Deuce's Progress

We have had Deuce now for almost seven months and we have noticed a few things. Remember, he is a rescue dog and was around two years old when he came into our lives. He had and still has issues. He accepted us right away but whenever we tried to leave the house it was a fight to keep him from bolting out the door. Now when we have to leave, we just tell him to stay and protect the house and he doesn’t try to escape.

Feeding time routine he learned right away, after all, he has to do what he’s told to get his food. I make him sit and wait for his food until I say “okay”. Then, and only then is he allowed to approach his dish to start eating. If he gets impatient and tries to get his food before I say the word, I take the dish away and we try again in a few minutes. That doesn’t happen very often anymore. One other benefit of the feeding routine was establishing hierarchy. Deuce was “herding” Laura because he figured he was above her in the family chain. I got her to feed him and then take his food away, play with it and then give it back to him. Guess what? No more herding issue.

Walking him has always been a challenge; he’s a puller. We tried a regular collar but he’s very strong, so we moved up to a choke chain. What he did then was just choke himself for the whole walk, stopping to cough and sometimes barf much too often. Next I considered getting a pinch collar but when I went to buy one, they wouldn’t sell it to me -- they only sell to trainers. They did however suggest a harness where the lead attaches to where the breastbone is. This seemed to work for a while but I noticed that Deuce was getting sores under his front legs because he was still always pulling. I tried a few different arrangements of wrapping the leash around his torso and legs and finally found something that works. I use the harness, wrap the leash behind his front legs, up across his chest and around the side of his neck. This way it does not restrict his movement unless he pulls and then it squeezes his front legs together, stopping him. Now he is to the point where I sometimes can walk him without wrapping the leash around and he stays right beside me. Once he pulls a couple of times though and tries to get ahead of me, I wrap it around once more. He’s getting better all the time.

He has a few toys which he loves to play with but his favourite is a squeaky bone. I’ve found that it’s better than treats for training him. He loves us to throw it for him, either down the hall or up in the air where he catches it almost every time. I started telling him to lie down before I would throw it and now I just have to snap my fingers and he drops to the ground, waiting for the release. When I throw it down the hall from the living room, I put my legs out between the couch and the love-seat so that he has to jump over them. So much fun! There is a down side to this game though that I have to break him of: he gets pushy if he wants to play at an inappropriate time. He squeaks his bone repeatedly in our faces, dropping it in our lap, trying to make us play. I’ve started taking the toy away to let him know that he’s not in charge and that it’s time to play only when I say it’s time. He’ll learn.

One thing we’ve really noticed in the last week or so is that he’s wagging his tail a lot more, noted by objects being knocked over much more often. That is a very good sign I think. It means that he is really getting comfortable with us and that he’s accepted us as his family, knowing that we’re not going anywhere. It’s a great feeling!

We’ll never know what he went through before he came into our lives but it’s a gift to know that we are making a difference in one dog’s life who didn’t have a very good start. He still has issues with strangers in our house and usually has to go to the balcony when we have company. He is almost over his fear of cars and motorcycles when we are walking. He’s almost used to the idea that he’s not allowed to chase cats, squirrels, bunnies and deer. One day he may be able to ride in the car without panicking the whole time. He’ll always have the scars and the broken tooth, but those physical wounds are just reminders to us of where he came from and that he’s happy now. He is such a blessed addition to our lives and I’m happy that we found each other.