the joy of running

I've talked about it before. Dart LOVES to run. We went to the dog park this past Sunday and Dart was one of the fastest dogs there. The park we went to is 4 acres and Dart made use of all 4.

One of the things the gentleman who drove the transport told me is that Dart can sometimes be too friendly, too quickly. I hadn't seen any of that until the dog park. Being that the dogs there were in total playtime mode it didn't produce any problems with the exception of one dog who he began playing with and then discovered he was out classed and wanted out. A scuffle occurred and Dart walked away with a minor scuffle bit wound that is healing really well now that the cone of shame is keeping him from scratching his ear.

We have been accident free for over a week! Dart's gotten really good at telling us he needs to go out.

A lot of the skittishness has gone away, but he is still reserved around people he doesn't know.

that's it for now!

yay progress

Dart consistently tells us when he's gotta go out and it's always the same communication. It's highly amusing to be so excited about pooping habits.

If we're downstairs he gets up and walks toward the door and if you don't get up right away he comes back to nudge you - sometimes in the form of sticking his face in yours or putting his face on your hands if you're using them. He loves to help at the computer all the time.

If we're upstairs he walks to the top of the stairs and if you don't follow him he comes and gets in your business.

Dart is getting bolder with dogs he doesn't know. On our walks instead of putting me between another dog and himself, he now actively wants to go meet most dogs. This is really exciting! He also now pees on walks! I'm so excited to see him getting over his anxiety.

Dart also loves the cat. Frank loves to sleep in Dart's crate or on his bed. Dart interprets this as Frank wanting to spoon. Frank doesn't want to spoon. It is hilarious. Especially when Dart goes into the crate with Frank.

Dart is going to meet Ryan's mom tonight. I'm interested to see how he handles a new person. Will he be as hesitant in the past? I will most definitely update on the encounter.

11/07 update

Dart had only one accident yesterday and it was more about not getting let out in time!
So far so good today. We're going strong with the positive reinforcement. We are also going to attempt putting a bell at the front door and getting him to paw it when he needs to go out. He actually does best at letting us know he needs to go when we're in bed. Dart comes and puts his front paws up and sticks his nose in your face. So now we just need to figure out how to get him to tell us he's ready when we're not in bed.

Don't remember if I talked about Saturday, so pardon the redundancy if I did. Saturday morning we had a doggy date with Baylee. Baylee is my friend Jessica's golden retriever. Baylee had bone cancer and got his leg amputated over the winter. He recovered ridiculously quickly. Baylee really helped Dart get out of his shell. Being three-legged Baylee wasn't quite as quick as Dart but gave him a run for his money and it gave me a good idea of his interactions with big dogs since he hasn't interacted with neighborhood dogs. Baylee also instigated Dart's interest in fetch. I don't know if he was a big fetcher before, and he hadn't shown interest until Saturday when Jessica threw the ball and they both went for it.

Saturday afternoon was his first experince around a large group of people since we got him. He did pretty well. Dart would go and check out the people and then come and check in with me.

We also have discovered that Dart has no fear of vacuums, lawn mowers, etc. In fact, he'll run along side you if he can.

I've discovered some other things as well:
The extra exercise for me is loosening my pants!
I haven't had a major anxious or depressive episode since we've had him.
I get more things done in a day since I get up with him for our morning walk.
I get totally selfish gratification from knowing that I am helping him become a great dog.

progress happens!

Huge progress the last 24 hours.

~ Dart ran, and I mean RAN for the first time. He'd jog/quick-paced walk on walks and in the backyard. But yesterday at my parents backyard he let loose and did laps. He even showed off his leaping abilities. He can leap four steps from the ground up to the deck. He also let loose in Ryan's parents backyard.

~ Dart stood up for himself around another dog. He has been showing signs of submissiveness, and even shying away from dogs. But yesterday instead of slinking away from Ryan's parent's Pom-I-think-I'm-a-big-scary-monster-dog, he didn't back down! Super excited that he's getting more comfortable around other dogs.

~ Dart is also displaying the normal dog behaviors around Frank (the cat). He'll sniff him and get all interested in what Frank is doing. They get along, but there's definitely a healthy cat/dog rivalry. They both sleep on the bed at night. And Frank loves to sleep on Dart's bed in his crate, and Dart loves to sleep on Frank's chair. So stinking cute.

~ Dart did the playful growl! Haven't heard that yet! I think the bark I heard the other day wasn't his, he hasn't done it since. I did some looking around on the internet and read that sometimes fosters and adopted dogs don't bark for a while.

~ We're still working on Dart telling us when he needs to go out. He was only pooping in our yard or inside, but yesterday pooped outside at both our parent's yards. He's getting over his pooping anxiety!

~ I'm excited to find out how today's walk goes in regards to the other dogs on the block. I have a feeling he won't be so skittish!

Dart - updates and some other observed behaviors

Dart is a bed hog! but there are 2 humans, a cat, and a dog - so perhaps he's not the only culprit. Last night was the first night he slept on the bed with us. He will definitely keep you warm at night. He stayed the whole night and (this part really makes me happy) didn't get up with Ryan at 6:30 wanting a walk so I got to sleep until my normal 8:00.

He doesn't indicate when he wants to go out, so it's up to us to let him out a lot, otherwise he'll poop inside. Luckily we've figured out his timeline. He can hold his bladder for quite a long time. He usually needs to poop within an hour of eating. He hasn't peed or pooped on a walk yet, he'll wait until we get home. So I keep our morning walks short, since he wants to eat right when we get up. That way he doesn't have to hold his bowels for a long time. Evening walks are longer since they're either before dinner or a few hours after.

On walks he doesn't mark trees. In fact I've only seen him mark at my parents house. They have a hermaphrodite pug who had fully developed female parts and partial male parts. She has marked in the past but it's rare.

He is still apprehensive around other dogs at first, but warms up after a bit. This also happens around Ryan, he needs a moment to adjust to him when he gets home. He is also still jumpy at just about every sudden movement, but not sounds anymore. The progress with sounds makes me hopeful that the movement skittishness will subside.

With regards to food. He gets super excited about mealtime. He doesn't rush me though, he waits to chow down until I set down his bowl. He eats 90% of his food right away, and then goes back for the other 10% as needed.

I'll keep updating with any progress.

Figuring out a schedule

Dart is the play hard/rest hard kind of guy. When he's ready for a walk or for playtime he takes it seriously. This morning we doubled yesterday's morning walk distance and played around the yard after getting home. He tried "helping" me with laundry. We're still working on his sock thier tendencies. He is now passed out on the couch.

Behaviors:

Last night he started out sleeping in the bedroom and then went into his kennel halfway through the night. He will come check out the bed, but doesn't stay up there long. I see this as a sign that he's continuing to accept that being out of jail is a permanent thing. I think some of his skittishness is him learning to trust that he's in a warm home.

He's been a little bit of a chewer. However he's gotten way better at distinguishing between toys and pillows. And those pillows he has chewed have been just a bite or two.

We're still keeping him kenneled when we're gone given his sock stealing/pillow chewing tendencies, but I'm hoping he'll continue the trend of figuring out what is okay to chew.

We think he gets carsick, but only if he's eaten too soon before riding. We came to this conclusion because the 2 times he's vomited have be in the car and it's undigested food. He also shows none of the usual "i'm about to puke" signs and goes back to being his happy self immediately.

He loves to follow us around.

He does not like going into his crate during the day when we leave.

He doesn't have any problem with cats, dominant dogs make him hesitant when we're on walks. I want to introduce him to some friends who have dogs his size. So far he has show pretty submissive tendencies. He'll make a great dog for first time dog owners.