I have a forever home!

I got adopted! My new family is awesome and came with a built in new best friend because the neighbor's have a dog!
I still get to see my foster mom because she has a connection to my new family. And I get to vacation in Ely where she has a cabin too!

It's been so looonnnngggg!

Sorry for the absence folks, life got crazy between moving productions with drama club, and the holidays.

Here's the news on Dart:
New behaviors I've noticed
* when he's had a long day in the kennel and is feeling frisky he gets a bit aggressive - not in a way that I've ever felt unsafe, but he wants to play with you like you are a dog. I find that channeling this energy through a good hard run chasing a tennis ball is any easy solution. Also finding another dog.
*We got to pug sit for a friend. Dart and Clara got on famously - Clara loves big dogs. Ping really wanted nothing to do with Dart and Dart was cool with that. When I'd be sitting with Ping and Dart wanted scritches at first Ping was very "back off, this is my woman" but after the first encounter it was no big deal as long as Ping got to be on my lap.
*Dart still takes time to warm up to some people. Others it seems he's know for years. He warms up to women faster for the most part, but there are a handful of guys he doesn't hesitate around.
*Dart is very loyal to me - I'm guessing that when you adopt him you will have a few days of establishing that relationship. It will happen though, so just be patient for a few days.
*Dart loves to snuggle. And I mean in the spooning sense of the word. He prefers little spoon, but if you don't indulge him he'll take that to mean he's big spoon.
*When playing with kids, especially smaller kids, when he is in high energy mode be in the room. My nephew grew up playing with a pug who lets him grab her around the belly. He wants to play that way with Dart. At the age of 3, Ayden isn't the best listener and doesn't follow my playing with Dart rules unless I'm there. If Ayden is gentle Dart is gentle. It comes down to Dart being a high energy dog who is still learning. I'd recommend him to be around older kids - 7+ or thereabouts. I, and Ayden's parents, have no problem with the two playing so long as the play is gentle. You are the best judge of this.
*Dart assumes everyone loves him.

I would love if he got to be someone's Christmas present!

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.