Heath

Heath came and spent another week and a half with us, his surgery was delayed until today. I have to say when he walked in our house he relaxed into things right away. OH!! cool, I live here now - and he did a jaunty little "I know this place" jig. He was even better than he left, so - I think the humane society kennel, while not the ideal situation, will be fine for a few days. He is extremely adaptable.. amazing. Last night he actually asked to sit on the couch with us for a while, he would relax and sleep in places other than his crate which is great. He discovered KITTIES!! they are very exciting, he would like to sniff them, but is not allowed. He stopped running away from me in the last couple of days if I needed to pick him up to crate him. I would just have to walk slowly, with my arms outstretched and talk to him. He would go over on his back -- OK - I guess it is inevitable, go ahead & get it over with lady!

It was sad to see him go this morning, but I know he will be adopted immediately - he seems to be in better shape than some of the other Kennewick pups I have seen glimpses of (except the puppies of course). Some of them have bald patches on their side, etc, I guess from fleas? but he only had hair loss on the base of his tail that you couldn't really see. Plus his face looks healthy, his eyes are not as sunken as some of them either. Even Robert said he felt the void in our house this morning. Suki & Elly however are loving it! More biscuits for US!!

I visited the humane society yesterday, to pick up some foster kittens actually, and couldn't find Heath in the adoptable dog area, and was told he was put on dental hold. I think they are graciously going to fix his teeth issues! Sweet! That does mean more time before he gets put up for adoption, but he will be more adoptable if someone doesn't have to spend the money to get his teeth fixed, and his breath will be more pleasant.

Heath went back on the 26th & has not been adopted yet... he is a very smart boy, hope he is not stressing out in the kennel!

http://www.seattlehumane.org/

Here is his personality profile:

Favorite Activities & Personality Traits?

Heath is a very brave boy, he conducts experiments, is curious, and can be easily trained! I find it amazing how much progress he made in two weeks considering the first few years of his life. He is a survivor and is learning how great humans are and what good things we can bring to him! He is very spunky.

 

What was my foster home environment? Live with dogs/cats/kids, what ages?

Heath takes his cues from other dogs, and likes to play with others that like to play, and leaves the other dogs alone that want to be alone. He visited with some puppies, and he bullied them a little bit. We have two 45 lb mutts, and they got along great! He would prefer to live with dogs than people at this point I think! When other dogs come up for pets, he always butts in to get pets from humans but he will not often approach alone for pets.

 

What is my favorite place to sleep? Am I crate trained? Housetrained? Almost housetrained?

Heath loves his crate, it is his safe haven. We had it out always with an open door, and he would seek it out when tired or stressed. He doesn’t understand the greatness of sleeping on fluffy surfaces yet, and prefers a flat rug or just the floor. He is almost house trained. When he has free access to the outside he chooses to go outside – but he will pee in the house if you do not monitor him. He is easily corrected for this and will stop mid stream, and take it outside. He is very smart and will get the hang of this quickly if you moniter his activity consistently.

 

Where do I stay when left alone? How long can I be left alone? Can I be trusted in the house alone? Do I jump fences or dig?

You may leave him alone in his crate for 4-5 hours, during the day, and overnight. He wakes up at 7am if you are not in the same room, but will sleep in if you keep him crated in the bedroom. Long periods of crate time does increase his stress, so he is more excitable when coming out. He will eventually be able to be in the house alone once he is potty trained, provided you leave no food or garbage out and child proof your cabinets. He does not pee in his small crate, but would if you left him alone just in an ex-pen or large crate.

 

Do I know any commands, working on any new commands? Was I in a training class?

Heath can touch your hand with his nose, if you are patient and present a flat hand. He will tolerate a leash on his collar, but prefers if you not pull on it. His reflex is to pull back in the opposite direction. He will follow you around if you call him and walk away. We did work on holding his collar and reaching for his collar. He would prefer if you not carry him – but he LOVES to be rubbed around his ears. It is very soothing. We did feed him by hand as well and he has learned that pets are pretty good sometimes.

 

What is my favorite treat or toy? Am I destructive? Not really interested in toys/certain treats?

He loves soft toys, and cloth – don’t leave your socks on the floor! He will sneak them away and chew holes in them J. You can easily trade socks with him for more appropriate soft chews. He will play tug with other dogs.

 

Am I a dog park dog or like to play with one-on-one buddy?

Not appropriate for the dog park until obedience trained to come back to you. One on one buddy play is great!

 

Do I like kids? Do I like cats? Was I around small animals or livestock?

Heath is ok with kids, and visited our 8 & 12 yr old nephew and niece. He can take food enthusiastically from kid hands, so a cupped hand lowered carefully with food in it is best. I think he would prefer an adult home.

 

Do I have any other naughty habits that I need to work on?

No, he is a good boy – just needs to know the household rules! He is very smart and alert and will pick it up quickly.

Heath! He might go back today depending on the surgery schedule. He is ready to go into a permanent home. He had a couple of accidents, one pee a day on the kitchen cabinets, but only because we have not been monitoring him all of the time in the house. I think that will be easy to fix. He is more barky when he spends more time in the crate, like the day before yesterday when I had a lot of work to do outside the house. This morning he discovered socks! They are fun to chew up and rip. He gave it up easily though and I replaced it with some remnants of old soft dog toys. He is tugging with Elly over the last piece of her squirrelly puppy toy. It is her oldest remnant. He won! Oh well. Now Elly has it and wants me to throw it for her. He is getting along great with the other pups, and I think would like to be in a multiple dog home. He has learned how to touch a plastic plate for his dinner. Sit will have to come later, his back legs are a little funny, so it is much easier for him to stand. I see him sitting once in a while, but not a lot. It is mostly stand or lay. He likes the touch game. He gets excited and does his little white dog dance with the other dogs when we come home, and when Robert comes home too. He allows us to pet him, and will come to an outstretched hand to sniff it. He is barky sometimes in the yard, but less so if you spend some relaxation/calm down time petting him before going outside. He will be missed, maybe we get to keep him for the weekend, we will see!

Heath is doing pretty well. He gets a little more vocal every day, and was barky at some construction sounds this morning. We have his crate in the tv room now, and an expen blocking his access to the rest of the house. When we settle down for the evening, he tended to stay in the kitchen and circle around, but if we blocked off the kitchen and put his crate in the tv room, he just puts himself in his crate and falls asleep. He really feels safe in there! I am feeding all 3 together in the kitchen and Heath is starting to get which bowl is his, and which bowls are not. The most exciting thing is he is starting to play a little with toys! He won't play with me with toys too much, but there are sparks of life there. I found him carrying around a pot holder in his mouth last night, so tried to tug with it with him. It kind of freaked him out when I had it in my hand but he is pretty interested. He has been chewing a little on half an old pink tennis ball, and he will play tug with Elly with the orange flannel tug toy if she encourages him to do it, and as long as I don't touch it. She holds it in her mouth and shakes it as if to say - look I killed this thing - try and take it from me, c'mon try an take it! He will look at the toy as if interested if I move it and follow it with his eyes, but he is not being brave enough to grab it from me yet. His potty training is progressing - we spend a lot of time outside actually, and in the house I try to watch him. I haven't had to say eh eh in a day or so - and I haven't found any secret pees, which is very encouraging.

Heath got another bath - he is almost white! He has gotten more vocal over time. He barks in the morning to be let out of the crate, and when he is scared. Someone was setting off fireworks in the neighborhood last evening, and he did not like that at all! He almost can get into his crate by himself. I hold him in front of the entrance, and let him choose to go in instead of stuffing him in there. He can do a hand touch for food, but I have not been able to lure him into a sit. He will follow the kibble for a sec, but give up on it before his butt goes down. I will have to figure out how to fix that - maybe better treats? Maybe just practice luring more.

So - Heath is fully integrated in the house now. He is crated at night, and ribboned by day, crated when I leave. I have stopped leaving him just in the ex-pen because he will always pee on it. When I work in the office he will calm down and sleep with the other dogs, under the desk, it is quiet here. If I have the radio on he gets restless. When we watch tv in the evening, he is restless for quite a while and then calms down. He has started to play with Elly - tug and wrestling, but I haven't been able to get him to play with me yet. He is getting slightly more vocal - a little bark at neighbor kids on the next porch over - a little bark in his crate in the morning - "it's 7am, time to get up now!!". I give him an eh-eh when he starts to lift his leg, and he will stop - I am starting to get better at preventing it rather than catching it in mid stream. He always stops and I say good boy - he recovers very quickly! He has a sharp mind. He thrives on challenges and variety - he loves it! To think how neglected he was - how could someone do that - to any dog! - but it is especially surprising with him because this is such an engaging and entertaining breed, or maybe it is just him. He will make someone very happy!!

He woke me up this morning with a couple of yips from his crate in the basement - around 7:30 - not too bad. He is in the ex-pen now after breakfast. I had fed him by hand and clicked him right before he took the food. The routine is being established

Ok, we had a couple of play sessions out back, some crate time while I ran errands and now he is set up in the foyer with a PB bone, I hope he is not peeing as I left him free in the expen. I am taking a chance here - but he is pretty empty. I will go down after a bit and let him out back again. He demonstrated his crate standing technique for me, blurry, but see below.

Heath is a happy boy this morning. He spent the night in the crate, when he came out this morning he stretched a few times and then did a little morning happy dance around the garage. We went outside he took care of business, he did poo this morning thank goodness. Then we went back inside for breakfast games, he did a little dance for before his breakfast too. Later on this morning he lifted his leg on the expen though, I think it was related to him seeing Elly again. No growls this time.



When I went in at noon, he had escaped the ex-pen again! Little monkey, I think some zip ties will remedy that. He had also chewed through his ribbon, which I had accidentally left on him. He is quite resourceful. He had peed in a couple of spots in the garage. He and Elly met in person, and it went quite well. He even seemed happy to know her. They did a little posturing, a little nice sniffing, and Elly gives him play bows which he does not return yet. She is not afraid of him, and is not pushing her presence on him either, she is a very good girl. He is less concerned with his environment and me when she is around. He has been extremely thirsty - and drank 2 full bowls of water. He is now in his crate for an hour.



We had a meeting with Suki - she was not as upset as I predicted, her hairs on her back remained down. She was tense for sure, but not mad about it. I had them greet outside through an ex-pen gate at first, she gave a play bow (what?? who are you Suki?), so I let them greet for real. Suki went nuts trying to play with him, and actually got a little too excited so we had time outs. I could tell he would get a little tense - what is going to happen?? She is moving so fast! By the end of the evening everyone was hanging out in the yard ignoring each other and sniffing around and playing & posturing at each other once in a while. He had a foray into the upstairs, and took the backstairs (down) by himself. He is so brave and confident - you could tell he had never done it before - but he soldiered on down the steps. However upstairs is different, we will have to work on that. He will be in the house by end of day Tuesday full time I think!

This dog is very dog-oriented and not people oriented, (although he is getting better), he has relaxed exponentially after being introduced to Suki & Elly - it is so amazing to watch. 

Heath is becoming slowly more confident about things. This morning when I went down late (9:30), he was out of his expen (how!?) and had peed in the garage. Tomorrow I will make it an earlier day. It was a big day for him, he got a bath in the sink upstairs and got to look at both Elly & Suki. He was not happy about the bath, so I just got his back side, and he is unfortunately still a bit yellow. He is slightly better smelling though, and much more pleasant to pet. I cleaned his crate and bedding and ex-pen too. I have found that he likes to stand on top of his crate, there were fresh muddy paw prints on it. I found a brush, and he found that it is not too bad when I use it on his chest and face and shoulders, but please not near the tail, or back side. He is kind of pigeoned toed, maybe because his nails are too long, or maybe because his muscles weren't being used properly. He has not pooed today, but I changed his food, so maybe that is why. I have been feeding him by hand, and he can even touch one hand with his nose which produces food from the other hand. When I brought Elly in, she wanted to visit of course, but I held her back. He growled at her from his expen, and was not comfortable with it. I took her out and in a couple of times. I brought Suki in and made her go into a down and fed her kibble, I threw kibble at him too - for her he paced nervously around the pen in circles, but no growls. She didn't really seem that interested in getting at him, which is good. So Suki & Elly could handle it, but I don't think he would like being around them so much. I think for his sake, I will keep him in the garage for a bit longer.