True colors,

Now that Beau seems to be coming around with overcoming his fears of people his personality is starting to show. This guy is a rascal. And stubborn. Not to mention sassy. I'm beginning to wonder who's training whom. He gets to stay in the house and expects to play fetch whenever I get home or we leave the yard. He knows the way to the beach now so guess who wants to get there the fastest? I'm starting to upgrade his training regiment. We now walk with his leash attached and he at my side. He sits every time I stop or when I transact with him. Now I've got to be consistant and purposeful or he'll see flakiness and try to take over. This week makes 2 months since I brought him home.

Beau's Houdini trick,

Beau showed me how he escaped last week. I was leaving for work today and as I was at the curb outside the house I heard a rustling behind me. Up on the CME tile wall was Beau. This wall is basically 6 feet tall. Landscaping inside made it 5 feet in some areas but he still was able to jump up, plant his front paws far enough over to get a good grip while his hind legs pushed him up and on top. I had a lop eared bunny rabbit once that could take a standing leap from inside a 24" tall cardboard box and make it out. But this dog has that beat. It also explains the two identical scrapes on the shins of both his hind legs.

At night I sleep on the floor next to him and he's taken to sleeping under my arm with his head on my stomach. I like my dog, and I think he really likes me.

More observations,

I was at a clients the other day and the owner is a lifelong dog owner. She has an older yellow lab and I mentioned I just got Beau. We talked about food (she buys raw meats like salmon, chicken, liver and vegetables.) and health. I told her about his shyness and she asked if he was abused. She asked what happens if I raise my hand to him. I didn't know because i never did that gesture. That day I got home and Beau did his usual greeting, timid but tail waging. I was carrying a rolled up 2008 calendar I just got and remembered about raising my hand. I lifted the calendar up and he immediately cowered down, tucked his tail a turned away. He turned to look back at me as he skulked away and that look in his eyes made me so sad. Beau had been abused, or at least disciplined harshly. I dropped the calendar and called him over. I will never test him like that again.

I thought Beau was a slow learner. My last dog (HER dog I guess. (But that's another story.)) was a quick learner. He was very attentive and would seem to know exactly what I wanted. Trying not to compare them I felt Beau wasn't as smart and slower to pick up on things. Now I feel it's not that he is slow at all - he has an agenda. His survival instincts must be running all the time. And trying to understand me while keeping one eye over his shoulder is like me trying to learn algebra on an empty stomach. (I can add and subtract - gimme a break.)

Tonight he surprised the heck outta me. Every time he comes in the house I towel him off of loose debris and I wipe his feet of dirt and mud. After I clean two legs on one side I've been teaching him to turn so I can do the other two. He's been very reluctant to turn. Tonight he just turned! Not just turned, he turn away from the door. I can see turning towards the door (Hey, I wanna get in!), but away? Way cool dude. He probably knows I'm typing this and after the praise he got doing it he won't do it again for 2 weeks.

Dr. Doogie,

So when I started this blog I had dreams(intentions) that this would be one of those Doogie Howser things where I'd be sitting here putting a close to the day with some insightful inscriptions about my dog and myself. I would write about some awareness about myself through my daily interaction with Beau and how he would parallel my life. As we became more bonded and he took on my characteristics I could see those things about myself that I couldn't, or wouldn't. I still have those aspirations but somehow life, my life, doesn't always seem to work out quite the way I plan it. I will however be more dutiful in noting those observations about Beau and his development.

So what's been happening? Over the last week Beau has been noticeably more trusting of strangers. His threshold of pain has gone from about 25 feet to 3 feet. For some he still hides behind me but he does come up to inspect. For others it's 10 feet and circling. Yesterday he went on a long ride to Pupukea with me to visit my friend Coco. He got to ramble through her acre lot and smell some weird stuff I'm sure. Her place has roaming wild pigs and chickens. I was moving some stuff with her truck and Beau was a real trooper and rode with me everywhere. By late afternoon he was whipped from sliding all over the front seat and only enough space to curl into a ball for a catnap between traveling. More than once he had Snoopy's "buzzard" look with droopy eyes just barely open. That evening we went over to my mom's and she surprised me by telling me to call him in. (I never thought my mother to be any kind of dog lover.) He hesitated but he came in, and actually sat to let my mom pet him. Still a little frozen with his head lowered but it was far from his usual turn tail and run. We finally got home after 10 hours on the road and he still picked up his ball, hot for a game of fetch. He was out cold once he got inside and on his pad though.

I made some other observations too.