Getting to Know Howie

Today is Day 5 of having Howie with us. Things are still going quite well. Larry is getting more used to him being there. (It typically takes Larry a full week to really warm up to other dogs staying at our house.)

Howie is timid and shy. He adores people, though. He is much more people oriented even then Junebug, which is saying something. His goal is to be next to a person, getting petted at pretty much all times. And he has no problems nudging you if you stop petting him.

He is fine with other dogs, they just do not interest him much. We have been to the dog park twice. The first time he stayed on leash and the second we were in the small/shy dog area which is also quite a bit smaller than the main park- no way he could be out of our sight or get very far away from us. Both times, he’s met other dogs quite nicely. We get sniffing and tail wagging, but Howie is definitely not interested in playing. Mostly, he’s interested in walking over to the nearest person and being petted.

It was nice last night in the small dog area to see him trot around and sniff and move about with his tail up instead of down.

There is a chance Howie is deaf. The jury is still out on this one. Occasionally he does something that makes us certain he can hear- responding to a regularly spoken “No” or leaving C’s side to come out to check what’s going on when I get home. At the same time, he is really responsive to body language, so he could have picked up the “No” from that, and he could conceivably feel it (not just hear) when I got home last night.

If he can hear, he has no idea that Howie is his name. None. In fact, he does not really seem to respond to people talking to him at all. And he does not react when our dogs have barking fits. But he still sometimes looks their direction, as if wondering what is worth getting so worked up about.

And while he does not seem to respond to voice cues, he is definitely very responsive. He follows me around the house, but is good at moving out of the way when told (I have always used a combination of voice and hand gestures), and responds great to the leash. He seems to know what is expected of him, even if he’s not hearing us tell him.

We do not know much about Howie’s back story. He was at a shelter and adopted out, then brought back a few days later because of constant tummy troubles. He did not have tummy troubles at the shelter or their emergency foster home, and he is not having any at our house (though we are feeding half kibble half brown rice and boiled chicken). But we do not have any of the paperwork from when he was originally brought in to the shelter.

Given his personality and people orientedness, I have to think he was somebody’s baby. I think he was absolutely loved by someone. My best guess (and I love to speculate) is that he was owned by an older person who maybe died or had to be moved somewhere that Howie could not follow. And that person’s family, who might have tried to take him, was just not a good fit.

I did not ask if the emergency foster family had kids, but I know the adoptive family did. He is a frail little dog and nervous about being picked up or handled in certain fashions, that make me think he may have been (intentionally or not) hurt by rough handling. And yet, all he wants is to be next to someone getting petted.

Howie also knows he is not supposed to be on the furniture- which is so not the case at our house. We are probably ruining his good manners. But it is much easier for us to give him the attention he wants if he’s sitting on the couch or lying on the bed next to us.

He sleeps in his dog bed under my desk, though. And if I am at my desk, he is there, happily at my feet.

We need to get some weight back on him and get him to the vet this week. I am hoping we can get him medically cleared to be adopted soon. I will keep him as long as needed, but this is a sweet boy who could really benefit from his own, devoted forever home. And with his calm and loving personality, I can’t see it taking all that long to find him that home.