Athena Anatolian Shepherd The Dalles, OR

Recipe to thrive:
Yard, only dog, a calm, experienced dog owner

Athena is affectionately devoted to her people. She has endless interest in and patience with the kiddos she’s called her own since May 2024. She lets the six-year-old flop down on her whenever he wants and curls up with the ten-year-old while she reads. Athena thinks she is a lap dog, however at 87 pounds her adult owner is the only lap up to the challenge.

Athena was found roaming the hills of The Dalles before being adopted to a home full of dogs. She didn’t get on with a resident female dog and so came back to CGHS, before being immediately whisked off to Tacoma in May 2024 where she was working with a trainer by day 5 to get a handle on leash training, recall, and basic commands such as sit, shake and down. Now, four months later, she is working with her trainer to become muzzle trained for her ultimate-urban success.

In her tightly populated neighborhood she’s encountered 3 unleashed small reactive dogs who charged her! Athena did react at those times and due to her size, muzzle training is a safety precaution for any possible future encounters.

Athena would thrive with a strong adult leader (with or without young kids at home) who has interest and time resources to help fully rehabilitate her to live in harmony (or at least non-reactivity) with her fellow dogs. She needs to be the only dog in the home. While she has no interest in her feline roommate, he’s rightfully scared of big dogs and they’ve not interacted.

Athena is happily living with her now-family until she finds her furever family. While they’re sad and the Athena-sized hole will never be filled, sometimes love is doing what’s right for the one you adore. Athena is a big dog with a bigger heart, just looking for her person to support her growth to being a confident girlie with her own kind… the way she is with her humans.