I've been on the forum for a few weeks now but haven't yet introduced myself. This past Saturday I brought Diesel home for the first time. He's a rescue from Tennessee, he made the trip up on Thursday but Massachusetts has a required 48 hour quarantine period.
The rescue had picked him up from a local pound so we don't know much about his history, the rescue named him Diesel. He did have to go through heart worm treatment and the rescue vet estimated his age at about 2 yrs. He's only about 64 lbs right now and is nothing but skin and bones, at about 29.5 inches tall he needs to put on a solid 20 lbs.
Despite both of us being a little bit anxious, I think the first 2 days have gone pretty well. I know some people recommend a complete shut down for some time but I made the decision to start walking together already as a way to burn off some the nervous energy and help us to start bonding. He walks well on a leash and flat collar so far with minimal pulling. He is really sweet but I can already tell that we will have some stuff to work on. He has no manners when it comes to food. He'll try to get anything that's within reach lol. He seems to be doing well with the crate, he stayed in there while we ate dinner last night with barely a sound. Tomorrow will be my first day back to work so he'll be in there during the day. He doesn't know his name yet or really any basic commands. We'll keep working on the name to start and go from there. We start obedience classes in about 3 weeks.
As you can see in the pics I did let him on the couch the first evening. That night he refused to sleep anywhere but on the bed with me, but he slept the whole night. I don't mind dogs on the couch or bed but decided that for sake of setting some boundaries early, no more couch or bed for awhile. He's getting the no couch thing already and took it upon himself to sleep downstairs last night without any prompting.
I know the next 2-3 months will be the toughest but I think we're off to a good start so far. Here are a few pics ....
The rescue had picked him up from a local pound so we don't know much about his history, the rescue named him Diesel. He did have to go through heart worm treatment and the rescue vet estimated his age at about 2 yrs. He's only about 64 lbs right now and is nothing but skin and bones, at about 29.5 inches tall he needs to put on a solid 20 lbs.
Despite both of us being a little bit anxious, I think the first 2 days have gone pretty well. I know some people recommend a complete shut down for some time but I made the decision to start walking together already as a way to burn off some the nervous energy and help us to start bonding. He walks well on a leash and flat collar so far with minimal pulling. He is really sweet but I can already tell that we will have some stuff to work on. He has no manners when it comes to food. He'll try to get anything that's within reach lol. He seems to be doing well with the crate, he stayed in there while we ate dinner last night with barely a sound. Tomorrow will be my first day back to work so he'll be in there during the day. He doesn't know his name yet or really any basic commands. We'll keep working on the name to start and go from there. We start obedience classes in about 3 weeks.
As you can see in the pics I did let him on the couch the first evening. That night he refused to sleep anywhere but on the bed with me, but he slept the whole night. I don't mind dogs on the couch or bed but decided that for sake of setting some boundaries early, no more couch or bed for awhile. He's getting the no couch thing already and took it upon himself to sleep downstairs last night without any prompting.
I know the next 2-3 months will be the toughest but I think we're off to a good start so far. Here are a few pics ....