Getting to Know Gorky

With every new foster dog there is a time after they first arrive that I think "oh my gawd, what have I gotten myself into." Sometimes this faze lasts for weeks, sometime just for a day or less. Happily Gorky falls into the latter category.

When we get these young 9 month to 2 years of age dogs from the shelters it is almost always a case of someone getting a cute dog, doing absolutely no training and then blaming the dog for not magically figuring out how to live up to our expectations of how a pet should behave in our world. It's sad because these are smart, active dogs who are getting blamed for what is essentially their human's laziness.

It's not that these dogs haven't learned things. They've learned what a frustrated human looks and sounds like and that they are best avoided. They learn to not come when called because something bad could happen if they do. They learn that digging holes, climbing fences, barking at anything that moves is fun when you're by yourself in a back yard with nothing better to do and no company.

Happily, Gorky doesn't seem to be interested in hole digging or escaping fences but he is an energetic guy who has learned that humans can be unpredictable in their reactions. The result is that while he loves attention, he will stay just out of reach and finds grabby hands unsettling. We're working on this though.

He was super hyper when he first arrived - stressed out from his long journey and ending up in a house full of people and dogs he didn't know. A lot of people would have called his activity level and bounciness as being a happy dog. It was obvious from his body language though that he was overwhelmed - panting, unable to sit still, tight muscles in the face, stiff wagging of the tail and rigid postures as he hopped around ...

Now a couple of days later he is still a busy boy but it's a happy busy. I don't think he's ever lived inside a house so all the new textures and sounds and expectations are new. He's catching on quickly though and has settled right into the routine. He loves to play with other dogs so I have a feeling that before too long he and Chima will be having fun wrestling and chasing.