It’s day 5 in the “Sparky Comes to Stay” days of our lives. All things considered, it’s been a pretty mellow week. I think that I’ve freaked out more than anything else. I’d become quite complacent in all the things happening around my house. A new dog would shake things up and give me more to do. Plus, with Sparky being an older dog, we always worry about the kids.
Eight years ago, we fostered 5 different dogs. A few for a week, and two of them for more extended periods of time. The last one, Binkie, we hoped to keep (or I should say, I hoped). Although she seemed to initially gel, after a few months she began to try and get better positioning in the pack. She continually picked on Casey and had a few minor scuffles with Winnie. Blood was drawn. It became a daily concern. After 2 rough and unprovoked attacks on Casey in 2 days, I could no longer take it. She thought she was the boss and it was never going to work. But the biggest worry was for Casey. I wasn’t concerned with my own safety.
With Sparky coming in, it’s still the kids I worry about. So far, he’s been super. He has taken their mild torture well. Of course, I’m right there all the time reading him and backing them off when they need to.
He and Casey are still working it out. But they go on walks together without issue. They run in the backyard together. They even realized they both have a common fear of thunder and huddle up together near me during the action. Entering and exiting the house is the biggest problem, with dog pileups and little growl outs. Casey has accepted him for the most part, he’s just got to fall in line now. Her initial attacks have raised a bit of fear in him. I have faith that it will mellow out.
He’s fallen to one of Casey tricks – stealing his food dish. And she doesn’t care one bit if he gets all huffy and puffy about it.
Sparky seems to have had some training. I’ve already got him sitting and lying down on command with little coercion. And he’s quite fond of chasing squirrels in our backyard.
He hasn’t figured out that he could easily climb the 3 foot fence. And we hope he never does.
In general, he seems to be a good dog. But we’re still not seeing his personality shine through completely. That will take time. We know he’s bonding to us. As the days wear on, he’s more protective of the people walking by. On a walk tonight, he was in full swell up over a passer by. He’s in the pack. And we’re happy to have him!
