A week with Mikayla

We just finished a week with my former foster, Mikayla. It was a great week, taking away the soreness from doubling my walks each day.
Duke and Mikayla got along well from the start. We went to the VGSR Annandale Adoption Day an for the 4th time in a row, Duke stayed for the whole day.
Duke and Mikayla played together which was good for both since they are "only dogs". It also makes me feel better about my dog coming here at the end of October. Almost makes me want to get another foster (one that will find a home quickly) to keep him company until then...
Now back to my shorter walks. Maybe I will pick up the distance over time.

Not much to write about last week

Last week was just an average week. I finished painting my son's bedroom and shampood 2 of the 3 carpeted rooms. I am hoping this will stop Duke from peeing but will not know for a while. I will be working from home the rest of this week and most of next when Mikayla is here. That week should produce a good blog.
When I walked Duke last night we could hear fireworks so I do not think the 4th of July festivities will bother him. We will have to see on Thursday.

Another good week

Duke has had another pretty good week. I have started to try to get him to not pull on the leash when I walk him. He is too alert looking for cars to really heel well so I am really just looking for a loose leash. He is picking up on it pretty quickly. If he starts to get too far ahead I will stop. He walks on until he gets to the end of the leash then stops abruptly. When I started I had to do this about 15-20 times in a mile. Now he is down to about 5-10. When we got close to home today he was watching me as much as he was looking for cars. Had it not started to rain (and I was not prepared) I would have loved to keep going. Maybe he will pick up again on his walk tonight.
Yesterday he attended his 3rd full Adoption Day in a row. No whining to leave at all at this one. He also was good when I held Sullivan for his foster. Sully is a 1 year old active dog who has not had much socialization (http://www.vgsr.org/availableDogs.php#av3684). Duke growled a few times and nipped a bit but did not really go overboard so I was really happy. He had a few growls and bared teeth at some other dogs but overall did pretty well.
A couple were (are?) interested in him but in true Duke fashion he nipped at one of them (a warning and he did not make contact) so we will have to see.
I have been painting today and Duke has been respectful of the room and left when told. I am hoping to clean the rug next weekend and try and let Duke out of the crate when I am not here. That is mostly dependent on me not being lazy which is a challenge in itself...
The week after the 4th of July I will be dog sitting one of my former fosters. This will be an interesting test for Duke to see how he may deal with my dog when I bring her from the UK. Fingers crossed that it will work. I do have a back up plan just in case. You know, "plan for the worst, hope for the best".

Springfield Adoption Day

Well, this now makes 2 adoption days in a row that Duke survived the whole 3 hours. On top of that, the location for this one is busier and had more people walking past. Duke did well and growled at fewer people. He even managed to tolerate attention from some people. He also got along (well, tolerated) with more dogs than he growled at. He met a mother and her adult son who were interested in him and, while not perfect by any means, put up with most of the extra attention they gave him. He even managed to give one visitor a kiss on the mouth when I was not looking.
It was, all in all, a productive time for him and hopefully he will start to learn that not all people are out to hurt him. Although I will not be able to attend the next Annandale Adoption day (July 6th at noon - Petco in Annandale...Mark your calendars and be sure to stop by), and the next Springfield Adoption day will be cancelled due to a VGSR event, I will try to bring him to both local adoption days in August with my son and nephew.
After the stressful day for him, luckily there were very few cars on our walk tonight. I am sure he appreciated that. I know I did.

I am going for a ride!

Because it is quiet down at Bryce, I will usually use that time to try new things with Duke. This last trip I wanted to see if he would come to me when he got away with his leash on. I know that he will stay near the car if he thinks we are going for a ride. In this case I did it while I was packing the car to come home. The trunk was the the only thing open in the car so when he realized he was free he ran around the car once and then:

It took me almost 5 minutes to get him out of there...That is how much Duke loves to go for a ride in the car.

Nom nom nom

Memorial Day weekend I went down to a townhouse at Bryce Resort with Duke. I try to go there as often as I can because it is pretty quiet and very relaxing for both Duke and me.
Since I go so often I keep some staples there like treats for Duke. One of the treats is a peanut flavored treat that is about 3/4 of an inch triangle. It never ceases to amaze me how gentle Duke can be when taking treats. In the picture below, Duke does not touch my fingers with his teeth at all. He takes treats better than almost any dog I have known. He still has his moments but if I say "gentle" before he takes the treat, he really listens.

A good week with Duke

Things have gotten so much easier now that I have figured out how to handle Duke's issues with cars while we walk. It can still be frustrating when a car sneaks up on us or several cars come by at one time but all in all things are better.
For the past week or so I have taken Duke for a walk in the evening. We actually go around the block which takes us through a somewhat busy intersection. I think the extra walk does him good. It does make him more reluctant to go in the back yard though. I have to almost force him out there.
Saturday was the Annandale adoption day. Duke stayed the whole day which is a real accomplishment for him. Only the second time. He even accepted staying 30 minutes over time. I was really proud of that. Especially since he got microchipped as well. I would never let anyone put a needle that big in me. I also asked someone (same guy that chipped him) to hold him while I walked away for a few minutes. When I came back it was like I had been gone for weeks, he was so happy to see me. He did not pay any attention to Mike at all while I was gone. Near the end of the adoption day, Duke let Mike know how he felt about being chipped and kept away from me. He and Mike had a stare down and Duke did not like that Mike engaged him.
I have not felt ready to let him out of his crate yet. I am not ready to spend the first half hour when I get home from work cleaning pee out of the carpet (he will go within an hour of me leaving for work and then again within an hour of my dog walker coming. Not that he has to go, he just does it to be mean).