A good home is needed for retired Pekin Police K9 – Aslan. Aslan is a 9 year old, sable male. He is affectionate, confident, friendly and loving with people of all ages. He can be dog aggressive with some dogs. His favorite toys are tennis balls and a fire hose to play tug. He has been kept in outside kennel with a heated shed and behaves well inside the house. He is also crate trained and comfortable inside the crate. He rides well inside vehicles inside his crate when traveling. For more information, please leave a message for Officer Jeff Stolz at (309) 478-5330.

My wife and I visited Aslan yesterday for a couple of hours. The trip is about 3 hours from our home in North Aurora. I had previously visited him on January 4 and discovered a well-balanced, loving, and playful 9 year old shepherd. On my first visit I met Jeff and went out to see Aslan on his lead outside. I let him sniff my hand and when I knelt down he immediately pushed his body against mine, pressing against me as he nibbled my ear. I walked Aslan on his lead over to the open field where he goes to play and threw his ball around. He would sitz and platz for me while playing ball.

Jeff is looking to place Aslan due to the fact his young son is allergic to dogs/cats and eyes and sinuses swell when Aslan is in the house. Jeff works second shift and his wife works days. They have 2 small children that can’t be left alone when working with Aslan. Jeff’s wife can work/walk and care for him. Aslan is not aggressive toward any person or children. He is housebroken and will sometimes be allowed in the kitchen, but cannot be allowed in the carpeted areas of the home due to Jeff’s sons allergies. Aslan is calm, assured gentleman. His tail had to be docked to about 6inches due to injuries sustained when he was younger in the police vehicle and he has 2 titanium canines on the top and bottom of the left side of his jaw due to helper turning during bite work.

On our last visit Aslan was in his kennel when we arrived. Aslan does not bark or get excited when guests arrive at his home. He sat quietly in the kennel when Jeff got his lead ready. When let out of the kennel, he approached me again with the same happy pressing body greeting. He lets me stroke him all over and enjoys the physical contact. He was very friendly with my wife and Jeff recommended that I take him over to the field to play. I walked him to the field on the 6ft lead. Jeff was comfortable with the way Aslan had bonded with me and listened to commands, so he stayed about 50yards away and watched our interaction. Aslan was great playing ball with my wife and myself and would patiently sit and out the ball for both of us. I attached the 30’ lead on Aslan as we interacted as a precaution. It was not needed. I played tug with Aslan using a section of fire hose and Aslan had no aggression and played nicely. Jeff came over after about 20min of interaction and my wife walked him as we returned to the house. Jeff gave water for Aslan in his crate and he was quiet and well behaved inside his crate. He is not aggressive inside his crate and would take treats gently through the grate. Jeff said I could give Aslan the new toy (Kong Wubba) that I brought and he dropped his ball and was happily squeaking and laying down with the new toy between his paws. He liked the new toy and proceeded to play contentedly by himself. My wife and Jeff’s wife talked for about a half hour about Aslan and my wife was comfortable around Aslan.

Aslan was not retired from the police department due to any fault of his own, but due to the condition of the vehicle Jeff was using. A new vehicle would have been about $120000 after fitting all the equipment needed for K9 operations and video systems. I also spoke with Bob Flemming from Landheim K-9s where police department acquired Aslan and Jeff was trained and certified. He remembered both K-9s that Jeff had. He also stated that Aslan was a great well balanced dog. Aslan is a dual purpose dog doing both patrol and narcotics/searches. He still loves to search for keys or items that are tossed and hidden for him to search for. Aslan has only showed aggression toward other dogs when dogs have attacked him or trespassed in to his territory. Aslan ignores the other dogs when training and ignores the next door neighbors dogs and shows no aggression.

My quandary is the fact I committed to adopting another shepherd and cannot afford to feed both. I was terminated from my position at work after they found that I would need additional surgery to replace my joint in the middle finger of my right hand. This injury happened at work and I was on work restrictions when terminated. I am receiving TDD benefits as I wait for surgery on my finger and should still receive benefits while doing the therapy after the surgery. My heart is torn after visiting Aslan again. With help I could foster/adopt him. It would be even better if an experienced GSD person could adopt him. I think he would be fine with another person as long as they could show a confident calm leadership. He is not a dominant dog, and would be happy in a home with a loving owner.

Peter - this sounds like a wonderful dog. Wish I were in a situation to take him. I have 10 dogs and just don't think it would be fair to him. I have a trainer here that might know of someone - we are in AZ, tho.

I have decided to try to adopt Aslan.

He has been here since last Sunday and I am trying to slowly socialize him with my 14mo female, Peaches. I am working extremely slowly to introduce them to each other. Things are looking promising and I am well aware of the problems that can arise. Aslan is very well behaved and has adapted even better than expected to being an inside dog. His manners are exceptional and he is not dominant. They both just ignore my soon to be 21 year old cockatiel, Kugel, which is a blessing. Kugel is just background noise to both of them and they don’t react at all to his vocalizations or movement.

Aslan will now lay next to Peaches in her crate by himself and this is a great relief. Like I said I will take this very slow and use extreme care in working with them together. Aslan is great when taken out for a walk and is friendly with everyone he meets and ignores other dogs. He is nonreactive to new situations and has been wonderful everywhere he has gone. I pray that our two shepherds will learn to get along fine, and I am setting firm boundaries for their relationship. I am not a stranger to dog aggression and know the pitfalls that may come. Peaches is friendly with other dogs and she plays nicely with our neighbor’s dog and other shepherds. She is only bitch aggressive to females her own age.

I don’t regret this choice. Aslan is a wonderful shepherd that deserves a great home. If I could have found a better home we would have, but there have been no qualified people to look at adopting him. So far Aslan has been an easy dog to work with and the bond he is forming with me is exceeding my expectations. Jeff’s children are sad that he has left, but his son breaks out with a rash even with casual contact. Aslan is great with children and they don’t faze him.

That's great news, Peter! (btw....I have a good friend named Pete Brown - must be an omen)...

I hope things continue to go well for you.

That is such a great thing to hear. It sounds like you and Aslan were meant to be!

Peter, I am so happy for Aslan as well as your family!
He sure sounds like a wonderful dog, and your home sounds like a great place for him.

I was actually hoping you would adopt him. ( having read this thread back in January)
I wish you continued success! I think you are lucky to have each other.

Today is even better. I didn't expect Aslan to find one of Peaches tennis balls. I tried to quarantine all balls from the house. His main reward was his ball and it was always available to him. I thought he would never get over another dog playing wiht ball. He was guarding the ball a bit from me and showed some avoidance the first few days when he thought I would taket it. His nose is so good he found where I hadn't looked upstairs is just a few seconds. He quickly flipped it to Peaches and just watched her. He has become some such a pushover with her it is hard to believe.

All the stress from the past week has dissapated so quickly. I am having a harder time controlling my own emotion. I could not have asked or hoped for a better outcome. With all our other shepherds it has been the female that ruled the roost, but I did not expect him to fall so hard for her charms this quickly.

http://s1179.photobucket.com/albums/x386/pache11/1stencounter.jpg

I'm convinced that tennis balls must have a specific smell. I've seen my dog suddenly perk up in alert, run off into the woods, and come back with an ancient, soggy, disgusting tennis ball.

Its kind of amazing how they will find them anywhere!

Good for you, its great that you gave this guy a chance to live in a home . Hope everything continues to go so well!