The rosebud installment

Poor dude, he's so jacked up.  I wish there was something I could do to make steps easier for him.  Aside from building a ramp, I'm not sure. He has short legs and a long body and his roachy topline makes his butt taller or nearly than his head. This presents a big problem with steps, even short flights of steps.  When he tries to go down on his own, he almost always goes down on his elbows or hits his face on the flagstones. Part of the problem is the speed in which he attempts it.  When he is less scared of them, he may slow down and it become easier.  For now, I keep his front end elevated with the harness/leash so he doesn't smash his face.  The picture insert is from Saturday, one of the times he laid down close but just out of reach.  I'm glad he's not afraid of the camera and in general doesn't seem too afraid of inanimate objects unlike most shy dogs.  That's interesting.  No fear of the car, the camera, the recycling, the trash cans, mailboxes.  His wariness is people centric - and closed in places like doorways and hallways and weird things like steps.  He also doesn't seem too wary of sounds, cars, alarms, the icecream truck, kids yelling and screaming.  Big difference from Kiki but then she had lived in a small run on a small farm, behind some buildings out in BFE, a silent existence.  Maybe living on a chain afforded him a little more environmental experience.

We did our daily laydown in front of the crate. Everyone joined in this am, zelda, cosmo and even Annabelle stood over me. Peering down like the snoopy vulture.  All wags from inside but no dice. Cosmo rubbing on the crate did nothing to entice.  He did lean out and lick my fingers once but no dice on leaving his sanctuary.  But instead of closing the crate to come back later, I just got up, walked away and he followed.  He also puts himself back in the crate when we come in.  Goes back through the kitchen on his own (usually I'm still closing the door) and then panics just a bit going through the tight hallway. His back feet kind of slip out from under him and he bolts through.  He doesn't bolt through on the way out, just the way in and if I'm close he'll panic and shoot through and gouge my bare feet in the process.  So I let him do it himself. If I take too long, he'll come back out.  Then when I get there, he'll put himself back in or miss the crate and head down in the corner.  When his underwear gets here we will start letting him explore more inside the house. Right now we spend a lot of time just watching each other outside.  His crate should probably be moved to a central location but I don't have a central location that's big enough. We might switch to a smaller crate so I can do this next week.

He seems to take treats better and it could be because his weight is increasing.  He is certainly very "charged" at meal times and very vocal.  I have increased his meals to 3.5 cups per day and treats in between. That seems to help the desperate air around feeding and he has slowed down a lot.  No more gulping.  I also leave him alone mostly and just watch from the door.  Overall though I do think he's getting a little more gentle.  Maybe learning where the food ends and my fingers begin.  With something really delicious, he forgets and tries to take my fingers too.