Dog, day 1
Jan. 10th, 2009 11:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
serenissimaWe brought home a dog from the Humane Society today. My poll from before unanimously recommended a cat, but ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
aristeros' physical reaction to pets we met over the holidays lead us to think that getting a cat would probably result in sneezing and tears.
We asked the staff to recommend a laid back, mellow dog. They directed us to a medium-sized, flop-eared male of about two or three years of age. He's mostly black with a narrow blaze of white on his chest and brown eyes. He was labeled a cocker spaniel mix, but he looks like he has a lot of black Labrador retriever in him. The only things spaniel-like about him that I can kind of see are the shape of his muzzle and the curl and fluff of his tail.
At the shelter, I lead him around the grounds for a few minutes. He was very docile and didn't bark. He paid very little attention to the other people visiting and was more interested in the other dogs. He didn't try to attack the cat we met strolling around the grounds. He didn't react when a shelter volunteer pulled up his lip to look at his teeth and lifted his tail to make sure he was neutered.
Sounds great, right? But he's given us a little cause for concern. We picked him up around midday, and he didn't want to go in the car.aristeros had to physically lift him and put him in it. We took him with us to PetSmart first, and he was well-behaved on the car ride and at the store, but he had to be placed in the car again for the ride home.
Once home, I took him into our fenced back yard, and there he stayed for the next couple of hours, because he was very reluctant to enter the house. He'd come up to the back door if called, and dared to put his two front paws indoors, but no more, even with encouraging words and petting. Eventually we decided to take him on a walk around the neighborhood and enter the house by the front door. The walk went all right, though his tail was held low the whole time, but when we got home,aristeros practically had to drag him in the door.
He seems to be distant or reserved. It's not that he's totally disinterested: he does come to us if we crouch and look inviting, just not very quickly. We are left to speculate. Was he an outdoor dog before? Was he beaten? All we know for sure is that he lived with a family before, so he wasn't a street dog, and the shelter had him since last September. I guess four months in doggy jail could mess with one's head.
What really bothers us is that he hasn't gone to the bathroom all day. We picked him up around midday. Granted, he barely touched the food and water we gave him. We roused him from his sleep around 9:30 PM and took him into the back yard one last time, but he still didn't go, although he was somewhat less hesitant to re-enter the house. Maybe it's just stress? We decided not to lock him up overnight, and I'm hoping we don't wake to find a stinky mess in the living room.
As for the name, the shelter called him Jerry. We don't especially like that. We are thinking of naming him Mungo, after Mungojerrie.
aristeros' physical reaction to pets we met over the holidays lead us to think that getting a cat would probably result in sneezing and tears.We asked the staff to recommend a laid back, mellow dog. They directed us to a medium-sized, flop-eared male of about two or three years of age. He's mostly black with a narrow blaze of white on his chest and brown eyes. He was labeled a cocker spaniel mix, but he looks like he has a lot of black Labrador retriever in him. The only things spaniel-like about him that I can kind of see are the shape of his muzzle and the curl and fluff of his tail.
At the shelter, I lead him around the grounds for a few minutes. He was very docile and didn't bark. He paid very little attention to the other people visiting and was more interested in the other dogs. He didn't try to attack the cat we met strolling around the grounds. He didn't react when a shelter volunteer pulled up his lip to look at his teeth and lifted his tail to make sure he was neutered.
Sounds great, right? But he's given us a little cause for concern. We picked him up around midday, and he didn't want to go in the car.
aristeros had to physically lift him and put him in it. We took him with us to PetSmart first, and he was well-behaved on the car ride and at the store, but he had to be placed in the car again for the ride home. Once home, I took him into our fenced back yard, and there he stayed for the next couple of hours, because he was very reluctant to enter the house. He'd come up to the back door if called, and dared to put his two front paws indoors, but no more, even with encouraging words and petting. Eventually we decided to take him on a walk around the neighborhood and enter the house by the front door. The walk went all right, though his tail was held low the whole time, but when we got home,
aristeros practically had to drag him in the door.He seems to be distant or reserved. It's not that he's totally disinterested: he does come to us if we crouch and look inviting, just not very quickly. We are left to speculate. Was he an outdoor dog before? Was he beaten? All we know for sure is that he lived with a family before, so he wasn't a street dog, and the shelter had him since last September. I guess four months in doggy jail could mess with one's head.
What really bothers us is that he hasn't gone to the bathroom all day. We picked him up around midday. Granted, he barely touched the food and water we gave him. We roused him from his sleep around 9:30 PM and took him into the back yard one last time, but he still didn't go, although he was somewhat less hesitant to re-enter the house. Maybe it's just stress? We decided not to lock him up overnight, and I'm hoping we don't wake to find a stinky mess in the living room.
As for the name, the shelter called him Jerry. We don't especially like that. We are thinking of naming him Mungo, after Mungojerrie.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-11 01:27 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-11 05:05 pm (UTC)Your dog sounds really scared. Hope with love, affection, and boundary setting it will work out.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-12 12:20 am (UTC)As for Mungo... I couldn't help thinking of this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28khv-BydeY&feature=related
(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-12 02:18 pm (UTC)