Jude’s Journey – Week 1

by John Flores

I will be posting a weekly update on Jude’s Journey all the way up to when he finds his forever family. I want to take you all along on his road to recovery. I basically want you to feel like you’re right there with me. It’s the least I could do after all the support and donations you have given him and Priceless Pets. So here’s a 1^st week recap…

Walking/Socialization:

With every foster I take in, I make it mandatory for myself to walk them at least once a day so I can get a better feel on their behavior, personality, etc. After a handful of walks, Jude has yet to pull me. He stops quite often to sniff but he’s always walking beside me or behind me which is basically what you want. Skateboards, bicycles and things of that nature do not seem to faze him at all. He does get fixated on dogs. He doesn’t lunge or growl. He just stares. It takes longer than I like to get him to refocus. This is definitely something I need to work on with him. You gotta pay attention to these “little things” because they can turn into problems later on down the road but he’s not going anywhere anytime soon so we have plenty of time!

He has met Wally. They seem to get along just fine but he’s already tried to assert his dominance over him but once I corrected him, he understood and didn’t try it again. His time with Wally will be VERY supervised and LIMITED. It will also still be awhile before you see him with Penny and Elvis. These things take time. And at the end of the day, this is Penny & Elvis’ house so Jude will have to earn his way into the pack. He’s seen them through fences and they’ve sniffed each other while he’s been in his crate. Like I said, these things take time and there is no rush. Sometimes it’s hard to gauge a dog’s behavior when they’re not feeling well. And the one thing you don’t want to do is “baby” a dog too much. You can love them and take care of them but there’s a fine line there. If you baby them too much and feel sorry for them, they will never respect you.

One thing is for sure, he LOVES people. I don’t see that changing. He went to the vet today and was perfect!

Feeding Time:

He has learned to wait for his food and is recognizing “wiggle” as his release word. He has ZERO food aggression and I can pet him while he’s eating and take his bowl away at any point while he’s eating.

Recap:

Overall, he’s been a pleasure. He follows me everywhere I go. And he just wants to be near me. He rides great in the car. He knows “sit” and “shake”. I’m thinking he was in a home at some point. He flinches way too much for my liking whenever I put my hand over his head. I don’t want to say he was abused but personally, he flinches a bit too much. We will also work on that! He also walks right in his crate and I have yet to hear him bark.

I know he’s feeling miserable but it is also my job to teach this boy some manners so that he will be ready for his forever home as soon as he heals up! He has the saddest eyes and I know he’s still adjusting to everything but I’m very confident he’s going to be a perfect dog for someone or some family by the time his time is up here! Like every relationship, it just takes a lot of love, even more patience and a ton of consistency! We just gotta take things one day at a time!

John Flores

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