Post #27: Gunner Living the Life

Gunner Striking a Pose

Well it is the one month anniversary of Gunner entering foster care, and boy has this dog blossomed!  He has gone from a frantic, scared boy to a well adjusted GSD.  He has gone from a dog who has had no exposure to an inside life, or even a life with human interaction, to one that LOVES being inside, thrives on being with family, has numerous favorite places in our house, and has discovered the joy of playing with toys and other GSD's.  Considering his very secluded life, he has the curiosity of a puppy.  He is not scared of things, just cautious.  He will look at me, then walk over and check things out.  Over the past month, Gunner has become one of my pack, and is thoroughly enjoying being with his people, especially me.  His favorite spot at bedtime is on our master bathroom floor, where its nice and cool. 

Gunner in his "cool" place

He will come to check on me throughout the night, but always returns to the bathroom floor. 

To sleep on the bed or not!

He hasn't quite figured out that a dog bed is meant to be laid on, probably since he has never had one before. 

We have been taking daily walks, pretty much from day one.  Since he was kenneled all of his life, he has no muscle mass in his back legs.  With the walking, he is slowly building up those muscles, and is one of the first in line to go out for his walk! 
Since Gunner was so nervous at first, we concentrated on having him adjust to our family and dogs, and left the obedience training to a later date when he was more settled.  He is a smart cookie, and will sit before he goes for his walk, and is one of the first dogs to sit before being allowed to come into the house after his walk.  He sits for his treats, and almost all of the other times that we ask him to now.  He learned "leave it" pretty early on since he had no prior training or exposure, and some things dogs are just supposed to leave alone!  In my opinion, it is one of the most important commands for a dog to know.  He will leave it when asked every time.  The "come" command is coming along nicely, and with continued practice, will continue to improve.

I don't really want to be out here!

Gunner was THE MOST difficult dog that I have ever had to house break!  At first, it was just that he did not know better.  All of his life he just went in the kennel.  Now our house was considered his kennel!  Then, it was because he was scared to leave the "safety zone" of our house.  He would not go outside alone, and we would have to put him on a leash to get him to go out and do his business. Often times, it took 15 minutes of walking around in our fenced yard to entice him go.  It was heart breaking to watch the fear in his eyes as we asked him to go away from his comfort zone, but we needed to get him over this hurdle.  He would constantly try to go to the steps to come back inside.  Finally one day, I decided that I would use treats to entice him to go outside off leash and praise him for that, then praise him when he went to the potty.  Well, this strategy worked!  We still have to tell him to go outside and do his business sometimes, but he will go out and be successful!  I can now put my carpet cleaner away!  I felt as if the heavens had opened up!  Yay Gunner!

Did you see the size of that SQUIRREL???

Gunner and his friend

BFFs

Over the past week and a half, we have started leaving Gunner out of his crate when we leave the house.  At first it was for an hour or two, and now it has graduated to about 6 1/2 hours.  He has done very well, and has proven himself to be trustworthy so far.  This is a big relief, since he never developed the fondness for his crate, and it was never considered his "safe" place.  Gunner loves to run to our living room windows, which are the windows to adventure for our dogs.  The squirrels and rabbits provide endless entertainment for them.  I swear one of the rabbits main mission in life is to taunt them.  The endless supply of neighbors walking keeps them stimulated as well. 

I am pretending I don't know how good looking I am.

When Gunner goes for his daily walks, he gets socialized with some of the neighborhood dogs, neighbors, and children.  What started out as aloofness has turned into curiosity, and now approval.  He lets people pet him, and he acknowledges by a gentle lick on the hand.  While Gunner will probably never be a dog that goes bounding up to people he doesn't know to greet them, he has become social and will approach them and allow to be petted.  One thing for sure though, this boy stops people in their tracks to admire his true beauty!  I had someone that drove past our street, turn around in their car to meet him.  It is a pretty awesome feeling to be walking three big GSD's, heeled at my side, walking tall, proud, and gorgeous!  I am so proud of how far my boy has come, and can't help but look back to that month ago when that frantic, scared boy came into our lives. His progress makes me beam with joy!  He is a true blessing, and  we LOVE him very much!