The Fostering Adventure Continues

It's never a dull moment around here with my foster dog Kino.  One of our challenges has been that he gets over-excited the first time we do something he’s never experienced before, so each "first" can be a bit overwhelming. 

The first time he saw me dust the house he went wild. “Is that a toy? Can I have that? Should I bite that? How can I help?  Are you sure I can't bite that rag?”

The first time I sunbathed on my stomach in front of him, he was thinking “Wow, the small of her back is the perfect place to put my tennis ball” and he proceeded to munch on his tennis ball in the small of my back, again and again until I finally gave up trying to get my back tan.

The first time I stood in the tub and shaved my legs in front of him, he thought we were playing a new game--one where you try to lick the water and soap off my legs in a wild frenzy before I can touch my leg with the razor. 

The first time I took him to a pet store, he yanked me all over the store to the point where one of the employees handed me a brochure for their beginner training course.  I was humiliated that we looked like we hadn't done an ounce of training prior to that afternoon.  She looked at me like I was fibbing when I told her that I was an animal communicator.  

The first time I asked him to “Wait” while I put his food down, he was befuddled.  “What are you doing?  Are you crazy?  That’s my food!  Why would I wait for it? I want it NOW! If this is some new game, I don't like it.” 

Fortunately each time we do these things, his reaction is less over the top, he's calmer and not frantically trying to make the most of the new experience - well, with all of them except the sunbathing.  I haven't had the guts to try laying on my stomach again since that first time because feeling those gigantic teeth in the small of my back is not what I would call relaxing, but with everything else, each time he is more at ease than the time before.  

One of our other challenges is that he has still been over protective of me and the house, so greeting people at the door was something I was beginning to dread.  I knew we needed to get better at this, so I had several friends come over last week so we could work on having him sit and wait while I opened the door and they entered the house.  The first couple times, it was a disaster, (Sit? Stay? What? Do you want me to bite them?) but eventually, he started to show signs of progress and I was feeling less stressed about having people come to the house.  There was still the issue of him competing with my friends for attention, but one thing at a time, right? 

Yesterday, a man came to the house and once again, we appeared to not have done an ounce of training as he barked and lunged at the guy.  It hadn't occurred to me that it had only been my girlfriends coming to the house and that he might react differently with a man.  

So today, I got one of my guy friends to come over and we worked on our door greetings.  Kino sounded pretty ferocious the first time I opened the door and he did attempt to lunge, but my friend Joe wasn't deterred.  He kept leaving and coming back and with each knock on the door, Kino got better and better.  When we wrapped up our official training session, Kino decided that Joe was alright and insisted on laying on the floor with him, frequently resting his head on Joe's leg.  

I know training is a process. It's all about consistent practice and positive reinforcement so that's what I am committed to doing.  Hopefully in time, we will have covered all the "firsts" we could possibly cover and we'll look less "untrained" to the casual observer.  In spite of our focus on training, I'm also making sure that Kino gets a chance every day to be a puppy.  After all, he's only a year old and he deserves to have goof-off time every day.  It's a nice reminder for me that sometimes it's good for the soul to just goof-off and act like you don't have a care in the world.