Chester had an okay day, for his first full day in his permanent home. He's not only dealing with issues from his first years as a puppy mill dog, but separation issues from the past 6 months he's spent with his foster family and their routines.
He previously only walked with a 10-yr-old Golden foster brother. I'm sure he misses him too.
Progress: Twice since we've been home he's come looking for us when we went to another part of the house. He sleeps in my bedroom in a large kennel with a comfy dog bed and a few soft toys (door ALWAYS open in the kennel, we'll never shut it).
Casey eats and sleeps in the basement with "Dad" ... Chester is "Mom's dog" and sleeps in the kennel in the upstairs master bedroom.
Casey continues to be AMAZING with him. Even though she's only 16 months old (and Chester is approx 5 yrs), she's acting like the Mom and him being the child. Whenever she comes into the room where he is, she goes to him, nose-to-nose, tail wagging and just says "hi", I wanted to check on you. Then she lets him lay (usually in a corner). She seeks him out around the house. Last night after he was already in bed, she came upstairs with a squeaky tennis ball in her mouth, took it to him and dropped it in front of him. She batted it a bit with her foot, like here's what you do with this. He just watched her, but she will be persistent while giving him space & time.
Chester eats well ... and I feed him in peace and quiet away from Casey. He will stand and leave his corner to get to the food bowl but if I look at him or come back into the room, he lays back down and backs away from the bowl, like he thinks he'll get in trouble for eating it.
When I woke this morning Chester's body language was better, just the way he was laying in the kennel, head up, eyes alert. We have a long way to go with his rehab but he's making baby steps and that's all that matters now ... forward progress is good.
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