COURTESY LISTING: Diego Mixed Breed Marshall, VA

Diego’s eyes beg you to consider loving him, and if you do, he will love you back tenfold. He is a 5-year-old Shepherd (mix) that weighs 60 pounds. He responds to the words: SIT, WAIT, LEAVE-IT, GET IT, BRING IT, DROP IT, OFF, TAKE IT, and TOUCH IT. He loves pleasing the people he knows and whoever is fortunate enough to adopt him will quickly learn that Diego is waiting to live and die for you.

One of his greatest joys is playing ball with someone he loves. He can catch a ball for an hour without getting bored, and afterwards he will cool off in any body of water he finds. He loves spending time outside exploring in our big fenced yards. He thinks going for car a ride anytime to anywhere is a great thing to do. But at the end of the day, he really enjoys just relaxing on a soft spot in an air conditioned or comfortable room. He is clean in his environment and has proven to be house trained with good manners, in a home he recently stayed in for a couple of weeks. He also enjoyed their fenced back yard and did not try to dig or climb out. Unfortunately, the people were not equipped to adopt him.


Diego has spent time at the facility of one of our trainers (Denise), playing in her big yards with other dogs. We learned, if there is another dog in Diego’s family, he would do best with a dog his size that does not try to push him around. Diego is very happy to have canine companionship but it has to be the RIGHT dog. He knows how to take behavior cues from other dogs. That said, Diego can be too much for some dogs, so he would not be a good candidate to take to dog parks. Planned play dates with compatible dogs would be best.


Diego spent one wet day at an adoption event at Devils Backbone Basecamp. Dogs and people were all closely collected in the areas that had cover from the rain, and Diego was very well behaved. He loved the attention from people, and though he wanted very much to play with the other dogs and would yip and want to go up to sniff and say hi. He was still VERY good at listening to his handlers when told to leave it and settle down. He sat nicely to greet people and wagged his tail with happiness . He regularly enjoyed jogging around the perimeter of the site with his human buddy to catch a tennis ball and play in puddles. He didn’t pull or try to get away as he sniffed, trotted about, and caught his ball. He had quite the fan club among venue guests but no compatible households for him.

Diego is a perfect match for ACTIVE adopters who can give him regular exercise, mental stimulation, and put in a little time to establish boundaries and reinforce his manners. He will love to join his owners on hikes or other outdoor activities. Diego has a great foundation of obedience and manners that should transition well into a home. He needs an owner who will enable him to be his best self by commitment to follow through with his training. He loves balls, toys water and people. He’s just a great all-around guy.

If you have another dog and are interested in meeting Diego, contact Denise at info@campmerricks.com. She can set up a meeting away from the shelter. Diego is selective about the dogs he likes. He is not good with cats and is too much dog for children under 12. If you have the right home for Diego, he will keep you smiling, help you keep your body toned, make you feel safe, will listen to all your complaints, will try and do anything you ask, will lie at your feet, will keep you company on car drives, an most of all will love you more than you can fantasize.

Diego is NOT located at the Middleburg Humane Foundation—he is in a Central Virginia shelter 2½ hours from there. If you are interested in Diego please go to our website www.nelsonspca.org and fill out an on-line application and someone from our shelter will get back to you quickly

You may also contact Flower at 434-361-0190 or ek.gk@verizon.net to chat about Diego too.