Good boy

Banjo is such a good dog! While we were eating last night, he would sit and watch, inching closer. Then I'd bring him back a bit and he did well. After dinner, he slept in his bed in the living room until Kim left, then he took the couch back. He was out like a light!

After our walk, I started getting ready for bed. Banjo was followed into the bedroom and found the stuffed animal on the bottom shelf of the bookcase I completely forgot was there. He was very proud of himself. I said no and followed him into the living room. It's situations like these that the foster family warned me about since these are the times he gets aggressive. So I calmly followed him around the living room saying "drop it." When he was behind my rocker after growling at me once, we got to a stand-still. I was determined to be stubborn and let him know that was not his. I continued to point to the ground and after a couple of minutes he dropped it and after a minute more he walked away.

I'm guessing his foster family was running up on him yelling at him and tried to get too close to him when he did something like that. We found a good distance and he learned that this is our house and we make the rules without violence or yelling. And he responded extremely well. After that incident, we were both happy as could be! I'm glad I got to see what kinds of situations could trigger that kind of behavior. The foster family gave me the website of an aggression class we can take and I'm waiting for the books Autumn recommended that will help as well.

The first night together was great! Banjo slept on his bed in the bedroom (yep he has two!) after we refused to let him onto the bed. We left the door open so he could explore during the night if he needed to. He heard Kim come home and didn't bark - he just went over to the door to investigate. He didn't bark once! He got up a couple of times to investigate. Around midnight he tried to get into bed again and I told him no and he went right back on his bed.

This morning, he and I went on a 45-minute walk/jog, which I'm hoping to do every morning before work since it will tire him out a bit and it's good bonding time for us. It was squirrel nation out there this morning! I was walking him in the median on Summit Avenue but eventually decided to move to the sidewalks because there was less of a distraction. When we were jogging and he'd get on a trail, we would stop and he'd eventually realize "Oh yeah, we're on walk" and we'd continue.

We're all getting along great. Chris pulled out the flashlight this morning and Banjo was chasing it back and forth between the two bedrooms and in the living room. I will soon shoot a video of that to post. We're both wondering what he's be like camping with all of the flashlights!