Hazel (private rehoming) Australian Shepherd Brooklyn Park, MN

Smart; Loyal; Independent; Motivated. Sweet Hazel is looking for a new home that will help her continue to live her best and fullest life. This beautiful 7-year-old Australian Shepherd is a 45 lb bundle of fluff and love. With patient and compassionate humans and the right home environment, she will thrive and make a wonderful companion.

Hazel has medium energy for her breed. She enjoys working on skills or puzzles (very food motivated), exploring and sniffing on low-key walks, and even going for occasional runs (max 3 miles these days). Hazel has good on-leash skills but is uncomfortable meeting unknown dogs. She has also built confidence off-leash in non-public areas.

Hazel is a great match for a family who appreciates intelligent, working breeds and connecting deeply with their dogs. She will thrive with an established routine in a calm home without kids or additional animals. That said, she currently lives happily with a 2-year-old Border Collie brother. A low-stimulation environment would be ideal (i.e. quiet neighborhood or even a rural setting). She would love a fenced yard to frolic freely in her own space but is also suited to a family that keeps their dogs safe on leash. She is trustworthy indoors when her humans are not at home. Her new owners would ideally have experience with positive reinforcement training and understand dog body language (she is very communicative of her needs/boundaries if you know what to look for).

She takes a while to warm up to and build trust with any new humans – but once you're in, you're in and she will be very loyal and loving. She has struggled with anxiety and reactive tendencies but has come a long way in the past 4 years in a loving household with humans that have helped build her confidence in being a dog. She takes one 40mg capsule of fluoxetine (Prozac) daily to keep her excitement threshold low; this ends up costing us about $12 every two months.

She is spayed and is up to date on all vaccinations and heartworm/tick protection.

Her current family has welcomed a new baby and is proactively taking steps to ensure that Hazel continues to be in an environment where she will feel safe and confident. It breaks our hearts to give up such a special member of our home, but we know it's the right thing for Hazel. She will be with us until she is matched with her new humans. We will answer any/all specific questions about her training, needs, etc. during the rehoming process
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We’ve compiled a playlist of videos featuring Hazel on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgsLjKYCXrr7vZQTSxghI9nS85G1JKjZQ

If sweet Hazel sounds like a match for your family, please contact us at rehominghazel@gmail.com to discuss next steps in more detail. A rehoming fee may be negotiated between the parties.