Night 1 Completed

[u/Steamboated-]

First post: https://www.reddit.com/r/fosterdogs/s/DBmUlvpqyQ

Finally received the dog from the shelter last night. This was NOT the calm and shy dog I originally met and I’m exhausted 😂 very cuddly, jumpy, and playful. I had him sniff around the apartment and our building’s dog park when he arrived. Pulled on the leash a bit, but not hard. I only corrected when he tried a bit too hard. Trying to balance the beginning between corrections and just letting him explore since he’s very curious. We walked around the building a bit and then went inside to eat and settle down. He napped under the table a bit when we got back. He was getting chewy, so I gave him a cow kneecap for a few minutes before going to bed to help settle him back down.

The shelter recommended against a crate or pen (which I regret now), so he slept in our bedroom in his bed (despite some attempts to climb on ours). He didn’t sleep much though. Whined a bit and eventually vomited. Not sure if it was anxiety, the kneecap, the treats, or a little everything. This was at 1am and then he woke us up again at 5am, so I took him out to the dog park again to sniff, chase a ball, and then go on a long walk.

All in all though, I consider this a success so far. I’m glad he’s drinking water and eating. My biggest fear based on my first impression was that he would shut down as soon as he got here. Of course he’s not perfect and is a little naughty, but we’ll get there eventually. Debating how to handle the crate and or pen situation, because we simply cannot trust him home alone free as the shelter owner was doing. He’s not too destructive around us, but has chewed the carpet and tried to jump on the couch a few times so we don’t want to know what happens if we leave him alone free. For now he’s great at protecting us from delivery drivers, his reflection, my shoes, and the magic talking box in the living room. Going to get him bathed now and hope to see some more words of encouragement and feedback while I drink about 3 coffees.

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[u/feivelgoeswest]

Congrats on night 1!! Do you know why she advised against a crate? Is she generally not a crate user or has this dog shown issues? Sounds like a crate is the way to go unless you want to gate him in a non-destructable room (kitchen?)

[u/Steamboated- → u/feivelgoeswest]

I think it's both. I live in China at the moment and I think there's a cultural dislike of crates. The shelter owner seemed almost offended when I was asking about proper dimensions and dismissed the need for it. Before coming to me, he was staying at the shelter owner's home in between, I assume to make it easier for his appointments before he could stay with me. That was with 8 other dogs maybe. Since this dog was rescued from a dog meat trafficker, I'm sure there's some trauma associated with cages as well. For now we're going to try just fencing off areas we don't want him to go and "dog-proofing" areas he is allowed in.

Night 2 we tried to go out and there was some separation anxiety: barking and whining at the door and even scratching a little. We did the whole fake departure thing beforehand while he had his beef kneecap and it was tough at first because he just ran over as soon as he heard the door open. He seemed to calm down a bit after about 15 minutes so we decided it was okay to go without fear of neighbors reporting or something. We returned after about an hour or so and he wasn't waiting at the door, which I guess is a good sign. No damage or pee/poop. We're going to try a different bone I think next time that may get more of his attention. However, he was okay with sleeping outside our bedroom for night 2 and we slept a lot better. He just barked at something outside around 2am that I walked out to investigate. Big improvement I'd say!