Remi had a meet and greet with a family today. He did amazing on the 20 minute car ride. Other than pulling me around the yard, I am so proud of him. I think he made a great first impression and he showed what a sweet, goofy, and loving boy he is. He looked like he felt right at home. The family was very nice, their dog, Ranger is a gem, and their home and yard were beautiful. I feel like Remi hit the jackpot. Back at our home, he is sleeping like a log. He had a very eventful afternoon and had so much fun.
Am I sad when my foster dogs leave? Not when I see that they are going to an amazing home that will give them all of the love, attention, and affection they deserve. Days like today are what make the goodbyes all worth it. Peanut butter on a licky mat make bath time soooo smooth. This time, he walked in the bath tub by himself because he saw/ smelled the peanut butter in the tub. Bath times take longer than we are used to just because he has so much fur and we want to rinse him well to make sure nothing is left behind. We are kind of obsessed with his crimpy/ curly ear fur after bath time.
This video shows a very mild example of Remi trying to push his way up onto the furniture with me. The strategy I'm using doesn't always work this well, but I was able to capture an instance where he tried to use his weight to get on the furniture, pushing him off doesn't work, so I stand, he becomes disinterested and sits somewhere else, not escalating his play and keeping me safe from being tackled. For the past few nights, there have been intermittent fireworks going off in the neighborhood. Overall, Remi is showing no signs of being scared. He was even on a walk the other day when some went off, and my hubby reported that Remi perked up and was curious, but didn't appear scared.
Right now there is lots of activity outside. He isn't cowering or running away. If there is a loud firework, he perks up, or may run to the window to bark, but overall he seems to be doing well. See pic below.. he is currently just laying on the ground relaxed. We've made some good progress with behavior. Our strategy is to ignore when he starts to get really worked up (he will usually start nudging, pawing, or sometimes he is breathing heavier). If sitting on the couch, we stand up, and if he is still persistent, we start to walk away. No touching, no talking, no eye contact. When we first tried this, he would still follow us around the house for a bit, but it has been cool to see how this has lessened because I think he is getting the idea that those behaviors don't get our attention. So on the flip side, when he shows calm behaviors, we make sure to calmly acknowledge it. If you praise too excitedly, he gets wound up again. Here is a perfect example of how he calmly sat next to my husband and then plopped on the ground for some belly rubs. Well, good news, Remi loves the car. We've had other fosters who were absolutely terrified of it, so with his size, this is a big plus that he is eager to enter.
Parked our SUV in the backyard to clean the interior, and he just hopped up in the back and proceeded to make his way up through every row to sniff and explore. Because Remi is twice the weight of Jackie, we've been working a lot on him respecting her space and not stepping or sitting on her, especially when she is laying down. When Remi gets excited, we sometimes still need to step in to get some more space between he and Jackie, but this was a nice example I was able to capture of him really respecting her space when she was chewing on a toy. He really is just the biggest love bug and just wants to be near others and play. When he gets his puppy bursts of energy, he can be a lot to handle, but I am so proud of how far he has come in just a few short weeks. I know when he is in his forever home and has more time to learn their routine, he'll continue to mature into such a distinguished gentleman.
Although we haven't left Remi 100% by himself or crated by himself when we leave, he does seem a bit nervous when alone or when he thinks we are leaving. For instance, I took just Jackie out to the yard the other day, and he was barking, pawing at the back door to get out. We don't like to use the crate other than when we leave, but last week he was extremely overly excited and would not calm down despite our best attempts. In an attempt to calm him down, we put him in the crate for a few minutes. He was NOT happy about this and was very relieved when let out. We haven't had another incident where he needed a "time out" in the crate since.
I am happy to report that he is getting better in the crate when we leave. We always give the pups a hard bone with some peanut butter/ plain greek yogurt mixture on it. Jackie is a champ in the crate, so hopefully she has been setting a good example for Remi. The first few times we had to leave, he needed a LOT of encouragement to go in the crate or we would need to grab him by the collar and lead him in. The past few times, I just put the frozen bone in there and he went in without any assistance. We have not attempted to leave Remi out of the crate when we leave. Hubby let me sleep in a bit, but as I heard Remi pacing in the hallway, I was able to capture a typical morning of how I am woken up by Remi. He wants affection and attention and is very persistent until he gets it!!! We don't let him on the bed or furniture, but he would gladly do so if ever invited. |
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