Meet the newest family member

[Elizabethn]

Well, Jack went to PA with us for Christmas and we all survived :-p. He has a few issues and we did more bonding by traveling together. He wowed his grandmom, until he and Mr. EN had an altercation that involved Mr. EN bleeding and Jack on his back in the universal canine submit or else position. NOT pleasant. However, all is well, or will be once Mr. EN finishes a ten day course of antibiotics. (He was not seriously injured, but it still got a bit infected, and one must be aggressive with such things.)

We learned a lot more about Jack's foibles, though. He went into poodle hysterics when he saw us packing/loading the car, both when leaving from home and from the hotel. He would not calm down until he was in the car. That hints to me of how he might have lost his previous home. He has an upper limit for stress and then goes hyper. I think that's how he and Mr. EN wound up in a tussle, but since I didn't actually see it, I don't know for sure.

I've been doing some reading online about bonding with rescue dogs and found a few tricks, such as hand feeding, to help it along. That seems to work well with him.

This evening after we got home and got the car unloaded, Jack brought me a toy and played fetch for the first time. He had been cooped up in the car for five hours, was bored silly and desperately needed some fun, so he initiated it. I was THRILLED. We're getting there.