After a long hiatus, baxter is back

Brought Baxter home this evening. He hasn't been home for like a month. There were 2 weeks with Oryo, 1 week with Mike and Shelli's dogs and the week of Thanksgiving. He is laying curled up in his crate relaxing, calling it a night. Wonder if he will sleep in there tonight, if I should close the door or if he will want to wander into the bedroom and sleep on the comforter on the floor. Hmm, what to do? Tomorrow is supposed to be really cold, it is already getting pretty chilly outside. I will have to put his jacket on him in the morning.

The good, the bad and the stinky

The cleaning ladies came yesterday. I met them at the door and told them that Oryo likes to growl at new people and isn't very trusting. I put a jar of treats there for them to have some to drop for him and asked them to not try to pet him or look at him, but rather just to toss a treat in his direction and go about their business (kind of Cesar Milan's no talk, no look, no touch). Jeny tried to pet him anyway and he wasn't having any of it. One of the other ladies took a handful of treats. Oryo was leery of the first treat and didn't pick it up so I took him back with me to the guest room and he stared out in the hall as they worked. One of the cleaning ladies kept tossing him treats occasionally and he got used to it and started to follow them around a bit. He let one of them pet him and overall he was very good with no more barking or growling.

I was sorting some old race packets yesterday to break them down and recycle the old papers in them and I went out on an errand and dinner and left some boxes with shopping bags full of stuff on the chairs at the table. When I got back, Oryo had jumped up at one of the boxes and knocked it on the floor and stuff had spilled all over. There were 2 bags in that box, 1 had "give blood" rubber bracelets in little plastic wrappers and blood bank pens and the other had Snickers Marathon energy bars. There were about a dozen bars around the room and into the next room with teeth marks through the wrappers and one had a corner ripped off but no evidence that the dog actually ate any. I cleaned up the mess and sealed the box and put it up out of reach.

I planned to bathe Oryo with some tar shampoo today as he is always itchy and it is good for that. I was going to wait for this afternoon, but on our walk this morning, he rolled in the dew filled grass of a yard and came up smelling like poo. Then he felt the need to shake off, yuck. We went home, I put my dirty stuff in the laundry and put him in the tub. He got an early bath and then I got my shower.

Another week of Oryo

Oryo spent the weekend at the shelter while we had family stuff going on here. He did well last week other than being guarded around new folks and nipping my teenage son who was home from college and he felt threatened by when Ben came close to his doggie cave and then was between Oryo and I. I am waiting on a followup with the behavioralist to see what to do about that.

I have left him free to roam the house for 6 - 7 hours yesterday and today. There were no issues with anything being chewed/torn, but he did have pee accidents in the house both times. I know he had gone to the bathroom before I left in each case, so perhaps the volume of water I am leaving him is too much or perhaps he needs to be left in his crate so that he remembers to hold it. Both times, when I came home, he went right out and did "all his business" and he hasn't had any poop accidents in the house. I praise him whenever he goes outside, so I just need to work on how long he stays inside alone and whether to leave him out of his crate. We haven't had any accidents when I am home, so that is a good indicator at least.

I was just walking Oryo down to the mailboxes. He doesn't like it there because there are dogs inside the wood fence right by the boxes so he stays away from the mailboxes themselves. He wriggled out of his collar and he headed home and waited at the door as I was walking behind him. This collar doesn't get any tighter. I think a Martingale collar is better for him when he walks.

A good first day

Well, the first night with Oryo went fine, no chewing of his crate bedding or any noises, etc and the first full day yesterday was good also. He went out to the bathroom when I let him out and when we walked and didn't have any accidents. He eats well and follows me around the house to hang out with me. His confidence level as measured by his tail on our walks is picking up and he seems to be learning the way that I want to walk. His tail is up for the whole route but he shies away from a fenceline where there are barking dogs along one sidewalk. He seems to prefer laying on the cool floor to the comforters which is fine. He ate the ends off a bone that was sitting around here yesterday and a couple of hours later he got up from laying beside me and walked over to the comforter across the room and spit up. I appreciated that he went to the comforter to spit up as it was a dog comforter and it was easy to just pick it up and take it outside and hose it off instead of having to mop the floor. He didn't have any other stomach issues and I think it was just too much of a good thing. I left him home today in his crate for half the day while I was at my office. I chose to change out the bedding in the crate for just sheets instead of leaving any temptation for him to unstuff a comforter and he didn't do anything to the sheets. He was happy to see me, to get out of the crate, to jump up and down and head outside to "take a break".

The tale of the tail

I put Oryo in his crate last night about 10:30 after letting him out for one last bathroom break and shut out the lights. He was quiet all night and was waiting patiently for me to open the crate at 7 when I came back out there. He hadn't messed up his comforter at all and he went right out and went to the bathroom and came in looking for some breakfast.

I got Oryo ready for a walk and decided to put on the Adopt Me vest. He was a bit leery of it but I got it adjusted and he was fine. He went right to the door and I got him to sit and I put on his leash. He trotted outside and we went for the 1.5 mile loop. His tail sits up as he runs around the house, but as we walk, the tail moves from up to mid level. If he hears a noise or a dog barking, the tail comes down a bit. He isn't extremely confident, but he isn't tucking his tail under and hiding. He does sometimes scoot out to the side to get away from a perceived threat, but mostly just walks along happily trotting ahead with tail at mid-height.

Oryo

I brought home Oryo tonight. He is a bit uncertain but overall seems fairly calm. Picture at http://www.petfinder.com/petnote/displaypet.cgi?petid=12900568. He is laying on the comforter on the floor here in the office with me while I am on a conference call. He has been following me around the house, but that is expected as the house is new territory, but he and I have spent time together before. He seems just as happy to curl up on the floor. His rep at the shelter was that he would tear up "stuffed things", but he hasn't made any moves on any of the comforters on the floor here yet, but again, it is new surroundings, so that may be keeping him "on". Have to determine what to leave in his crate tonight and see how he does.