As inferred earlier Tuck did not come without issues, and it only took me about a day and a half to find out what the biggest one was. That’s when he started resource guarding, and the biggest resource he was guarding was me. He decided that Libby was not to be allowed near me especially in the study. Needless to say that did not sit well with Libby nor I. I was angry and Libby was upset. It really bothered me to see Libby distressed even though I am a big proponent of letting dogs work out their own order in life. She wouldn’t come in the study with me even when Tuck was crated. At that point I was not sure that Tuck was the dog for me. I had gotten him as a companion for both Liblet and I, and neither one of us was sure that he was a good choice. In fact, I really thought about giving him back to the rescue.

I was raised with the belief that if you bring an animal into your home you should be prepared to care for it for 20 years. The idea of returning an adoptee was foreign to me, yet I really did think about it. I only have room in my life for two dogs. If Tuck wasn’t the right “other” dog there would not be a third. Also I knew he would be well cared for if he was returned. It’s not as if he would be slated for the gas chamber. I just didn’t think I was up for another project dog just yet. I even tried to find another home for him, but at the last minute he turned on the charm, did his most obsequious dog routine and finally started playing with Libby. He was a keeper. He’s staying.

However, he has been turned into a floor dog. Mind you this is completely opposite to what he was born and bred for. He is a lap dog. He loves laps. He sits quietly to be adored, petted, fawned over, etc. His role in life is to adorn laps, chairs, beds and thrones. Unfortunately he needed to be brought down a few rungs on the royal ladder. So now he is a floor dog. He’s not allowed on any furniture. He’s not allowed on my lap. When he was allowed on my lap he thought he ruled the world and could snark at Libby to his heart’s content. WRONG! Thank heavens that floor dog status is made easier by the fact that he’s quite a short boy and can’t get up on things by himself. He’s really a very good floor dog. He sits quietly at my feet when I’m otherwise engaged and is generally quite well behaved. If, at any time Tuck snarks at Libby for coming for attention he is summarily carted off for quality thinking time in the crate. It only took about 5 days before he would allow Libby to come and be petted while he was nearby. He learned the rules. The rules of this house are ‘Always defer to the bitch.’ It doesn’t matter which bitch, but defer to the bitch.

As for regular training, Tuck now has a fairly reliable sit. Well, reliable if there aren’t too many distractions. And if I have food. And if the moon is in the right phase. Obviously we have work to do. Last week I took him out to Mountain View and gave him his first introduction to agility equipment. We went over a very low jump a few times, and I ran him over the low contact trainer a few times as well as running him over some large pvc pipes lying on the ground. He seems to not have any fear issues and generally knows where his feet are, so it’s a good start. Besides, he has a very low center of gravity. He’d have to work to fall.