"Tigger" Update

Well, I brought him home! He really is a wonderful & sweet dog. He already is quite affectionate and attached to me, not reserved at all. His story is a bit of a strange one, his former family got him out of a shelter last October, he was only a couple of months old at the time! Just so odd to think that a purebred dog like that was in the pound that young, no one seems to know how that happened. Anyway, the former family basically kept him crated day & night and finally gave him up to rescue a short time ago when they faced the fact that they were never going to be able to give him more than that. He's amazingly happy and outgoing for a dog that hasn't been offered a lot of socialization or affection up until a few weeks ago.

I have to say that I am just so happy & excited about this dog! Tig (not crazy about the name "Tigger", so I've been calling him "Tig") is wonderful. I was slightly concerned at first about how Fitz and he were going to get along because Fitz was a little overwhelmed by him at the rescue house this morning. He wasn't fearful or cowering, but he wasn't up to his usual play & exuberance standards. But once we got home and everyone settled in, it's been great! Both dogs have been playing so well together. Fitz is all over Tig, continuously engaging him in play and in total Heaven because Tig is happy to chase him around the yard. Once Tig catches him, Fitz will stop and roll and then bounce right up again and start all over again. To Tig's credit, when he catches Fitz, he bumps his nose into him almost like he's tagged him, but doesn't pounce hard on him or anything (I was worried how a lively bigger dog would be with a lively smaller one -- I wasn't too worried about aggression, but was worried maybe things could get out of hand with play). With Lola on the other hand, Tig has been completely respectful. He's interested in her, but hasn't bothered her too much. Lola seems happy because more of Fitz's attention seems focused on the new dog, so she is no longer bearing the brunt of Fitz's attention.

Anyway, Fitz is completely enamoured by him, it's almost like he has a big brother to look up to, he's been following Tig everywhere. Tig, on the other hand has been following me everywhere. I took him for a nice, long walk, just the two of us, to start to get to know him a bit, to help acclimate him to our neighborhood and to drain energy also. Anyway, he's an absolute dream on the lead. Loose leash the entire walk, he stayed right beside my side the whole time barely distracted by people and other dogs and squirrels and such. We passed this woman with a fluffy white dog twice (walking the opposite direction of the loop) and the second time she, almost in an embarrassed way, laughed about how her dog was making her do what he wants -- I honestly think she was impressed by how Tig was walking so nicely with me, especially compared to her dog. I wish I could take the credit for it, but it was pretty much all him. So anyway, so far, so good. It seems like a pretty good match!