Rollo has been a fun foster. He is playful, quick, smart and funny. He is also affectionate, soft, cute, and easy to have around. He travels well in the truck. He loves dog daycare. Although he would easily hike, walk or jog as far as you want to go he also seems to be okay with flaking out at home and hanging out. In some ways he is a diamond in the rough though. He needs to learn to be left alone and be okay with it.
I left him alone in the back of the truck for a couple of hours on Wednesday. I left him with a good chew and he basically could have cared less that I was leaving. I hung around out of sight for a bit and after 15 minutes he started to bark. I checked on him again in a bit and he was quiet. I checked every so often and each time he was quiet until I was ready to leave and went back to the truck to find him barking again. I waited until he was quiet and then let him out. He had ripped the stuffing from the inside of the pillow I left for him. It's a pretty flimsy dog pillow so it wouldn't have taken too much effort.
I had to go curling tonight so I picked a tired Rollo up from dog daycare and put him in the back of the truck, again with another chew. I could hear him bark as I left but I checked on him just before my game and he was quiet. He seems to alternate between barking and sleeping. When I came back out for him a couple of hours later he was asleep. I think in time he will learn to be okay with being left alone but in the meantime I suspect a few items may suffer the consequences. Pretty typical puppy/teenager stuff. I'm not sure what an expert would have to say, but in my opinion I think that most of his barking stems from attitude - being upset at being left alone, being in a new situation, but not necessarily full on anxiety. He can learn!
He now heels quite well on the leash. He has learned to sit at intersections quite quickly with a tap on his hind end. He walks very politely up the stairs with me and no longer rushes ahead. When the door to the truck is opened he waits until invited to get out. He is becoming a very polite city dog!
When I walked him near my building tonight we came across mom and daughter. Her daughter (I believe she's under 2 yeas old) just loves big dogs and is so comfortable around them. Typically when an adult approaches Rollo he gets excited and bounces to get closer to their faces. He always shows so much excitement and interest in kids too so when this little girl approached Rollo I held his leash very firmly in fear of him getting too excited and bumping her down. But he was a complete rock. He sat very still and nosed her outstretched hand. She giggled and kept reaching out to him. I held his face and let her pet his shoulder. Rollo didn't budge. He knew he needed to be so gentle with this little girl who was shorter than him. He stayed still and I was so proud of him. The mom was very impressed with him too. What a good boy!
Rollo met a couple of very nice people the other day that are interested in adopting him. They have since had a home visit and will have Rollo for an overnight stay on Friday night. If all goes well and they feel he will be a good match for their current dog...he might have his new home already. Fosters shorter than 1 week don't happen very often, but if its a good match then there's no reason to delay. He will have to pass muster with a very adorable Beagle/Bassett X.
....more to come in an update on Saturday.
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