July Day One -- Meet the Troops

George's first visit here and we are pleased as punch to have him here! He's such a nice guy!!

To get George slowly acclimated to the new digs, he gets some time by himself to explore around and take everything in at his own speed. There are lots of dog smells and he can hear dogs nearby but he doesn't have the social pressure of being in a new location with a lot of new dogs coming over to check him out. He did well and wagged his tail a lot as he happily came up to me for attention (he must have abandoned his original thought that I was a dog napper taking him from his home).

He meets the troops one at a time, again at his own speed. I think he's met all my dogs before but never where he was so close or even had an opportunity to interact much.

When he's ready, he can approach (or not approach) at his will.

To my surprise, Healey, who normally doesn't really care to interact with the visiting dogs, went right up to George and did a play bough. Unheard of for Healey. Maybe George is just her speed.

Next up was the Thistle introduction. Perfect socially acceptable greeting. George was good about setting his boundaries if he was feeling a little overwhelmed but no need to here with such a nice introduction.

Thistle is a little more affectionate than Healey but George didn't seem to mind too much.

Well, he could do without the kiss.

A little bit of stress panting at first but he quickly settled in.

We worked on short periods of time alone. Very short...to help build up his ability to be alone. When he's alone, he gets his bully sticks or a stuffed Kong or some tasty treats. But when he is back with me, I'm as boring as can be for at least 5 minutes.

Barking has been minimal so far. I am guessing I will see more tomorrow when he's feeling his oats. But when he did bark, I quickly turned my back on him. When I was preparing his dinner and he barked, at the first bark, I set down the food I was preparing and quickly turned my back on him, tucked my arms in and looked up towards the ceiling. I didn't move towards making his meal again until he had been quiet for about 15 or 20 seconds. Then I praised him for being quiet and continued preparing his meal. I only stopped twice before he started to figure out the connection. He'll repeat what works for him so, if it pays off more to be quiet, he's more likely to repeat that behavior.