Harold

As time went on, and he realized we were not going to abandon him, he got better and better about melting down when he thought he was being left.  He attached on to me, Bonnie’s daughter, so he came with me every other weekend to my dad’s and when left alone there, with three other doggy friends, he chewed up around 5 different remotes total.  It took years of dealing with his separation anxiety, and he still is not completely over it.  He doesn’t destroy as much, although just last week when left alone with his doggy sister and cat brother, he scratched up a little table trying to look out the window ( and he had all of this other space right next to it to look out at his height).  But overall, he has really over come his separation anxiety.

When we got him, it was a huge challenge to get him into the car.  He had to be dragged into the garage even when he just had to go through it.  Taking him to my dad’s every other weekend was hard for a while because it was a huge struggle to get him into the car because he didn’t care if he got a treat and never cared about toys at all.  Now, when he manages to slip outside and run laps past us as we try to call him back, the car is what gets him to decide to come back.  He loves going on car rides mostly because of the dog park.  Dogs and running were his only incentives because he wanted to be everybody’s friend.

Even in his old age, he allowed my 1 year old nephew to crawl all over him and even sit on him without hardly moving.  He is great with other dogs still and even is coming along with the cat after not having one around for most of his life.

Last fall he had to have surgery because of a burst irritated cyst in one of his glands, now his other lumps have increased in size, but they are not open like his other one did.  He recovered very well though and besides a 6 inch scar on his side it is totally fine.