroid issue. I'm not sure if the owner will look into this but if anyone can help, please let us know. THERE IS NO TIME TO WASTE and this guy deserves better, much better!