Homechecks

I just realized it's been 10 days since I last wrote. I don't know if I've ever gone that long between posts before. It's been busy!

Obi had two homechecks last night, one in Victoria and one in Vancouver so hopefully one of those families gets to be Obi's new forever home :)

Obi has been doing well in foster bootcamp though the more comfortable he gets, the more annoying he gets too. It could just be my general level of stress right now that is making him seem annoying though.

Obi's awesome points: house-trained, super dog social, off-leash now in quiet places and the beach, knows lots of commands, gets really attached to his people. Recovery time on things that spook him has VASTLY improved. He's crate-trained and goes in willingly every night. He isn't so fond of his crate during the day for a few hours, but tough bananas.

That said, he is still super shy with people. Every second day we've been taking him the 30 minute walk to McDonalds and sitting on the outdoor patio and throwing cheese for him when people walk by. His bubble has grown -before he was similar to Jinks in that if a person even looked at him for 30 feet off he would try to bolt- and sometimes he will even let people feed him but he still has a bubble. He'll get there though. He's not defensive or shown any sign of aggression/reactivity whatsoever. He needs lots of continued heavy POSITIVE or neutral exposure.

He is also very noise sensitive, though this too has been coming along in spades. He is the type of dog that might never get over the initial "knee-jerk" reaction to louder noises, but will have it and move on right away afterwards.

In annoyingness Obi has one really annoying factor. He seemingly can't leave my dogs alone or settle for more than a few minutes. He is such a submissive lad that Lemon is the only one that will tell Obi where to shove his needy nose. Jinks has taken to going to hide behind the couch with a toy to get him to leave her alone. It's not that Obi is high energy, he is just BUSY and when there is a dog he likes around, their undivided attention. He's kind of like a 3 year old. He was with just Lemon for an afternoon though sine Jerrad took Jinks and Beckett out for a long hike after Obi had gone to daycare (he gets either daycare for 6 hours, or a 3 hour adventure a day). He did settle with just Lemon. So as an only dog or with a dog he isn't madly in love with, maybe he'll settle more?

It also comes down to having a challenge in the day. The daycare days (3 days a week) are the hardest in terms of him having a bunch of extra stupidity. Because daycare isn't hard for him. He plays, he sits with a chewie, he sometimes just lays by my feet. (He's in with small dogs, Jinks is in with big dogs.) It's the meeting people and dealing with noises that is work, but when he has some work in him, he's a lot calmer. McDonalds outings tend to do him in for the rest of the night.

In a nutshell, good dog who needs some hard work to be the best that he can be. He is no where near a "Jinks" level though, (though she too is slowly becoming a suburban dog) so I believe as long as he gets out every day to continue experiencing the world, he'll be just fine.