The Faces of Dante

Obedient

Sweet

Pitiful 

Intense Concentration

Distracted

 

Exhausted 

 Stubborn

 Contentment

Settling In

Well, we have hit the one-week mark with Dante!  He is settling in really well for the most part.  He is such a sweetie, but is very independent and does not like to be told what to do or where to go.  Dante is not food motivated at all, so that has been challenging trying to get him excited and wanting to learn.  He loves his toys and lives for praise, so that is pretty much what I have been doing with him.  He is doing a lot of wonderful things:

He is responding very well to his name, and looks at me (almost) every time I call him.

He does a stellar "Sit" and will sit everywhere I ask him to.  He will even sit for my mom and sister.

I have been working with him on "Wait" at doors, for his meals, and in his kennel, and I think he has almost gotten that.  

He loves to go in the upstairs hallway and practice his "Here" and "Drop":

I have been so surprised with Dante.  He is not afraid of anything.  On the first day we had him he went up about six steps, and today he went up AND down the entire staircase FOUR times! 

Another thing I have been working with him on is accepting the gentle leader.  A gentle leader is kind of similar to a horse's halter.  It goes over the nose and behind the ears, so that you can have more control over the dog. It touches the same "pressure points" - behind his ears and on his nose - that the mother dog would touch when correcting or directing her pups.  It also prevents them from choking and pulling too hard on a flat collar.  This is all good, but...

Dante hates the gentle leader.  I have been putting it on him when he eats his meals.  But for a dog that is not very interested in his food already, that has not helped at all (he wouldn't even finish a quarter of his food).  

So, today he has worn it all day and is making great progress with it.  He still does not like to walk in it or "Hurry" with it on, but he did eat all of his food, at all three meals, with it on today.  With lots of praise and playing with toys (and knowing it is not coming off), he is learning.

Dante giving me his saddest puppy eyes and looking extremely pitiful.  (I know it looks really tight here, but he is just pushing his nose into the carpet as hard as he can.)

Dante out on a walk (actually, more like "refusing" to walk) with his gentle leader on

 I absolutely love teaching him and watching him learn!  When you give him a command and look into his eyes, you can see his mind working and processing it.  He is so much fun to work with!

 

7:43am

 It was Wednesday morning and I was enjoying my last morning to sleep in before the ball of fur arrived.  The night before I had thought; "Hey, I'll pack the stuff we need in the morning because we don't need to be at the airport till 11:00 anyways."  Ha!  Well, just as my alarm was going off, my mom came into my room on her cell phone and said to get dressed as fast as I could because the airport had just called and told her that they had gotten Dante on an earlier flight and he was there, waiting patiently, whining and crying, for someone to let him out.  Well, I think I set a record for getting myself together with all of the paperwork and things we needed to get him, and still looking presentable.  About fifteen minutes later we were on our way.  I believe it was one the longest 35 minute drives I have taken, trying to think of anything and everything to expect from Dante and this new adventure.

 When we walked into the cargo pickup, before we could even say what we had come for, the lady behind the desk says, "You're here for your baby, aren't you?"  That sounded so weird, "your baby," I guess because I have been telling myself "this is NOT my dog," for the last year.  He was brought out to us about 30 seconds later (I think because they were tired of hearing him whine(; ), all 12.8 pounds of cute, smelly, and unhappy puppy.

He was so happy and just cuddled right up to me.  I don't know if it was because he likes me or because I was the first one to let him out of his crate after nearly nine hours.  Probably the latter. ;)

After trying to get Dante to "Hurry" (the command for potty), we were on our way home.

Once home, the first thing we did was give him a bath.  It took both my mom and I about ten minutes of working together to get all of his fur wet. I'm convinced that we can take many long walks in the rain and water will never touch his skin! :)

I think this may be the first and last time Dante gets a bath in the kitchen sink!

The poor boy was shivering when we were done, so we blow-dried him and wrapped him up.

My mom and Dante

The rest of the day consisted of trying to get him settled in and enjoying his crate ( He's still working on that one).

Now that Dante has been settling into our home and routine, his independent personality is really coming out.  He is very strong-willed and lets me know when he is not happy.  I just hope and pray that over the next year I'll be able to shape this into behaviors that can be used to his fullest potential.