Frodo and I slid (literally) into Minnesota on Thursday evening after being in the car for more than 16 hours straight. I had spent countless hours stressing over how Frodo was going to do in the car, especially since we had some issues with him settling down on the drive from North Carolina to Pennsylvania a few months ago. As usual, all the time I spent stressing was a complete waste of time and as soon as we got settled in Frodo laid his head on my lap and rested the entire time! He even gladly jumped back in the car after every potty break. I was seriously impressed.
That was pretty much where the easy part of this journey ended. Unfortunately during the past few days I have learned a lot about Frodo's signs that he is about to react. We are staying at Ryan's parents house until everything is in order for us to move into our new home, unfortunately that means that Frodo is living with four complete strangers. Four complete strangers who want to pet and love on the cute little corgi. Thus far he has sought out attention from Ryan's mom and both of his sisters. He does not care to come in any sort of contact with Ryan's dad. He has reacted to both of Ryan's parents and one of his sisters.
It is frustrating because he seems very Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde about the whole thing. He will willingly go up to one of them and seek attention (pushing his head under their hand, woofing at them, etc.) and after a short amount of time he will very quickly move through his calming signals, which are all silent, and then lunge/bark/air snap. He will not move away on his own.
His signs are:
-Freeze
-Ears back
-Head turned away but eyes looking at person (whale eye)
-Lips pulled forward
-NO verbal warning before he progresses to lunging
Needless to say, he is not getting time with anyone but myself and Ryan at this point.
Our saving grace this week has been his crate. I originally wasn't even going to buy him one for out here unless I needed it, but at the last minute before leaving I caved and bought him a fold down cloth crate at Wal-Mart. Thank dog! He has spent a lot of time in it the past few days, and as long as I am within sight range of him, he is content to relax and sleep in it. I believe he really does view the crate as a safe place, and doesn't even budge when people walk close to it.
When we are out of the house he seems fine and not stressed at all. We have taken long walks for the past three days and he is thoroughly enjoying himself in the snow. Good thing too, I don't think it is going to be leaving anytime soon.
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