Another Archie Update

Poor boy has had so many things to work through. There's the extreme fear of the fly swatter - still a work in progress. Only in the last year would he expose his belly willingly to me. In the past six months he's doing "snow" angels no matter what the weather. The look on his face is so happy. He lays on the couch with me but still does not put his head on my lap.

Just the other night he butt tucked all over the yard, total doggy abandon, huge grin on his face. Then he came in a butt tucked in the house. We were laughing so hard. He's come so far, conquered so much.

Good boy Archie!! And good for you Fran for giving this boy a new life!!!!

It's always good to watch a dog butt tuck. And as Barry says, thank you Fran.

Poor boy. He came straight from breeder, didn't he? Sounds like he was exposed to the wrong things. Even our rescue, who we knew had not been well treated, came around faster than Archie. I do know how it makes you feel to see him act like a normal, happy, room destroying dog, finally. :) It gladdens your heart, doesn't it?

That's how it is with China, although from day one she stuck close by us, we could tell life is different for her here. So glad Archie's coming around :bigsmile:

Archie is starting to live the good life. Its so good to hear he has made so much progress.

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Originally Posted by Snowshoe

Poor boy. He came straight from breeder, didn't he? Sounds like he was exposed to the wrong things. Even our rescue, who we knew had not been well treated, came around faster than Archie. I do know how it makes you feel to see him act like a normal, happy, room destroying dog, finally. :) It gladdens your heart, doesn't it?

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Yes, he did come from a "breeder" if you want to call them that. It's one thing I've found out about shepherds, they don't forget anything. Oh, they know you want them to do something but conveniently "forget" but bad things done to them, they remember. I have to be careful when correcting him, no loud voice, just a calm firm tone. One time he was play running in the house and he knew I was behind him but I touched in a playing way on his butt. He immediately crouched to the floor with such a look of fear. I'm surprised he did not pee. We've worked through that and he now knows it's part of play.

I'm so glad Archie's relaxing into play & being able to accept belly rubs. Takes time for dogs to overcome fear. It's wonderful to see when they do. My previous dog was fearful of so many different kinds of ground & floor surfaces (although for her, I think it was lack of exposure from puppyhood onward). At one point, I had to teach her to walk on sand.

I'm happy that Archie found you,

We think Whisper had a very good owner before she ended up with a not so good one. For one thing, when we got her, old Vet records for her and another dog from the first owner came with her. But nothing from the bad owner. Of course we wonder, how and why did she change owners? And what happened to the other dog? Over a year Whisper reverted to the happy dog she must have been with her first owner.

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Originally Posted by POPTOP

Poor boy has had so many things to work through. There's the extreme fear of the fly swatter - still a work in progress. Only in the last year would he expose his belly willingly to me. In the past six months he's doing "snow" angels no matter what the weather. The look on his face is so happy. He lays on the couch with me but still does not put his head on my lap.

Just the other night he butt tucked all over the yard, total doggy abandon, huge grin on his face. Then he came in a butt tucked in the house. We were laughing so hard. He's come so far, conquered so much.

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See what LOVE will do!!!!!!!