Bruno hasn't had an easy life. He was almost 2 when we got him. We don't know much about his puppyhood except that he's from a small town in Arkansas, and somehow he ended up in a shelter. A local organization that transports dogs from overcrowded shelters in the south to New England brought him up here. I remember how distinctly his ribs stuck out when we first met him. Pretty quickly, we learned that we couldn't exactly treat him like a normal dog. Although he's endlessly sweet with the four of us, he bites when he's overwhelmed, and he gets overwhelmed very easily. He doesn't like new people, or loud noises, or abrupt changes. The solution we've found works best is simply keeping him away from these. Also Prozac! (My dad & my dog have the exact same Prozac dose.)

My dad hypothesizes that he was originally trained as a hunting dog, but wasn't good at it and was given up. This would explain his aversion to loud noises, his high prey drive, and other odd mannerisms about him, like how the few times he's gotten close to an animal/unsuspecting UPS driver he was after, he comes within a few feet and then just stops, as if waiting for something to happen (like a hunter coming up & shooting thr prey). Who knows, though. He might just be autistic lol.

He also doesn't really like to play, even when he was little. He doesn't understand how toys work. He only gets zoomies right after he poops. He's a little freak of a dog, yeah, but he's OUR little freak! And we love him no matter how autistic & traumatized he may be.