Its not all been doom and gloom… from day one I have been very fortunate with Marcus in so many ways:
- Zero resource guarding over food or toys – being able to take anything off of him is a sign of trust from his side. (You shouldn’t ever take food away).
- Zero issues with touching him anywhere – whether its to clean him, check him or take things out of his mouth that shouldn’t be in his mouth in the first place! Yes I can stick my hand in his mouth and he won’t hurt me – dogs can and do self limit how they react! He has very sharp teeth and a strong bite when needed.
- Zero aggression and fear to me.
- Totally happy with travelling in the car – first couple of journeys he was sick but not an issue. He can sit in the car for 7 hours with a few stops if needed…I usually need to stop for a pee before he does!
- When we leave the front door to the house – if we don’t walk towards the road then he knows it’s a car trip and as soon as the car door is open then he is in the car. He jumps in by himself even in the high up car. The car has always been a safe place for him.
- His default position is generally a mix of sit and flat down – from day one he knew when (and how) to sit. Having hard smooth flooring in the house means that sits usually end up being flat down as his bum and back legs just go backwards! When I ask him to sit – it doesn’t matter if it ends up as a down – he’s not running around!
- He toilet trained relatively quickly.
- He is very settled at night and sleeps through with no issues.
- He has taken well to my / his / OUR new lifestyle.
A lot of dogs – whether rescue or not – have some or all of the above issues. I consider myself very lucky that he trusts me. I also trust him and I know he senses that.
Marcus and dad 