A typical dog continued.....

Day 4

Continued time in the crate upstairs. Getting used to noises, smells, and the general action of the house.

Day 4 for this guy meant meeting the old dogs. Marty, my 12 year old border collie is an excellent dog to use to integrate new ones. He is also a male and this guys first introduction to another male dog in my home. Marty is the perfect gentleman. He is calm, laid back, gives dogs their space and has impeccable manners. He will give them a nice snap warning if they are in his face. Trixie is the geriatric collie. She is about 13 or 14 years old and older than dirt. She doesn't do much other than get stuck in corners, drool, and bark at puppies who are having too much fun. She is good for shy dogs to meet because she doesn't do anything. I try and keep her away from the pushy ones as they tend to pick on her because she is weak. Nula, one of my current fosters is also in the old dog group. She isn't old (only 6) but she is really fat and is a very calm house dog. She is also deaf.

I let the boy out in the yard by himself first. Then I let Marty out and shut the door. I find things go better if I am not present. My dogs don't look for me for something to do, and the foster dog doesn't try to hide behind me for protection or to guard me. Often fosters have bonded to me pretty heavily by day three or four and start to show guarding behaviours. Marty of course runs out there and pees on all the new dogs pee. Foster dog runs up to him, hackles up, head down and half cowering. He wants to meet Marty but is not really sure what to do. Marty ignores him and continues to pee on stuff. New dog runs away and goes around peeing on everything again. This is good interaction. They are interested but keeping a distance. Wish I had a video camera because it is really interesting to watch how each encounter becomes a little longer until they are into a full sniff.

Next I let out the deaf female Nula. She runs right up into his face. He runs away and she runs after him, sniffing his butt. He gets cornered and just sits there, hackles up and head down. She sniffs his privates and then carries on doing her own thing while he goes around and pees on everything again, checks on Marty, sniffs her another time and continues trotting the perimeter of the yard. Out comes the old collie. She also goes right to him (nosy old lady!) and sticks her long beak right where the sun don't shine. Her nose doesn't work too well anymore so she has to get right up there. He tolerates it pretty well, again running around peeing on stuff to show off how big a boy he is. All the peeing is really nervousness, not really marking though that is a component. That was enough for day 4. It took all of about an hour to make those introductions. I am really happy at this point as now I know that I can let him out with this group of dogs and he will be safe with them.

I choose not to introduce him to my pushy male dog Cai or the rambunctious puppy group (Toque, Heidi, Sobe and Jorja) before he is neutered. This would just be foolish and asking for a fight. It is crucial that the introductions go well and that fights are avoided as once they start, there is always tension and the dogs will watch for each other constantly. It means micromanaging by me which is a lot of work. Instead, if I spend the time at the beginning and introduce the dogs carefully and strategically fights are avoided and my job is much easier. Plus the new dog gets the benefit of learning from all the dogs, not just a few.

Day 5

Day 5 is neuter day. We are off to the vet early in the morning for a checkup before surgery. He has been given a clean bill of health and is off into the back to be prepped for surgery. Today is the day I have to come up with a name for the poor fellow as we have been calling him "Puppy." This is not good for his ego! So, standing there in the clinic his name came to me (thankfully! It only took five days!). The boy has been named Gibbs. A nice handsome name for a handsome boy.

Day 6

Gibbs returns from the vet clinic. He is neutered, vaccinated, microchipped and tattooed. All done! His incision looks good and he isn't obsessing over it. Unfortunately I have to go out of town on day 6 to go judge an agility trial out of town. I took two dogs with me, Cai the pushy male (who was competing) and Phoebe the puppy mill foster (who needed the socializing). Everyone else was left with our fabulous housesitter.

Days 7-10

I was away (thank doG!) when Gibbs figured out how to bust out of his crate. He peed ALL over the house. Marked every wall, the fridge, the furniture, everything, even Heidi! I am still finding spots two weeks later! He also ate the cord to my keyboard. Too bad for him Jess the house sitter is a smart cookie and found him a crate he couldn't get out of. Ha! Problem solved by the time I got home! Apparently the testosterone hasn't left his system yet. Give it another week and all will be well. Also, while I was away he got introduced to the rest of the group (this was all good as I had my male with me, the one that would have likely been an issue). He got along fine with everyone and started to play a little.

Days 11-14

I'm at work, so Gibbs spends time in his crate while I am there. He is introduced to the remaining two dogs (Cai and Phoebe) and all goes well after some initial sniffing and peeing on things (Cai peed on his head, nice ) It is life as usual at this house. Gibbs is starting to go to his crate for meals on his own. He still needs a little prompting but I don't have to take his collar anymore. All meals for him are delivered in his crate. This helps associate the crate with the enjoyment of eating and tends to help the dogs initiate going into the crate on their own. After a couple of weeks I'll start doing crate games. Getting him to go in and out of the kennel for cookies and learning to wait until he is released to come out.

Day 15

First off property walk! I took him by himself so I could concentrate. I also took him on his martingale collar only to see how he did. Amazingly, he did incredibly well! I was expecting him to be all over the place, dragging me to pee on everything. Instead he walked either beside or behind me with a loose leash the entire time. We were out for about a half hour, we even stopped to talk to some friends of mine for about ten minutes. He sat next to me patiently, like he had been doing it for years! I want to jump up and down for joy, but my cynical side says he is probably nervous still and the bad leash manners may come out later. But, in the meantime if I reinforce the good loose leash walking perhaps we will have the perfect dog. Hurrah!