LBass

On the pillow?

Yikes. At least it's outside. Camp Counselor Story: Charleston, South Carolina https://south-carolina-plantations.com/berkeley/richmond.html Back in the days when this wonderful place belonged to my girl scout council and was our beloved camp I was a counselor one summer and sharing the carriage house with other counselors. The carriage house had a lovely screened porch. Outside the porch (thank goodness) there was a spider web that stretched from the eaves to a shrub and from the foundation to the base of said shrub. The web was over 5' tall. I was relaxing on the porch when I head what sounded like a Chihuahua moving about in the leaves outside. The spider was coming home. No more relaxing on the porch.

Impressive indeed.

What a wonderful yard! Happy girls. Congrats!

Oh, that face. for good eating days!

That is wonderful. It's also hilarious...that is how Piper and Spirit finally managed to share the couch, behinds barely touching.

Banjo and Annette! He's a gorgeous boy and still young enough to be a handful. He sounds great. I hope your recovery goes well. I bet having Banjo as a walking companion will make it more fun.

Slow down, with this boy. He may well be a naturally timid soul--one of my Greyhounds--or he may just need some time to adjust. Remember that his whole world has been completely upended within the last month. All the people he knew are gone. All the routines that governed his life are gone. Every familiar touchstone he ever counted on is long gone. I suspect that he is terrified. IMO, you need so slow down with this boy and put your focus on becoming the calm, quiet, gentle, benevolent rock in the storm for him. Stick to home and yard right now. He's not ready for Petsmart, the dog park, or likely even walking in your neighborhood right now. Sure, got to the vet if he needs that, but otherwise, this is the time to work on building your relationship with him. Think low, gentle, quiet. Focus on your preferred household routines. Routines around meals, bedtimes, potty trips. Chilling together. even if you aren't interacting, he is watching you and learning about you and thinking about bonding with you. I would leash him in the yard for walking or potty trips. The frantic, fearful running in the yard is not helping him or you. Walk him around, talk quietly. Others with more experience will chime in with good advice for you. I'll just mention the reward that generally comes after the initial effort you put in with timid, scared dogs. My 2nd Greyhound, Spirit, didn't race because he was too scared of strange people and places to handle being at the track. He spent some time with the trainer and his staff and they just loved on him--they taught this frightened boy that humans could give good scratches. When I met him, he was willing to let me pet him in his comfortable, familiar kennel crate. He was also still scared of the world. I remember his frantic, terrified running in the strange yard when he first got here. I thought I was letting him chill and potty after the long drive. In retrospect, it was all just too much too soon for Spirit (aka, Chicken Little, lovingly, I promise.). I do think it helped Spirit that my first Grey was there to model and reassure. I followed my own advice--slow, quiet, gentle. We lived more in parallel than together for the first few weeks. Eventually, Spirit came to trust me. Then he came to trust my sister, who visited often. It took several meetings before he decided she was OK. As soon as he was sure of a person, he was a love sponge, who wanting endless attention. Eventually Spirit came to trust me and that helped the world open up for him. I could take him anywhere and he would be comfortable. I think he knew I'd keep him safe. He even came to the point where he could let stranger pet him--I'd just keep an eye out for when he'd had enough. As he came to trust his humans, his personality blossomed and he became one of the funniest, sweetest boys. Stealing tomatoes from my garden. After years, standing up on the fence so the neighbor's son-in-law could pet him. What courage and growth. I lost him about a year and a half ago at 14.5 years. I wouldn't have missed him for the world. Hang in there. In this forum, search for "timid" "spooks" "fearful" and you'll find lots of threads with helpful info.

Wishing you the very best as you try to help your boy.

At least we know that Wiki had watermelon to enjoy. Hey beautiful girl.

heart melting

Smart girlie! Punkin, you'll get it when you're ready.

What a great picture! They do together-butt-knot-too-together so well. Miles, that cat Piper the Perfect lived with, wanted so badly to snuggle with Piper. Piper, ever the gentleman, would stare woefully up at me for rescue whenever the cat tried to snuggle and share his bed. I'd always rescue poor Piper. Miles never did have anyone to snuggle with except me.

What an interesting and hair raising problem. My Nate is 6 and also has PRA. When he came a 1.5 yrs, he seemed to have some sense of light/dark but that is long gone. Unlike your boy, Nate is careful when off leash. He happily explores but at a walk or trot. However, when he's leashed up, he goes full speed ahead and leaves it to the human on the other end of the lease to keep him safe. He recently surprised one of the vet techs who took him out to get a urine sample. Outdoors, Nate seems to have a mental map of the yard so he knows where trees and fence parameters are located. Also, when he wants to "run" he spins on a circle, like Western reining horses. So, my experience is somewhat different from yours. It seems that your primary worry is that sliding door. My thought would be to teach him to behave as if it is always closed. In other words, that he stops at the door for "permission" to go through it. He doesn't go through that door without your verbal permission. Training that might mean leashing him to you for a while but, once mastered, he'd be leash free and safer at that door. I also had a Grey who learned to respond to the "slow" commend. That might be a useful command to teach your boy. ETA: Another thought has come to mind. Nate very clearly demonstrates a sense of the presence or bulk of objects. I wonder if your boy does as well? I've seen Nate demonstrate awareness of bush/cart/building/chair/tree. Of course, this is usually when he's walking and not focused on any distractions. This is not to say that he never runs into things, but it is an augmented sense of his, for sure. I'm not sure how to make that useful with regard to your door. We redid our deck and the thing that really freaked Nate out was the absence of all the big planters that we laboriously moved off the deck to spend several months in the yard while the new deck wood dryed out and then got painted. He was freaked out on the deck all those months, though the stairs were in the same location (even on the same stair frames--stringers?) The thing that finally helped him was getting the big flower pots back in place on the deck. Anyway, if your boy demonstrates this awareness of bulk, I wonder if one of two large planters or large somethings could be put in front of the slider door as a reminder for him? Enough space between them for all dogs and humans to still get out the door.

Good films are THE BEST!

Such a wonderful girl with he strong personality. These dogs really do change our lives.

The universal look of a put upon hound. LaVida, you communicate so very well.

A beautiful boy and a beloved soul.

What a cutie!

Those are wonderful! Spot on.

I had the same thought and the same reaction. She's such a pretty girl.

Aw