Fresco's Photo Session

I've kind of been slacking on the old blog posts the last few days, and I really don't have an excuse since I had the entire day off on Monday for MLK Day. I was kind of a sloth and slept way in that morning, but in my defense, I spent several hours of my afternoon volunteering at the humane society, taking pictures and videos of the adoptable dogs in the freezing cold. That was probably kind of a silly way to spend my vacation day, but then again I don't really claim to be normal.

Speaking of adoptable dogs, I wanted to share some new pictures of our sweet little boy Fresco. I've been snapping shots of him like crazy in the 11 days since he's been home, trying to capture his loving and snuggly personality. I can't even begin to describe how great he's been doing since he got here. He has matured so much in the last few months I can hardly believe it, but then again, I guess maybe he's been through so many traumatic changes lately he's been forced to grow up rather quickly!

The biggest change we've seen in Fresco's behavior is with regard to his interaction with Hope. When he was here last fall, all he wanted to do was wrestle with his foster sister. These days, she tries and tries to get him to wrestle, but all he does is run away from her! I don't exactly know why, but he wants no part of Hope's advances. I feel kind of bad that he won't wrestle since they had so much fun and got such good exercise in their previous matches, but it's also very nice that we're not having to send them outside all the time since it's freezing cold!

Fresco's been doing so well in so many other areas too. He's had no accidents in the house even though for the last month he'd been having to potty in his kennel at the shelter. He's had no "arguments" with either of the dogs over toys or food, in fact, when I took this picture tonight it was the first time he'd even played with any toys. Hope has even been trying to instigate fights with him by throwing her toys all over the floor in front of him and playing with them, but he won't even pick one up in front of her. It's so weird. He's doing well on his basic commands: sit and shake (which we worked on last time he was here), stay and come (which he worked on with his most recent family), lay down and off (which he's been working on this week). He's been a perfect little gentleman except for the couple of times I've caught him "pre-washing" dirty dishes I've left in the sink. He's so tall he can just put his paws up and lean right into the sink to lick them, and his amazingly sensitive nose just can't seem to resist doing so when no one is around!

It's so weird that he's so much better behaved than he was before. My theories are that a) the vet who came to do a neurological assessment of him at the trainer's suggestion (Dr. King) is actually a pet communicator too, and she told him he'd better be on his best behavior in his new home or else (okay, I'll admit that's really far-fetched), or b) he finally associated his bad behavior with "the slammer" and is on his best behavior so he doesn't have to go back, or c) he's just matured a lot in the last few months, or d) he's just tired after a month of spinning around and jumping around in his kennel at the shelter and sleeping in his own poop (which is Chad's theory). Who knows, maybe it's just a combination of factors. Regardless, we are so thankful for his good behavior and so happy to have him here!

I still need to convince the shelter director and trainer that he is an adoptable dog, since the trainer's opinion is that he would need years of professional training before being able to go to a new permanent home. That's like a running joke with us--every time he's snuggled up and laying in our laps we have to laugh about how "unadoptable" he is. He will be so perfect for someone who can shower him with the attention that he craves, and who has no other dogs of whom he will start getting jealous! First in my arsenal of evidence for his "adoptability" is his new photo album, which has pictures from his first stay with us last fall and new ones from his current visit. Check out what a handsome boy he is!