[UK_Newbie]

Hieveryone.

1stpost.

Justshy of 2 weeks ago, we re-homed an approx. 2 yr old male Yorkie named Jasper.We think that he had been previously owned by an old lady who had to go intocare, and so had to give him up. Since then, he has been with a number of herrelations who either had other dogs, cats or just were not dog people,until we took him in on the 8th May.

He'sbeen castrated and has received some training as he is fully house trained andloves going in the car. He pretty much comes on command and will sit when itsuits him (.i.e. when waiting for a treat).

Hehas previously been groomed as his body is quite short, but his head is verylong and matted as he HATES having his hair brushed. We are slowly trying toget him used to the brush and he has regular face washes to try and deal witheye-boogers etc. We bathed him once, but he was not a happy bunny!!

Anyway- Monday night, we tried to trim some hair around his head, and he was havingnone of it - growling, biting and squirming - you get the picture. Anyway,after a long walk (1 hr), he was still hyper and started humping his bed andgrowling if we moved his bed. He's never done this before, but after a while,and some soothing talking plus another 5 minutes walk, he calmed down. He wentto bed ok and was fine in the morning.

Rollonto last night and he seemed ok again - nice long walk as usual - but come bedtime, he went outside for his last pee and started staring up into the sky andbarking. I brought him in, and put him to bed, but as soon as the lights went off,he starting yelping, whining and scratching at the door. After 10 mins of this,and fearing that the neighbours would be mad, we let him out of the kitchen andhe settled on his blankie on the sofa. He came upstairs about 10 mins later butthen went back down soon after and slept the night on the sofa.

Sorryfor the background, but wanted to check my trains of thought..

Ishe just anxious that he might get moved on again - 2 weeks seems to the usualtime he got moved on (maybe due to his sudden change in anxiety).

Anytips on getting his head hair sorted - we trying the slowly-slowly approach,but I am so convinced that he will feel better when it’s all cut, that 1/2 ofme wants to just pin him down and shave it all..

Anyother tips on making him feel safe and settled. We fear he is getting a bitbored as we both work days, but make time for a morning walk with me, lunchtime walk with my wife and an evening walk with us both, and fuss him when weare home.

Todaywe left him with full range of the house (except bedrooms) and I have 'hidden'some treats around the house for him to find in the hope that he will be abit more entertained.

Whenwe are home with him all day, he's quite happy to just lay on the sofa andsleep.

Weboth need to work on our dominance patterns as these have been somewhatconfused of late, and I confess we have been giving into his whining lately aswe are worried about him. Maybe he’s making hay while he can, and giving us therun-around.

Anywords of comfort would be welcomed !

Steve
UK