Sinatra was fabulous again. He was definitely feeling a bit better. For the first time ever, he jumped up on me (he was really pumped to see me). Louie and I took him for a 25-minute walk or so (including Damen and Grand again, but new side streets). He did a little sniffing and exploring, which made me happy. And a few times he walked ahead of me.
Anyway, still no growling...and we pushed the envelope a bit more today, walking past a doggie daycare where a couple dogs bum-rushed the fence barking hard. NO reaction.
We passed a small child (probably about 2) banging a whiffle ball bat on the concrete. That totally unnerved him. He glued himself to my side, slowly approaching the situation (putting me between himself and the child with the bat), then quickly ran by the situation, never making eye contact. He then refused food for the next block.
On the way back, we passed the doggie daycare again. No dogs bum-rushed the fence, though there were dogs on the lot. He wanted to stop and gawk a smidge, but wasn't stiff and came with me on an upbeat “leave it.”
He sat for me (AND Louie) a few times outside today, but still won't at busy intersections. I was really proud of that.
He's starting to enjoy cheese, but not as much if I'm not around. Rick, one of Daniel's awesome staff members, has been watching him closely and has taken an interest in him. He said (thus far) Sinatra has not demonstrated reactivity toward any dogs, including walking along a fence with small dogs who are barking. He also said a few dogs at Bark Avenue have gone nuts barking at Sinatra and he didn’t even look in the direction. It will be interesting to see how things go dog to dog-wise. I don’t want to be naïve; there is still a lot of work to do with this adolescent boy.
He's incredibly attached to me, but REALLY liked Louie and even sought out affection from him, which doesn’t do to anyone but me when I’m around. When we were walking, he'd split the difference between me and Lou...and even sat for Lou too (again, which he’s not doing much of for anyone but me when I’m around).
As always, it was incredibly difficult to leave, but I know he's in good hands and Linda from Puppy Love/Love Cats was going to visit him this afternoon.
Lou and I are going to walk him again tomorrow…stay tuned.
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