1:20 Rufus, Mo(my boston) I had lunch with my husband this afternoon and he told me how frisky Rufus was when he woke up to get ready for work this morning. He said he ran around and jumped up on him(Ok I admit it, I was asleep). I am not sure who will miss who more with those two. It is still puzzling to see the difference in his personality with men compared to women.
Later this morning Rufus surprised me again when I found him under the bed. He hasn’t hid a single time yet and here he is under the bed almost a week after we started training. He didn’t seem scared under there and when I lifted the bed sham and asked him what the heck he was doing he came right out. He hasn’t tried to go back under there so I am considering it habitual behavior. Just like with any habit, you subconsciously go somewhere or do something without even thinking about it. For humans it takes 14 days to break a habitual behavior. Perhaps its that way for dogs as well? Another point to remember with Rufus’s rehabilitation is that its continuous. Unfortunately I cannot “fix” him in two weeks and send him home a different dog. I am just getting the hard work started. He will have to be pushed everyday for a while until he no longer has that flight reflex.
I thought it would be fun to bring Rufus to the gym with me this morning! I took 2 group classes and Rufus sat in the back on his blanket like a good boy the entire time. He was a little nervous with the music and the new people but all in all I think he did great. Many times he is shaking slightly and physically looks nervous but when you look at his eyes and mouth they are relaxed. By that I mean his eyes are soft, not fixated or hard and his mouth is open not shut which is a good sign of relaxation. This is a good sign that he is beginning to mentally work through things that are scary to him.