But trying to win his trust is not the time to start administering any kind of discipline unless it is extreme bad behavior and this wasn't it... Simba is spending a lot of time outside of his doggie bed and the kennel, so I know he's observing what is right and wrong around here, as well as the massive interchange between myself and the pups... Will it eventually click in his little brain that the ultimate goal is to love each other and exchange pats and kisses all the time?... Dunno... Don't know how far 'gone' Simba is yet because so far, he's been in a controlled environment...
My goal for today was to expand his environment another step, but he decided to widdle on his doggie bed... It wasn't that he had to widdle, for he'd just gone on his pitty pad... It wasn't marking behavior either... It was (IMHO) a reaction to stress...
And he's still suffering the after effects of an environmental change, so that is to be expected... I debated with myself if I should still try and attempt expanding his environment and decided to go ahead and do it - I could always decrease the size if I was moving too fast with him... sigh...
The ultimate goal is to get him to the point were everyone else is - free roam, using the doggie door, potty trained, good canine manners, no aggression towards humans or other dogs, basic obedience and a firm foundation between wanting affection from humans and being able to give it back freely without fear...
I know, I know... Big expectations from such a little guy, but I've done it before so there's no reason I can't do it again for the upteenth time... (smile)... If he's willing to keep trying, so am I!
Thankfully, dogs don't seem to have a sense of 'spacial time' (i.e. past, present and future)... They have a sense of clock time (especially when their bellies tell them that they normally eat a certain time!
Of course, there will be those who disagree with this concept for to have memories, you must be able to recognize there is a past versus a present, etc... Dunno, I leave that to the experts for I'm just a doggie observer...
So far, Simba is doing OK with additional room in the Xpen... Maybe I gave him a little too much room this morning, but he'll just need to work through it and if he can't, then we'll try again tomorrow... He's struggling with wanting to be petted, wanting to reach out and smell the other guys, but then he pulls back once he realizes he's put himself out there to be vulnerable(??)...
I also moved his food dishes around... Originally they were on the 'non-doggie' side of the Xpen in the event he is food aggressive... Still not so sure about that aspect, but if he wants to get along with other dogs, he needs to have a sense of his space versus theirs, and respecting other dogs because they respect him... The sides of the Xpen still separates his food dishes from access by my crew, but to eat (and be vulnerable), he has to be closer to that 'other side' of life around here...
This is really like a 'push-pull' process... I push a little, he pulls back a little... I push a little more, he pulls back a little... Hopefully we continue to make progress even if we keep backtracking all the time, but that is rehabilitation works... Progress not perfection!
