The Loki Chronicles - Ten days since we've become a family

Some people have congratulated us on adopting a dog and wondered how he's doing. He apparently had a rough start in life so it's been slow going on his level of relaxation with us.  The difference in day one and today are remarkably better.  But, here's his story.

He is three years old and was previously at a shelter in Georgia. While other dogs would go to the front of the cages and wag their tails, he stayed as far back as he could. No one wanted him.  Apparently when a shelter worker tried to grab him he tried to bite her. (by the way, we weren't told that part until we were finalizing the adoption). 

The Georgia shelter called the Leon County Humane Society in Florida and asked if they wanted him as his time was just about up.  Apparently it's a high kill shelter and they needed the room. Doesn't that make you want to cry?

The LCHS took him and named him Albert. It was mentioned that he is slow to warm up but he is housebroken and loves to go on walks, does well on a leash. We applied, we had a home visit and the adoption went through.  We promptly changed his name from Albert to Loki.

So far we have only had him since Thursday, February 4 at noon.   We realize he doesn't know he's home yet.  To him, this may just be another stopping point before he's passed off again.  

When he sits next to us on the sofa he indicates he’d like a belly rub.  He cuddles up so we know he likes us, yet occasionally when we oblige him with a belly rub he growls. The most concerning time with this behavior was at the park. He had been walking fine then he seemed nervous.  Maybe it was the gunshots in the distance....who knows.   Doug picked him and Loki actually growled and showed teeth.  We were "this close" to calling and sending him back.  

I called the manager of the humane society to express valid concerns about the possibility of him biting and to let her know we would return him if that happened.  But who wants to let it get that far?! We were given good advice, some things we just didn't think about and it’s been better.  

Apparently Loki was over stimulated by us taking him to meet our friends at the park, introducing him to the dogs we are familiar with (but he isn't), taking him to a few pet stores for supplies, etc.  It was suggested we just walk him around our neighborhood for the first two weeks.  Just let him get used to being with us and he will relax and know we are his advocate, we are his family. 

This is getting much better now by day ten.  

It's very apparent now this little guy has a lot of baggage and his early life shaped him into a slightly mistrustful dog. He wants to please you and shows it.  His Velcro level ranges from a high medium to the low end of High Velcro. He doesn't always need to touch you but he needed to be in the same room. 

Update: he now relaxes more in another room, not so much following  all over the house so...improvement!

Loki likes a car ride and gets quite excited when you grab the harness and leash.  We don't like it when he rides up front because it's dangerous for him and, most importantly, he doesn't need to be that close to Doug's face.  Today we are buying him  a seatbelt leash so he will have no choice but to stay in the back seat. 

 He will go outside in the fenced backyard during the daytime and look around, enjoy the sun.  He's fine.  But once it's dark he is terrified of the yard.  I think he was put outside as punishment because that is the only time he doesn't want to go out. Then he looks like he's in trouble and his tail goes between his legs, his ears go back.  We tell him he's a good boy and no one will ever hurt him in this house. 

Weirdly, if you harness him and walk him down the driveway at night, he’s fine. But the backyard is straight out.

Yes, he was a hot mess, still a work in progress BUT....he is so much better now at day 10 than he was the first few days. 

Overall, he is loving

 He likes to cuddle

loves to play with toys

 He likes car rides and walking

He is housebroken

He is trying to please and once we learned the growling was his way of expressing he wasn't comfortable, we are correcting that with a firm NO.

So far, so good! Every day is a tiny bit better and we are both hopeful he can learn most people are kind. He doesn’t know it yet but he’s going RVing in two weeks. 

I’ll post photos. That’s the 10 day Loki report ❤️

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