Dustin, the Psycho Dog
So here's an update on Dustin, aka Dusty, aka Dustysauce, aka We Should Named Him Barkley.
He has some ... issues. He's hyperactive, to the point where we put him on herbal sedatives to chill him out. He likes to play, and play rough - unfortunately I enjoy playing the bitey game, so I'm the one getting bitten. Lois doesn't play that, so she has no issues. I'm chagrined to say that, dog whisperer or no, Lois is having better luck with him right now than I am.
I think I expect too much of him. I missed having a male in the house, and in a lot of ways, Dusty reminds me of my Casper. By the second day we had him, Dusty had attached himself to me to the point of separation anxiety. He doesn't like it when anyone leaves the house or closes a door between themselves and him, but he gets absolutely nutso when I leave. Howling, scratching, etc. The herbal sedatives are helping, as is my own program for dealing with separation anxiety. The point is, he's just as attached to me as Casper ever was.
All of that means I love him, painfully so, but he's driving us all a little batty as he learns what's expected of him in our house.
He is housetrained, thank the gods, but someone in his past taught him to use newspaper or puppy pads placed in the bathroom. If he can't get anyone to let him out, he'll go in the bathroom to do his business. Convenient, I guess, but we have to train him out of that.
Dusty's finally playing with my girls. I think they mostly like him, except Kala, who doesn't want her position as The Baby usurped. Whenever I go to snuggle Dustin, I get Kala in my face too, so I wind up with an armful of beagle. He's extremely playful, always willing to tug on a rope or chase a ball or just gnaw on a bone.
He's gained some weight, but not enough. I'm starting to wonder if he might be younger than we thought, and still growing. If so, he's at least a year old and won't get much taller, but he might get more burly.
Dusty has some cute behaviors. His particular physique - a streak of Basset Hound in his ancestry gives him a loooooong back and long neck with slightly shorter legs - means he can reach places the other dogs can't. He can stand upright on his hind feet to check out his reflection in the window (and howl at it). Also, when he wants something, Dusty smacks his lips - it's this funny little half-chewing motion that I find incredibly cute.
His vocalizations are funny, too. Dusty sounds almost asthmatic; his bay is hoarse, his bark rusty, and his pleading whine sounds like fingernails down a blackboard.
Training him looks like it'll be fun. He naturally has a sphinx down (where the front of the body lies down and then the back end follows; this is opposite of the down taught in a lot of classes, where the dog sits and then slides the forelegs forward into the down), but I've only ever seen him sit on his own once or twice. The usual method for teaching 'sit' doesn't work for him - trying to lure him with a treat held overhead just makes him leap upward. And for a short-legged dog, he has some serious spring to him. While Lois was lying on our bed, which is raised, Dusty jumped all the way up and over her to land beside me. When excited, he can jump to my eyeball height.
Our first big walk today was a rousing success. He has some leash manners, and he's friendly to everything - people and strange dogs.
OK, this is the end of the update. Back to writing.
He has some ... issues. He's hyperactive, to the point where we put him on herbal sedatives to chill him out. He likes to play, and play rough - unfortunately I enjoy playing the bitey game, so I'm the one getting bitten. Lois doesn't play that, so she has no issues. I'm chagrined to say that, dog whisperer or no, Lois is having better luck with him right now than I am.
I think I expect too much of him. I missed having a male in the house, and in a lot of ways, Dusty reminds me of my Casper. By the second day we had him, Dusty had attached himself to me to the point of separation anxiety. He doesn't like it when anyone leaves the house or closes a door between themselves and him, but he gets absolutely nutso when I leave. Howling, scratching, etc. The herbal sedatives are helping, as is my own program for dealing with separation anxiety. The point is, he's just as attached to me as Casper ever was.
All of that means I love him, painfully so, but he's driving us all a little batty as he learns what's expected of him in our house.
He is housetrained, thank the gods, but someone in his past taught him to use newspaper or puppy pads placed in the bathroom. If he can't get anyone to let him out, he'll go in the bathroom to do his business. Convenient, I guess, but we have to train him out of that.
Dusty's finally playing with my girls. I think they mostly like him, except Kala, who doesn't want her position as The Baby usurped. Whenever I go to snuggle Dustin, I get Kala in my face too, so I wind up with an armful of beagle. He's extremely playful, always willing to tug on a rope or chase a ball or just gnaw on a bone.
He's gained some weight, but not enough. I'm starting to wonder if he might be younger than we thought, and still growing. If so, he's at least a year old and won't get much taller, but he might get more burly.
Dusty has some cute behaviors. His particular physique - a streak of Basset Hound in his ancestry gives him a loooooong back and long neck with slightly shorter legs - means he can reach places the other dogs can't. He can stand upright on his hind feet to check out his reflection in the window (and howl at it). Also, when he wants something, Dusty smacks his lips - it's this funny little half-chewing motion that I find incredibly cute.
His vocalizations are funny, too. Dusty sounds almost asthmatic; his bay is hoarse, his bark rusty, and his pleading whine sounds like fingernails down a blackboard.
Training him looks like it'll be fun. He naturally has a sphinx down (where the front of the body lies down and then the back end follows; this is opposite of the down taught in a lot of classes, where the dog sits and then slides the forelegs forward into the down), but I've only ever seen him sit on his own once or twice. The usual method for teaching 'sit' doesn't work for him - trying to lure him with a treat held overhead just makes him leap upward. And for a short-legged dog, he has some serious spring to him. While Lois was lying on our bed, which is raised, Dusty jumped all the way up and over her to land beside me. When excited, he can jump to my eyeball height.
Our first big walk today was a rousing success. He has some leash manners, and he's friendly to everything - people and strange dogs.
OK, this is the end of the update. Back to writing.