Unconditional Love

Yesterday Lisa left a comment it's so strange Jack went unhomed for so long when he's behaving so beautifully in my home. Jack was adopted out and returned 3 times, then adopted out to a very bad place for quite a while, and then since he's been back in Halifax I was his second foster home - and I am loving having him here, and I think he should spend the rest of his life here because he is fitting in perfectly.
But I think it's got less to do with his perfect behaviour and more to do with what I think of as unconditional love. It was the same with Daisy - she was adopted out and returned to me 3 times before I adopted her myself. With Jack - the lady who had fostered him for a very long time has been waiting for a phone call from me saying that the "honeymoon phase has ended - and the real Jack has appeared!"

I'd say the real Jack has already appeared shortly after he arrived - he's bitten my Dad twice, me once on my hand, my feet about 3 or 4 times, he barks ALL the way through every meal looking for something from our plates, he's an incorrigible barker in the back yard, he definitely likes to get his own way all the time - but he's also a beautiful little dog who's soul is going to emerge at some point when he starts to feel safe here, and that is going to be something amazing to watch - and I will be honoured to have taken some part in that. I wrote a think called "why rescue dogs are better than pet store dogs" that explains a little bit about the transformation that happens when you bring a dog that's been through a tough time into your house - and I am looking forward to seeing that with Jack.

But back to the unconditional love thing - when I decided to bring him home - I decided that my love for him was going to be unconditional - so it didn't matter if there were going to be tough days - I knew that there were going to be some of those - but he is an alive little being who has good days and bad days, and he has a personality, and our different personality's just have to learn to mesh together - it's as simple as that.

I also have a training philosophy of "distraction, lowered expectations, and lots of liver" - which has seeemded to worke out so far.

Just as long as the dogs' personalities don't clash so much that they want to kill each other (which they don't!) - I think we're going to be a pretty happy famiily.

Toys are good for keeping Buttercup happy
And toys are good for keeping Charlie asleep