The first time he was left home alone in his crate he broke the door off of it. I am so not kidding. But still his general behavior was awesome. Until he caught a whiff of cat. I am not even sure this dog got a D, I think he forged his grade. He thought of nothing BUT the cats. He hunted them through the house, he found the cat bed and rubbed his face all over it. If the cats were in the basement he would stand at the top of the stairs and cry and whine and drool. If a cat came into his sight he BOLTED. This first time he almost caught Mango it was truly terrifying. Day three he wanted Tikka SO badly he followed her up onto the dinning room table. I wish I were kidding. We called the lady at the kennel and told her we were at our whits end. We didn't know what to do. Then we found out that he had FAILED the first time around and the next time he was exposed to a cat who lived in a house with a whole bunch of dogs. Cheater.
In the end it was decided that no matter how much we liked George, no matter how awesome he was under most circumstances, we could not have a dog who wanted to eat our cats.
There was a dog they thought was a better fit who was being fostered just down the road. We got George all together with his stuff and walked him down the road in the drippy wet rain/snow. Yeah start weeping here. Pretty sad stuff.
The house were the foster pup was living also had like a BILLION other dogs. George walked in, pissed on the floor and forgot all about us. That was pretty much the end of that story. End one chapter and on to another. George's foster brother Rogue Villain was all set to head off into the world with us, although he didn't seem all that eager. Half way home we were soaked all three of us, a plow came down the street and I was pretty sure he was going to keel over from heart failure. When we got to the steps we met our first real obstacle, the stairs. After a long time of him crying and shaking I picked him up and carried him up the stairs. This is NOT a small dog. We got him in the kitchen and dried off. He didn't move. I mean really... did not move an inch... for hours. The cat came near to see that was going on. The dog cried. No really, the dog CRIED. After a few hours we decided that there was no way were were getting him to the crate to we brought it to him... in the middle of the kitchen floor. He would not go in. I had to pick up his paws and WALK him in. He was shaking so hard I thought he would break. We went to bed. I was worried because he was downstairs and he would likely cry all night. He slept like a baby. A proverbial baby since everyone knows real babies wake up and cry in the night. He didn't make a peep. not one. I got up at 5:30 to get ready for work and he was so quiet I thought maybe he had died of fear. Nope he was sitting pretty. I opened the crate. He wouldn't come out. Gil drove me to work and came home. He wouldn't come out. Gil came to pick me up from work 4 hours later, we got home and he still hadn't come out. I begged, plead and bribed him. No dice. I got him to come half way out. Front paws out, back paws in. He stayed like that for an hour and a half. he tried a few times but he seemed TERRIFIED of the hardwood floors. I could go on and on about this dogs fear. we did eventually get him out, at least long enough to move the crate into the computer room. The cats in the mean time did some testing of their own and found they could rule the dog with an iron paw. So it was decided, despite the fact that he is afraid of EVERYTHING including his own shadow and wind (yes, you read me right, he is scared of the wind) we know that he is here to stay so we decided that he needs a name. We loved the name George but he was the first dog and we could not recycle the name. We like people names for dogs. Because he is a tuxedo dog (black with a white shirt) we thought he needed a distinguished name and I came up with Oliver and we both love it. So Oliver is our dog and he is pretty cool.
We have a long way to go with the trust. He still basically exists in his crate, he only comes out if I am taking him out. But we have conquered the front steps. That was a real battle. We have been out for a few walks and he has started to make pees and poops and he even ate a little, which makes me pretty happy. Best of all when I got up at 6 this morning to take him out for a pee I came into his room and he stood up and wagged his tail!! He was happy to see me. He wasn't the dog we picked or planned on but he is awesome and I think we are all going to be very happy.
No comments:
Post a Comment