Padre has been with us now for nearly two months.
For the most part, he's gotten settled in and he no longer wanders around with a lost look on his face. He's a member of the pack, albeit he's not top dog, and I think that bothers him some. He's cool with Haley being higher than him, but I think he'd like to be next in line, and he's really not. It doesn't cause a conflict, but it's just a feeling I get.
His coat has improved tremendously. It's not where it should be, but he got another bath yesterday, and this time, rather than me coming away with red furry palms, the breakage was mainly running off in the stream of water. You can see the frizzy ends still, and there are some of the lighter, "deader" patches, but they've thinned out considerably, and what has come in gives me the nice, deep chocolate that I prefer (I'm picky about chocolates in ways that I'm picky with few other colors).
Since the weather has cooled off, Padre is doing what every longhair I've ever known does...goes outside at every opportunity. He's loving the cooler weather, and has even started going on walks with Randall. Since he has the longhair rear rather than the type of rear I'm used to in my smooths, his movement tends to be slower, but Randall said as long as he doesn't get bored, he's happy with the walks. Since Haley, my very senior 16 year old, is no longer able to make the long walks, it's nice for Randall to have company...though he does have to work Padre's stamina up.
One thing, though, when Randall takes Haley out (and she goes first even if it's only to walk down a couple of houses), Padre stands at the gate in the hall and whines. He gets very animated when Randall comes back and he knows it's his turn. :)
He is still not allowed to come in for the final plate licking with the others. It's simply too dangerous for the others, so he gets a little saucer with rice and some of what's left over. That seems to suit him fine, so we'll just continue doing that. I've never had a dog that was food aggressive with other dogs (I've had one that was food aggressive with people, but only with food in his food dish), but with a little compromise we've worked out the solution.
Padre was "advertised" as crate broken. Well, no. Maybe at one time he was, but now? He whines and moans and scratches at the gate. We tried for a few weeks to get him settled in, but the only way we could get him to sleep was to hit him with Valium. Sorry, but I refuse to drug a dog to that extent. So, for Padre, I've made a concession I've never made with any other dog...he's allowed to sleep loose in the house. We've got a blanket that we fold up and put under my computer desk, and before we've settled in to read (and after Haley has settled into sleep in her crate in our room), Padre is let out. He wanders around a bit and then heads to the blanket.
One thing I will say, this dog is very well housebroken. So my concern there might be problems there have been put to rest.
He still hasn't had his dental. Things are delayed there, but I'm hoping after the first of the year we can get that done. He does need it, though some of the tartar is coming off (makes me wonder what he was being fed). He's also tonight, for the first time, chewed on a rawhide. He's usually not done that, and I thought it might be that his mouth was sore, so if it was, it's apparently improved.
w/r/t his foster status. He's a sponsorship/permanent foster for us. Linne and I talked it over, and I told her that at his age, and with what he has been through, if ATDR wants him here as a permanent foster, we'd be happy to have him. Granted, when he was first scheduled to come here it was thought he was 16 1/2, but he turned out to be 14 1/2. That was OK. Hell, he's still a senior. He's happy. His environment is stable. He's healthy and loved, so he's welcome to stay with us for as long as he wants.
I haven't done much picture taking in the last month or so, but here is one from a week ago and then another from tonight when he was under my desk.
