Bio data

I’d love to introduce myself as the brand-new Phipps, formerly known as Lips! Take this as my shout to the world that I am the best big hunk of love ever. I’ve been at APS since December 22^nd, 2022 and the humans who love me and feed me here thought I would do best with a big boy name, given my 6 year old age and sophisticated but goofy demeanor. I’m friendly, sweet, and affectionate, and boy do I love treats. I was recently announced champion of Mutt Madness because I’m just so gosh darn talented at catching treats, they never go wasted with me! I got to explore Durham with a nice volunteer, and she said I was the best shotgun rider, didn’t have much separation anxiety, and even posed for the pictures she took of me. I do prefer humans and treats to dogs and always promise to lean in for a good rub. I can’t wait to find my forever home, please come meet me today!

Kids 8+, jumpy, intense eater

Dogs: stiff but soliciting, tries to hump, slow/careful intros

Here is a note from Phipps’ foster:

I am pleased to report that Phipps, by and large, is a very chill and easy dog. As it turns out, he is crate trained! He goes in there when I tell him to (I always give him a treat for doing so), has absolutely no resistance about it, and after a minute lays down and rests. I’ve been able to leave him in there for a few hours at a time with no issues at all. He also almost never barks and settles quickly generally. He loves to nap. He is also easily diverted with a plushie or a rope toy. He doesn’t try to run off. He does need some exercise for sure but he doesn’t require anything super athletic to get his energy out (he has so far gotten a case of the zoomies once a day but they typically last 30-45 seconds then he is done, ha ha). I would say he is a very sweet lovable oaf, would be a fairly easy pet to have, and generally is not insistent or fixated so it is easy to stop him from getting into anything.

We are working on not jumping, on strangers or to see what we have on the counters. He definitely does get really excited by new people, so I have been asking people to give him treats when he doesn’t jump and also have been practicing not giving him much attention until he settles down, then petting him, and I think there’s been some progress with that. He has marked in the house 3 times, so far we’ve gone a couple days without an accident so fingers crossed it’s just an adjustment thing. He is good on walks, doesn’t try to chase animals or anything, but he could use a little help learning to come, heel, etc. The cats have been avoiding him by staying mostly upstairs until he is crated for the night so I can’t report more on how he will do with that, but I don’t anticipate it being an issue.