Harbor American Staffordshire Terrier & Pit Bull Terrier Mix Saint Paul, MN

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• Adoption fees are as follows: 2-5 months old: $400, 6-9 months old: $350, 10+ months old: $250. This covers their Spay/Neuter, Vaccinations, Microchip, 4DX, Fecal Tests, and Housing Costs. ********************************************************************************************************

Harbor is a small little nugget (foster parents believe he is mixed with Jack Russell Terrier) with a big personality! Weighing in at 5.8 lbs (as of 11/18/2020), he hops up the steps to the couch with ease and even played a short game of tug with his 54 lb foster sister. His spicy play growls and stomping paws are sure to make your heart flutter.

Harbor is learning to love his crate and will snooze in there with the door open. He rides well in the car while crated but we are working on his comfort of being crated while in another room. He is not yet potty trained due to his age, though we have started to teach him to potty in the yard.

Harbor is very social with human adults and loves his canine foster sister until she gets really excited and unintentionally scary. We are allowing them to interact with supervision for only a few minutes at a time to be sure he is socialized properly. We anticipate that he would do really well with smaller or calmer dogs as his foster sister is only 6 months old and full of energy. That said, he still tries to play with her through the baby gate and it is the most adorable thing to witness. He has yet to meet any children, but we will update as soon as this happens. Based on how he interacts with us, he is likely going to enjoy chasing and grabbing pant legs so he will need to be supervised until he grows out of this habit.

Harbor's favorite activities include playing tug, eating, chasing toes, pulling pant legs, snuggling, and investigating the world. For such a small guy, he is full of curiosity and has quite an adventurous spirit! Harbor is very high energy and will require a lot of enrichment (and patience) from his new family. Though Harbor is extremely cute, if you’re looking for an “easy” puppy, he is not the one for you.

Additional info from his foster:
Ideally, his family will provide him with daily enrichment, both mentally and physically. He would thrive in a household that enjoys training for fun, not just because they feel it is necessary. He would do well with different sports, like Barn Hunt or Rally Obedience, but sports aren't required. The most important thing for him is that he stays busy and his brain is getting worked well. He enjoys short walks but they aren't his favorite activity (we only go around the block once and I usually end up carrying him for half of it because he asks to be held). 

His family will have a lot of patience and will love his spicy personality. He is full of spunk- loves to tug on everything, barks to initiate play and sometimes barks at his toys that he is playing with by himself, parkours off our bodies (it is hilarious) and loves to play with people more than he does when he is alone (he will often bring toys over to me so that I tug or tease him with it). He also enjoys a good snuggle up on my shoulder. 

If there are children, the family must have options for management. I am willing to bet money that he will chase children when they get crazy and run around the house yelling/screaming. He really loves kids, from what I've seen, but I worry that even really tolerant children will find some of his terrier behaviors to be obnoxious or even scary. I don't think he needs to have an age restriction for children but the adults will have to be hands on with the interactions so that no one gets upset or hurt. 

Harbor is really an amazing dog! He is a bit afraid of Ahsoka (his canine foster sister) when she tries to play with him (she is super gentle but so much bigger than him) and he will even attempt to initiate play at times. He seems to enjoy her company but gets overwhelmed. I anticipate that he will get more comfortable as he gets bigger, though. He does mildly guard bones from Ahsoka by showing his teeth and air snapping when she gets too close. Nothing concerning, we just make sure he isn't feeling like he has to guard. Ahsoka also doesn't listen well or tries to diffuse the situation by play bowing at him (it doesn't work). Harbor has never broken her skin but he does grab her face skin sometimes when he does feel comfortable playing or when he is upset. She is super tolerant of it. 

Really my top two requirements are that he is going to be in a family that wants to participate in activities with him rather than just have a cute little lap/family dog and that he is going to go to a home who will commit to kind training methods filled with patience. I have attempted many training sessions with him and usually can't get more than a few reps in before he gets super crazy and needs to do something else. He is fun and easily motivated but is full of energy to the point where he can't seem to focus for very long.

If you’re interested in taking Harbor home & teaching him all the fun things a dog should know, please fill out an adoption application at www.mnpitbull.com.