whelelr

I adopted him back in Dec 2020, so this could be spot on! We usually trade up with treats or biscuits since he is very food motivated. I call him a bit of kleptomaniac.. from the day I brought him home, he's been stealing pillows and stuffed animals. The more typical household items being "stolen" has happened within the last 2-3 days. He had a metatarsal break in July 2020 during a race and they placed implants to fix it. Fast forward to Jan/Feb 2021, he was cutting his leg open dramatically and nothing would heal... implants were infected and had to come out. The surgery went well, he was like a new dog after 2-3 weeks. Jumping, running, full of energy like never before. I have not been able to make contact with my adoption group nor have Gary's vet or surgeon, very odd and confusing...

I wanted to take away some of his earned privileges (i.e. laying on the furniture) until I can get a read on what's going on, but I didn't want to "punish" him. Unfortunately, with the bandaging from surgery, he developed some nasty pressure sores which extended movement restrictions from 4 weeks to 7 weeks.... Thank you for the tips!

Slipped the muzzle right on after that encounter! I wish he had been playing last night, but the bark that came with the snap was unfortunately not so playful! I think the movement restrictions have definitely left him frustrated. Thank you for the advice!

My 4 y/o boy Gary has been acting progressively more and more strange over the last few days. I'm struggling to figure out what is going on. He had an implant removal surgery back in late Feb. and has just gotten clearance to resume "normal" activities. Before this, he was only allowed to go on short leash walks for potty breaks. Today was the first day in a long while we've been able to walk over 1 mi... A few days ago he started to act markedly more sassy than usual... "stealing" items around the house like boxes and bags, when in the past he really only had interest in pillows and stuffed animals, things that resemble his squeaky toys. He tried to counter surf, which he has done only once before in the time I've had him. His overall demeanor seems off to me, he's much more restless than usual. Now tonight, things escalated to a level that makes me wary of what could happen next if I can't get a read on what's going on. He stole a plastic bag from a table top. I took the bag from him (not from his mouth, just from the ground in front of him) and gave him one of his toys. He laid down after that and I went to pet him, he has never reacted to me petting him when laying down before. It happened so fast I wasn't able to back away before he reacted, he had bared his teeth and lunged at my face in an attempt to bite. I gave him a stern no and walked away, fairly shaken up trying to figure out what I had done wrong since I try to respect his boundaries as much as possible (besides teeth brushing lol). I clearly did something to cross his boundaries and will try to give him his space. I do not want to outright ignore him, but also do not want to overstep and upset him more, if that makes sense. I'm not sure if the surgery/movement restrictions have affected him or if he is having a problem with me (trying not give myself so much credit, but he wags his tail with my housemates and seems very frustrated towards me). Has anyone had a similar situation? What do you recommend going forward? Am I being dramatic (half-joking)? Thank you very much for any advice or help.