I believe that as of today, Whitespot has been with me for 6 weeks. These dogs that I foster start to show me more and more who they are as time goes along, as they get more comfortable and settle in. To me, it seems the three week and six week marks are significant for some reason. Whitespot remains a very nice, well behaved, calm dog. He is still a star at dog daycare, although he’s had to learn that the people have to be shared with the other dogs, they don’t all belong to him. He gets along with almost every dog we run across, however he objects to the dogs that are still intact (pretty typical reaction though I’d say). He has fit into city life as though he has always been here. He is not nervous around traffic or lots of people. He is great on leash and is getting better at responding to hand signals, as he knows I will follow through if he tries to ignore me.
I do notice more lately though that he seems to need to zoom off some energy occasionally. He is still very happy with dog daycare and he loves our walks but, just like other dogs, he get the zoomies. He needs a quick sprint at some point in his day. After our walk at the beach I now take him to the fenced soccer field nearby and let him run. I put two 20' leashes together so he has more freedom at the beach, but when we get to the soccer field, we walk the perimeter and then all it takes is the flick of his tail and he's off like a shot. I drop the leash and let him do his thing. He runs a few large circles and then stops and comes back. One more flick of the tail and he's gone again. We do this a few times and then head home. This seems to be enough to tucker him out.
It's beautiful to see a dog run for the joy of it! Take a look….
Unfortunately the video is just from my cell phone so not the best quality.
I'm so tempted to let him off leash at the beach these days too. I feel that he's ready, but its just so hard to do it. Partly because he's not mine, partly because he was on the lam 7 weeks ago and also because he is close to a possible adoption. I have had dogs with me that I've felt were ready for off leash on day 1 and some aren't ready for a few weeks. They give you a good idea of when the right time is but I'm being chicken about Whitespot. Off leash in a large fenced field is good but I'd love to let him go on our dog-beach walks. I guess it doesn't hurt if I leave that privilege for his future family.
3 comments:
The "joie de vivre" is quite evident with our boy! He has no issues with his hip - his movements are smooth and fluid! Good job and way to go Whitespot!
This is a really nice video to see! WTG Lisa!
I can feel Whitespots happiness. I think your being positively cautious. Keeping Whitespots safety as your upmost concern is what makes you the perfect foster mom for him. He relies on you to lead him through this "new world" to explore. There is nothing wrong with a dog on leash when in an environment that has "potential" for harm. I sincerely hope his furever family will exercise that same goal through the rest of his life. We have had King for 3 years now and he has been off leash in a very few situations. Behind or inside fenced park areas only. He is happy, healthy and SAFE! Good Luck Whitespot.
Please....never let Whitespot off leash unless he is in a fenced area where he is safe to run free. He is a deaf Northern breed dog. I have owned,showed, and rescued Alaskan Malamutes for over 30 years, Northern breed dogs can be fully trained but if they want to do something other then what they have been trained to do they will absolutely do it. If he decided to take off for a real run being deaf only puts him in danger of getting hurt or worse. He is a lovely dog with a very nice temperament, I don't think his deafness will be much of an impairment, he is highly intelligent and he will make the best companion dog ever, because this dog will be completely tuned in to his owner. Northern breeds have very 'pack' ordinated instincts, they will want you as their owner to be in their pack, they will want to be with you,watch what you do,go where you go. And they will usually try to be the pack leader which you must not let them do...you are the pack leader.
So, good luck with Whitespot, the family who adopts him will be very lucky indeed.
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