Just One More Dog

Archive for the ‘Dexter’ Category

Do you ever look at a dog and ask yourself “just what is going on in that dogs mind?”

Well, with Dexter there isn’t too much of a question when it comes to watching him. His thoughts are written all over his face. He is a very expressive little guy.

Example (talk of poo’ing ahead) – he was outside the other morning, and I was watching from the kitchen as I am working on him having more independence from me (more on that later). He had just eaten so was outside going poo. Low and behold, a magpie flies into the yard mid poo. Yes. You got it. I burst out laughing because he had this look on his face like “I want that bird, I NEED that bird … BUT … I’m poo’ing … I can’t just stop … BUT I WANT THAT BIRD …

Needless to say, I am still laughing as I think about it. He is pretty obvious with his wants/needs. When its play time he gets the ball and picks it up / drops it over and over again. When he is hungry he paws at the food container. And of course, when he wants to cuddle he just …. cuddles.

Dexter is pretty attached to everyone he meets. He loves to be close to the people in his world. Often, if you are standing anywhere and he is able to just chill out, he is either chilling out between your feet or sitting on them. He is like a shadow, a very cute shadow. He is crate trained and I find that when his puppy playfulness requires a time out the crate works great. It’s funny, he is just like a kid, where I can tell when its time for a nap. There are times when he gets the “PuppyCrazies” and I put him in his crate and its almost an instant snorefest.

I know that whatever family he goes to will fall in love with him. He does have energy and needs to burn that off, but I have found that even just training him can tire him out. I have trained him to sit, laydown, crawl, shake both paws and sit pretty. We are working on leave it and take it too. He is great when I call him to come too. I think that it helps when he goes to Dogma for daycare. He gets great socialization and he also comes home wiped out. He has actually been crashed out in his crate for the last hour without a sound!

Well it has been a very busy week in Chez Morgan and I owe a post to update y’all.

Denny:

Denny went on a day visit last Sunday. Funny enough, it was with a family where I went to junior high with the Dad. The day visit went really well – okay, except for an incident in the truck on the way there – but other than that he seemed to really take to them. They decided to adopt him. It was great on Monday when the family came to pick him up and he was so happy to see them. It was like he knew what was going on. His last night with me, he cuddled me all night long. I know that he has adopted a great new family.

Luna:

Luna went for a day visit also. She met her new families family and the day went exceedingly well. The visit went so well that when she came home she was even more out of her shell than normal. It was great. She has been adopted by a family that is so excited to see her every day. I am so happy for her.

And of course, when one dog is adopted, there is room for another one in my house. So it is with great pleasure that I indroduce you all to Dexter (initially known as Glen).

When Dexter first came to ARF he was a bit of a wild child. With the help of a lot of dedicated volunteers – both human and canine – this boy is going from wild child to chillin’ dude. He has been going to daycare to be socialized and to wear him out. However, starting this week I am going to cut back the amount of time that he goes. On Thursday when I picked him up he was pretty excited and hyper. The meeting with Whitley and with Cameron went well. So, when we got home, I decided that this time, I was going to actually set rules and boundaries in my house.

First off, I decided that he would not come up on the couch without permission. So I found an old blanket and have it beside me on the floor. I gave him his bone and told him that was his “bed”. He is such a smart little guy. He got it right away. Not only did he lay there and chew bones, he did it over and over willingly. He has come up on the couch once, and that was late last night when he was quiet beside me on the floor. So I let him up on my lap where he promptly fell asleep.

Secondly, we are doing a lot of training. Starting with “sit” and moving forward to “down”, “leave it” and “take it”. He follows me around everywhere and is often right beside me as I walk around the house. He is crate trained and sleeps very well in his crate at night. And he is learning to mellow out. Since Thursday, I have already noticed a difference. The first night he was here he had the zoomies around the house. Now, he will run around but its not insane. Its laid back.

Anyways, this lil’ dude is really sweet. There will be more to come on this guy as days go by. I will take more pictures soon.