Well it's been 3 days and its been fun, lol. For the first two days I was home all day. so he attached himself to me like glue! Went to work all day yesterday and then the shelter (so long day), got home and now I'm a stranger and my husband is like velcro.
If you leave the house for any length of time you have to reintroduce yourself like you have never met. This was noticeably better yesterday. I have gathered he has never been alone; Or not very often. He seems at a loss without other dogs or a person around, like he has no idea what to do with himself.
the thing I had to get used to is he growls to get your attention. Not in a menacing way, just a growl and if you look at him he will yip and wag his tail. this woke me from a nap, talk about startled awake with his head inches from my face. Now that I know what he's doing it's fine. We'll work on some better communication, lol. He is also not much of a barker. If my other dogs bark sometimes he joins, but is is a very soft woof. If they bark, he is also more unsure. Our ACD barks like a lunitic and bounces around like a jackrabbit when I get home, the whole thing kind of weirds him out, so he is not sure how to greet me. He is leery and he really takes cues off of other dogs (co-dependent to the max).
He is still rather unsure about it all which causes a noticeable "depressed" effect in him. For this reason no formal intro's to Rocco yet, who would roll him, just to do it. We can be pretty close now though and Rocco just ignores him, but it's a fine line between distance introduction and "tormenting", so once a day is really all I do. Still on leash at all times. Seem fine with the horses. The cows freak him out a little. The goats and chickens elicit a mild (very mild) bit of prey drive. hopefully this doesn't get worse as his comfort level increases. He did eat a full meal last night for the first time, and he drank from the bowl inside. He was only drinking from one of the outside bowls.
My only real issues with him are: He is still uncomfortable around my son, who is almost 15 and very adult like (so no little child movements). I assume my son is nervous (even if he says he is not). It is something I am monitoring. The thing that makes me nervous, is i was under the assumption he had no drive to bite. Wrong. He nailed my husband's hand the first day and scraped skin. Granted my husband was pushing (even after I told him ), but still. A dog so insecure it bites is something that will take a different type and amount of work. My husband was near Amanda (his foster mom) at the time. That and other things since this, as well as a conversation (read between the lines), leads me to believe he is VERY protective of "his" family. It also concerns me he looked fairly relaxed. Not agitated or nervous, So obviously he has been inadvertently taught to not give warning.
He seems much more people protective than area protective though. Where Rocco is protective of his area (house, yard, livestock, car) he is not necessarily protective of me. Meaning I can take him out and cautiously manage him and he is better behaved because we are off his turf. Where as at home, no one is allowed. This dog is more protective of me, meaning everywhere we are he thinks he needs to protect. We will start classical counter conditioning soon (after he gets better adjusted) and see how he is or how bad it is. I'm doubting right now how much is fear based.
negative, I forgot how horrible kibble farts are *blech*
