Tuesday, January 04, 2011

Davie Update

Dave is doing awesome- he is steadily improving and more and more I see little glimmers of the dog he will be.

He is great on walks, and doesn't woof at people very much at all. I pretty well ignore his insecure behaviour and reward the brave. We stopped in at the vet clinic after a walk yesterday and he was great. Met a few tech's, and a vet. He was pretty relaxed about it until someone bent over him.

He is learning all sorts of things and can now sit and down on command. The down he kinda had before, but it does pretty happily now. He has also learned a nose touch but that is still not reliable.

Davie is housetrained now- which is super! I still don't trust him in new places and buildings, but once he is neutered I think there will be no need to worry anymore about it. Speaking of neutering, I am going to make his appointment in the next few weeks. I was putting it off as I didn't want to traumatize him but as the confidence grows so does his love for the ladies. :)


He still has weird movement in the rear which I am not super happy about. He hops occasionally and is definitely weaker on one side. Sarah and I attribute this to running in circles- and interestingly he starts circling the second there is tension on a leash. Always to the left. We've started doing exercises to build muscle so hopefully that will help. I don't think he is displastic, but may get xrays when he is neutered to be sure. So every day (twice a day) we do left and right circles (slowly), stretching forward, and up, and today I am going to introduce some perch work.

Davie is becoming SUPER playful and will seek out toys in the house. He has figured out the game of tug, and I can really see the goofy teenage boy coming out. He has quite the sense of humour. He also LOVES to chase things- moving dogs mostly. I've had to get after him about chasing Pixel. He is completely smitten with her. He listens very well though and responds to his name almost instantly. And I must mention that he is smoking fast when he runs. He has a huge stride and goes full out. It's a sight to see!

With all this progress it won't be long until he is ready to head off for his new home. I am not going to place him in a sport home because of the weird movement. I don't know for sure if it is just the muscle weakness, or a long term issue and I don't want to put that on someone else. But he will make someone a great pet! But that won't be for a little while yet- at the very least not until he has been neutered.

3 comments:

Taryn said...

I love that picture! The little head tilts that are going on is adorable!

Sarah said...

gyppie and davie sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G ...


i really do think his muscle stuff will even out soon.

and i'm sure he'll miss his balls, but the ladeez will still swoon.

Jules said...

Great photo! Both dogs have such expressive looks on their faces. Gyp looks so coy!

I am glad he is coming out of his shell.