The Rusty Report

Since I haven't been doing sewing (although a lot of knitting) why not talk more about Rusty. Today was his 3rd car training day and he practically wanted to jump in the crate in the morning. FAR less whining and barking which made me really happy.

After our morning of errands I decided to brave Petsmart. Armed with dog treats, belly band, patience and an exit strategy; we gave it a shot. He did really well considering.

I noticed that he wasn't attracted to all the birds and small animals jumping around which explained a lot to me how I could get a dog with such high prey drive that no one seemed to notice. When he is in a new situation or under stress he simply acts indifferent. Some dogs make a far more noticeable behavior of avoidance, but not him. I saw him notice all the birds and movement and then keep walking. Very different from the excitement and lunging I am dealing with at home.

It amazes me how much he gets out of busy parking lots. He will just come to a complete stop and stare at all the people and the cars and the noise.

What I am learning from errands with him is that he really doesn't have a very far distance before his gait really degrades and that is hard. I know the Metacam will help with the pain thankfully, but it really doesn't fix the degradation.


This photo was taking around 8pm last night. The fact that he is still out of the crate at that point and I haven't killed him is amazing in itself. :) He is a nightmare at night but I am determined to work on it. We had an accident in the morning - so belly band back on.

On the good side he went to the door later that night and we went out and he pooped.

During the day I came around the corner to see him slowly pulling a blanket off the bed - his agility and troubleshooting in moving and displacing objects is something else. Just as I walked in, Emile's bedhead popped out the other end of the slowly retracting blanket (much to Rusty's excitement) so it was a good thing I was there to intervene. Poor Emile.

Rusty LOVES his Kong. However, after that photo he took my knitting project and ran with it at which point I lost my patience and he went in the crate. He fell asleep crazy fast with no whining (unusual) so clearly some of the bad behavior was just being overtired. I would like him to get to the point in which he just lays somewhere on the floor and sleep on his own rather than working up to a destructive point. But we aren't there yet.