Well Winston has settled in as if he has always lived here. Not a a peep through the night
Not much evidence of being housetrained so we have gone back to basics and have spent many an hour in the garden. He is dry overnight in the crate which is great. We took him out at 5 am on the first morning and left it til 6 today. Tomorrow we will try 6.30. He goes straight back in the crate until we get up without any fuss.
He is affectionate and playful and I’m really pleased to say has enjoyed his walks across the fields.
He is still on 3 legs at times, mainly on our gravel drive but mostly on 4 now. We are taking him to the vet anyway on Monday so he can take a look.
We’ve switched him onto Pure, a dried raw food, which he loves.
All I can say he is is a very happy dog and we will crack the housetraining.
Winston seems very happy indeed. We think we are making some progress with the housetraining. We have watched him like a hawk and taken him out very regularly. He always does a wee for us in the garden. We are leaving the back door open most of the time and yesterday he started to go outside on his own to wee. A huge step forwards.
He sleeps in his crate and keeps that dry through the night. We let him out at 7 am and for the rest of the day he enjoys his walks and play in the house.
I did mention to you that a couple of toys have excited him too much. He eventually dropped the first one and my foot was next to it and he lunged at my foot and bit it. I was wearing boots so was unhurt but very surprised and upset by it.
One other toy had a similar effect. Once he had left that toy and had come some distance from it he came to me and sat down for a treat. Out of the blue he did the same thing and lunged at my foot and bit my toe. He did not draw blood but it did hurt. Those toys are now banned of course but it has worried us, especially as our grandchildren will be here this weekend.
Thank you for the numbers for the dog behaviourists. I think we will speak to one of them.
He also went for a puppy through the wire on our gate. I put that down to his experiences in kennels but again he did try to get me when I picked him up. We have arranged to start socialisation classes with him in a small group of 4 dogs.
Winston is so quick to learn and so affectionate. These little outbursts of aggression are not reflected in his behaviour throughout the day. I just hope and pray we can sort this out as he is otherwise a lovely boy.
Sarah.
