Wellington is a St. Bernard who spent his early life on a chain.

He's a big boy and doesn't know how to walk on a leash since he's only been chained so he'll need some basic training or he may pull you down the street.

Wellington is a friendly guy around people and enjoys playing with toys. He's still a large puppy in some ways.

In Wellington's photo above on the left, he had just been bathed, and then played in the yard, leaving his originally clean coat a little dirty. But that's to be expected with this guy.

In the photo above right, Wellington was part of some of our Cool to Care camp presentations this past summer and he was loving life with the attention of kids in the range of 11-13 yrs old.

We have not seen any problems with Wellington's hips when walking and playing but that is something which should always be considered in his future healthcare needs. One day, his adopters may find if Wellington begins to limp, that they will need to have an x-ray performed to see if he has any problems with hip dysplasia, a fairly common condition in large breeds.

Since Wellington hasn't shown any problems while we've had him and he's around 2 years of age, that's a good sign. But future expenses for x-rays and medication or even possible surgery is always an important consideration in the adoption of these large breed dogs. It will also be important to keep his weight maintained as he is now.

We have noticed that Wellington doesn't play real well with other dogs. He lunges at them as he does with cats. This is probably due to the fact that he was always on a chain and not socialized around other animals. When animals walked past him, just outside of his reach, it would have been a tease and very frustrating to him with that type of confimement.

Due to what we've recently seen and the fact that Wellington is such a large and strong dog, we think Wellington would do best in a home without other dogs, and with someone who can teach him the basics of heeling and listening to commands.