Phoenix - Resilient soul rises up from the ashes

Phoenix arrived into Pet Haven's foster program on April 2nd ... the video below documents his arrival into our program. A heart wrenching story of a dog who has been through so much suffering and touched the hearts of so many of us where rescues came together to give this boy another chance.

His foster shared the following on Phoenix:

Phoenix is one of those souls you run across very seldom in life. He has the spirit of a cheerleader, the vulnerability of an infant, and the courage of a soldier. You see, he experienced a rough situation early in his life, through no fault of his own. Although he is leery of new people as a result of these conditions, he doesn’t hold one person’s actions against us all.

Phoenix has come a long way in the few months he has been in rescue, and his improvements continue with each day. He wakes up each morning ready to play, whether it be tug of war with his stuffed animal or wrestling with one of his canine foster brothers. He has learned how to sit, lay down, come and stay; he is currently working on learning self-control by holding his “stay” for longer and longer periods of time…he is up to 30 seconds! He is kennel trained and potty trained, and doesn’t seem to have any major separation anxiety issues. He doesn’t seem to be a “flight risk” as he stays fairly close to his owner(s) and his behavior is wonderful at the dog park.


Like most Huskies, Phoenix does have an independent and stubborn streak in him. This, coupled with the strong prey drive and herding instincts he gets from the German Shepherd mixed into his DNA, makes living with small dogs a less than ideal situation for Phoenix. One of his foster brothers is a Pug/Rat Terrier mix and Phoenix does tend to pick on him; however, he plays nicely with his larger Australian Shepherd foster brother.

As soon as 10:00pm rolls around, Phoenix is all cuddles. If his behavior for the evening has been good, he is allowed to sleep on the human bed, and he LOVES it! He gets to stretch out and lay his head on a pillow, finally letting his guard down to relax and snuggle. It is in these moments that one can see how truly sweet this overgrown puppy is.

One last note about Phoenix: he has an amazing ability to belch like a human. On some of his best “pushes” you can hear him from another room in the house. As a result, Kate and William probably will not be bringing him into the royal family…but that means he’s available for you!

Phoenix is up for adoption. For more info check out Phoenix's bio.

If you are interested in learning more about fostering/volunteering with Pet Haven email volunteer@pethavenmn.org.