My name is Moca!

Moca is a lab/ pit mix and she is a total love bug, constantly smiling, a happy dog and she wants to eagerly please and showers her owner with wet doggy kisses. She needs a loving but confident and dog experienced owner. She is looking for a home in PA, NY, NJ. CT.
She is so tuned in to her owner, family, and even others, that the caretakers at the shelter where she spent the previous two years felt she was one of the few dogs that have the potential to become THERAPY DOG. She has gone through a lot but is constantly smiling as she has so much love to give.
She is getting on well with other dogs and can live with other dogs in a household. She LOVES children and would also do well with children. The shelter brought her to a children’s hospital in Greece in 2017 and she went up to very sick children, placed her head into the children’s lap, gave her paw and made the children smile.

Families must have some level of dog experience, best if they had pitbulls or pitbull mixes in the past.
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MY STORY:
“I am Moca and I was found abandoned on the streets of the island of Aegina in Greece. Not much of my early life is known, but everyone assumes that it was not very pleasant. After being picked up, I lived in the Aegina shelter, which is one of the best shelters in Greece for 2 years together with 150 other dogs and had many dog friends. The shelter has 3 staff. One of those people is a very experienced dog trainer called “Andreas” with over 25 years of dog training experienced who evaluated me and who believes that I am one of the few dogs that would have THE POTENTIAL TO EVEN BECOME A THERAPY DOG with the right owners and the right training.

I traveled to New York on April 3rd 2018, and I am currently fostered by Zero Stray Pawject’s dog trainers from “Pawsitively Love” in Manhattan and Pennsylvania.

I am sweet, loyal, eager to learn and very eager to please MY owner. I LOVE children!! With the right owners I am good with other dogs. I was even good with the goats who roamed outside the shelter in Greece (if you have any!). With cats there may be some caution; but it really depends on you as my new owner. If you have a good level of dog experiences and take the lead in our relationship, I could even live with cats. And that is important. I do not want to lead, I want you to lead, but in a loving and affectionate and experienced way!

I am sometimes insecure when I meet new dogs on the leash because I feel restricted and need you to be confident and help me understand that a new dog that I meet during a walk will not attack me. I was attacked in the past. Once I trust you and know that you are in charge of the situation, I will relax. The trainer believes that my eye sight might be compromised, which makes me insecure when I meet a new dog in an unfamiliar environment during a walk when I feel restricted on the leash. But with the trainer I hardly show any leash aggression anymore after only a few weeks because I trust her, she is in charge and she can walk me through crowds of owners with dogs on the leash without any issue. So, as long as you know dogs well and once I trust you, I will stop with the leash aggression. Off-leash is not an issue. I momentarily live with 20 other dogs in a large house in PA and run and play in the open space in PA and get on well with every other dog. I only feel insecure when I am ON the leash.

Therefore it would be ideal if I could live in the countryside with a couple of dog friends, where I can be walked in the countryside, run in a large garden and where at some point in the future I could even walk off-leash without much distraction from other unknown dogs, as it is the case when I walk through Central Park in Manhattan.

The shelter says that I have a unique skill: I ensure that everybody in the family is doing well. When I feel that somebody is sad, I will go up to the person and try to cheer him or her up. I am a very sensitive dog probably also because I have gone through a lot. All I want is to settle with my family who will shower me with love and affection and where I can just be Moca!

I am a very intelligent girl, walk generally well on the leash (again it really depends on you. As an experienced handler I will trust you and will not pull) and don’t mind loud noises, I am a love bug, love to give kisses, cuddle with you and once I trust you will do anything for you!

I am easy going and am super friendly with humans. Let me re-phrase, I LOVE people so much!! I am very social but not over the top. If you had Pitbulls or mastiffs in the past, that is a plus, but the most important is that you know dogs well or if you don’t , that you are not afraid to work with a trainer and I in the beginning and can combine loving a dog while being a firm “master” whose lead I can follow when I meet new dogs during a walk on the leash. Off-leash, no problem.

I was born in April 2012 (estimated by the local vets), I am microchipped, fully vaccinated, neutered, blood tested and completely healthy. Once you adopt me, ZSP will provide you with my pet passport containing all of my medical records including all vaccinations and the results of my previous blood test, which was carried out at the end of January 2018 and confirms that I am healthy.

Everybody says that I am big sweetheart because of my amazing character and even temper.

Check out my pictures!!!
Woof woof"

ADOPTION PROCESS:
Contact us on: info@zerostraypawject.org or 917-929-5756 and tell us about yourself and what attracted you to Moca.
Our adoption process consists of an initial video call via Skype or FaceTime, we carry out an in-home visit with Moca with suitable families, will ask for a reference from your vet, work with an adoption contract and take an adoption fee of 400 USD that covers blood tests, microchip, neutering, vaccinations and a fraction of the transport costs.