A month or so ago I received a call from the manager of the Central Aroostook Humane Society to let me know a dog had been turned in and she thought I might be interested.
Because I have served on the board for many years and am still doing do, the staff knows my love of dogs. They also knew we had lost our beloved Henry to cancer in November 2016 and still missed him terribly. Joe and I had discussed getting another dog as we were terribly lonely without Henry but had talked about waiting awhile. We were enjoying our freedom coming and going as we wanted.
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When I got to the shelter, this 60-pound dog needing a home was sitting on the manager’s lap giving her kisses. He seemed like a real friendly dog, but not wanting to commit, I told Betsy Joe and I would foster him and try to do some training so he would be more adoptable. This is when Betsy proceeded to tell me the dog is not housebroken and loves to run. Now this is an older dog and not house trained. I am getting a little nervous about all of this, but then I am thinking that Joe and I have had dogs all of our lives, and surely we can train this dog.
So our life with Arnie began. He seemed to be happy at our house the first night. He loved the dog food we got him, but purposely upset his water bowl, which I thought was a bit odd. Immediately he ran to the bathroom and stood in front of the flush waiting for us to lift the lid. We are still trying to remember to close the lid. Also, we have learned to keep the shower door closed as he likes fresh running water. If we put ice in his water bowl he is happy and drinks from it. Joe fixed his bed beside ours, and we put a toy in it to make him feel at home. He has never slept in that bed. After four times of hauling him out of our bed we gave up, and he slept between us so happy. We woke up to very wet kisses from Arnie.
Time to start the housebreaking. Betsy from the shelter had given us some advice, and we looked up in a dog book for more advice. All advice indicated to take the dog out immediately after eating. We did that, and all Arnie wanted to do was play, so we played and played and waited and waited. Finally we had to come into the house, and he went to the bathroom immediately. He preferred any room with a rug. We have since bought a rug shampooer. He would do his toiletries if Joe walked him around the block, but Joe was getting tired of doing that.
He suffered from separation anxiety, but is doing better in that area. He does have some very strange quirks. I was getting dinner, and I turned around to check on him, and he was sitting in the middle of the dining room table. The chairs were pushed in, and he must have made a flying leap, however I never heard a thing.
He is fast and extremely quiet whenever he misbehaves. I had my daughter’s family for dinner the other night. Arnie was under the table and was very quiet. My son-in-law got up to get another serving in the kitchen, and all of a sudden Arnie was in his chair. He looked at me as to say, “Where’s my plate?” There are definitely more bad habits to work on, although seeing him in that chair was awfully funny. He didn’t seem to see a thing wrong with it.
Well, you have probably figured out that Arnie has become a member of the family and will be staying with us, bad habits and all. He loves to jump in Joe’s recliner and with his strength has pushed the back of it into the wall. We’ll fix this 3-by-3-inch hole shortly after we figure out if he is going to continue with this antic.
The toilet training is going better, but far from perfect. Joe is still walking around the block, and almost all of the rugs have been cleaned once. When we leave him he still takes the telephone off the holder beside my chair and pushes that and the TV remote to the floor. I don’t quite know what the meaning is there.
I know Arnie will be a great dog when we have finished our training, but “when” that will be I am not sure. We love him dearly, and we know he loves us. His greatest delight is sitting on Joe’s lap with his head under Joe’s chin. It is really hard to get upset with a dog like that.
Please visit us at the Central Aroostook Humane Society and get to know our dogs and cats. Many of the residents are housebroken and don’t have bad habits.
“Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole” — Roger Caras
Carolyn Cheney is a member of the Board of Directors of the Central Aroostook Humane Society.
