Foster Mom's report

as a foster mom, I am obligated to write a report about Buddy, to his original trainer at the shelter - Quin.

Hi Quin,

I appreciated your help in getting my first step to become a dog owner, allowed me to be a foster mom for Buddy as the first step. He is my first dog, I am learning from him at the same time he is learning from me.

You mentioned the procession issue about Buddy, yes, Buddy has this issue and I feel he was firm when I was with you at the shelter while we did our trial walk, later on in the evening on the day I took him home, he submitted to me, I asked him to "Surrender" and put my index finger out, gave him about 30 seconds, he puts whatever toy / treat was in his mouth next to my feet. Since then he did not show any aggressions toward me, but he still shows this reaction to my husband.

Our friend's suggestion is to have my husband feed him, that is a good idea. Buddy start to trust him on the second day, which is the day my husband started to feed him dinner.

Buddy was house trained in his previous owner home, I am sure. But being in the shelter for a while, he forgot what he suppose to do. I am starting to house train him again as if he was a puppy. He had one accident in the bedroom next to my pillow on the floor and on the carpet at the same time. It looked like he was marking his territory, I was there at the moment so I acknowledged what he did, took him out immediately and cleaned up the pee. He did not do it in the house after that (yet). But he did pee twice in my friend's house when we paid a visit, where 2 other female dogs were present, Buddy marks his territory again twice within 1 hour.

He has very good manner, he does not bark unless he feels I am being threatened, which he barked at the security guards and the shop-keeper at PetSmart like crazy when I talked to them. I then ask the guy to shake hand with me, continued to talk to them, Buddy's reaction subsided after about 60 seconds.

He does not jump onto furniture without permission, he does not chew shoes or window treatment or investigate the garbage or tear my decorative pillow in pieces; he has been behaving very well, with good manner. He just does not understand simple command such as Sit, Down, Paw ......etc. Which I think I can train him later, I want him to get comfortable in the home first, it has been a lot of new things for him, I just stand very firm on 'potty training' right now, the rest I'll start a week later.

Buddy has very good social skill, I took him to my friend's house who got two big female labs where he paid his hello then mind his own business; I took him to another friend's house who got two small female dogs (havanese & papyllon), he played with one of them and did not show much interest to another one.

He may feel a bit insecure now, which he gets nervous when he does not see me in sight. I tried to put him in the crate just a few minutes and walk away from him, then he would bark and make a crying noise, then I would talk and tell him "I will be right back" where he does not see me but close enough to hear my voice. He quiet down a little bit and wait, I then make sure I showed up like 5 minutes later to open up his crate and praise him like crazy.

I think it would be helpful to make him not afraid of the crate, and have faith that I would always go back to get him.

Regarding to the children who think Buddy was not friendly, my personal opinion is mis-communication among them. Buddy makes a strange noise when he wants to play, he also shows a sign of nipping like a puppy would do normally. These are signals of how he feels at that moment, not an aggression towards others. He is absolutely very friendly, very affectionate and able to trust. He is a good boy as far as I am concerned.

Buddy has behaved unexpectedly well, I am very positive that he would want to stay with us to be one of the pack, hopefully I can give you such a good news in a few weeks. Thank you so much.