Weekend Recap:

Sitting in the living room, nearest his favorite corner; safe, but able to hide at a moments notice.















Just after his bath on Friday, he looks so little and vulnerable.















One of his other hideaways, in the dining room under the window.

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As written by D:

After having Colbert since the 4th, he's showing a lot of promise and I expect him to be achieving several milestones over the next one to two months. The first day I brought him home, I let him out of his crate with my other dogs eagerly watching from a distance. One at a time each of my dogs came up to him and smelled him and he smelled them back. Ever since they have all got along great. Buela, my 10-month old Australian Cattle Dog, and Colbert started playing with each other right away. Both of them being herding dogs, they didn't know what to do with each other when they began to try to herd one another. He really likes my 3-year old Chow-Lab mix, Max.

When I let him roam free in the living room when I'm at the computer or on the couch watching TV, he wanders around with curiosity mingling with the other dogs. His tail wags his tail and jumps around in little hops with vim whenever he's interacting with the others. He acts like a normal dog with them. That's a great sign, I think. All of my dogs are calm and well-behaved, giving a great example for Colbert to emulate.

With W and I, however, he's still unsure and doesn't fully trust us. The first day he ate the wet and dry mixed dog food from my hand and then from his bowl without any problems. He'll eat his food and drink his water with me in the room, while still maintaining a distance. He's grown fond of the rawhide treats that the others enjoy. When the moment is right and I approach him correctly, he'll lick my fingers. He once spent a few minutes on the bed with all of us, but decided he wasn't ready for it.

I tried feeding him his meal last night in the living room but with the other dogs in view he couldn't handle it and became aggressive with protecting his food. He even charged at Buela who was a few yards away, but I stood up and snapped my fingers and he retreated. I took him right to his room upstairs and he finished his meal there. Once he gets tamed I'll work on his food-aggression, but for now the issue will just be avoided.

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10.5.07

W and I have fostered a little 9-month old Corgi mix from a local Pet Helpers shelter who we've named Colbert. He and his 4 siblings were feral and got captured by some guy who harshly abused them. The only specific abuse I know of was one sibling had lye thrown on his face, so he has loss of hair in that area from the chemical burn. Colbert's abuse is unknown, but certain. He keeps his distance from W and I, but has no problem with the other 3 dogs in the house. He twitches and becomes very stressed whenever we touch him.

I brought him home on Thursday and showed no problems with Max, Corona, and Buela. He even started playing with Buela. Both of them being herding dogs they didn't know what to do with each other. He really likes Max, and looks like a mini-Max, but Max doesn't want to play with him. If he's by himself in the corner of the room away from Wendy and I, he'll relax and go to sleep. But he'll go back to stress mode when I pick him up. He's put up less of a fight each successive time, so I think he's learning that either I will eventually pick him up or that I won't hurt him.

If I approach him the right way, he'll stay still and let me slide my hand up to his nose. Sometimes he'll lick our fingers. We took him to the vet yesterday to get him up to date with shots and get rabies vaccinated. We'll be getting him neutered too.

The attached pictures are after we bathed him, so his hair is a little damp still. He didn't really fight during the bath—not any more than if I had simply been holding him.

Anyway, rather than adopting every dog in the world, fostering one at a time is a more efficient way of maximizing the number of dogs we can help. So when Colbert is back to normal he'll be returned to Pet Helpers and put up for adoption. Taming an abused, wild dog may take up to a year, from what I've read online.