WHITESPOT + 1 DAY

As of today Chief is now my longest foster.  Whitespot was with me for 9 1/2 weeks and Chief has gone 1 day more than that.  Chief is, in quite a few ways, the easiest foster I've had.  He is fine being left alone and is really the first foster that I've ever left at home alone.  Most go with me and wait in the truck, except in the summer on hot days and then I find ways to work around leaving a dog alone.  I have left him alone while I went out to a movie and thought he'd be happier at home on his Kuranda bed rather than in the truck and he didn't bark when I left and the couch was warm when I came home.  He is affectionate and smart.  He learns new tricks quite easily as he is food motivated with no other distractions around.   He sits and waits at the door to go out and to come in, although sometimes his first reaction is to want to dart through it.  On command he can sit, lay down, shake a paw, high five, reach out for a nose to hand touch for a treat, sit/stay and he can now sit up for a treat.  I don't usually teach fosters too many tricks but Chief seems to enjoy the challenge.  He is also very good at sit/stay while waiting for me to hide his tug toy.

He is mostly walking nicely on a loose leash, he fetches the ball quite well and has pretty good recall.   We are still working on his leash reactivity with people and with dogs.  We can go for quite some time without any reaction as I'm learning to adjust my daily routine to accommodate his areas of concern.  As a result I'm noticing some improvements in him.  If he's worried he checks in with me sometimes, whereas before he did not check with me at all.  He is more easily distracted by me in times of worry.  So, if he sees a dog and starts to show tension I can take a step back and call him to me and he is more open to being diverted than before.  

We are currently working with an applicant towards a possible adoption.  We are taking our time though in order to ensure they understand who Chief is, what his needs are and how to manage him.  They have now had him for a couple of nights stay and they definitely see the beautiful soft side of him and they have also experienced his leash reactivity as well.   We will work with a trainer to assess Chief and afterwards will decide on the next step.