Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Vacation

Back from a week in Cape Cod. Zorro survived and I did, too.
We boarded him at Dogtopia, where he goes for daycare, for part of the week and Melissa stayed with him for the second half. He was a little unnerved by his time at Dogtopia; they let the dogs out during the day but crate them at night and I suspect Zorro wasn't crazy about that arrangement. Dogtopia people say he was a "little growly" at night and barked. And he looks a little thinner, so I suspect he didn't eat regularly while he was there (our old dog Snoop had the same problem. I think rescue dogs don't do well in kennels. Reminds them of their time at the shelter).
He fared better once Melissa picked him up and took him home, but woke her twice one night with mad barking. I put the sheet up in the bay window but suspect he saw the moon through the upstairs skylight. This is very hard to explain to someone who isn't used to Zorro's moon madness. Fortunately, he slept the other nights she was here. Probably because it was overcast.
Melissa took him to a dog park while she had him and he did OK, although he spent most of the visit going up to people, not dogs. Denny and I took him back there on Sunday and he was a good dog park citizen. He played a little with other dogs but mostly explored the parameters. Classic BC behavior. That's OK: I think it's good to expose him to new places and new dogs.
He still gets very excited when he sees other dogs on our walks so I'm working on that. I get pretty good results when I put some distance between us and the other dog and tell him to sit and stay.
The best news is that he seems to be getting over his global fears. We've been going for long run/walks in the morning and afternoon. I expected him to stay close to home tonight because it's overcast but we went out several times and he was confident and curious. It appears that time and Prozac are working their magic.

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