Bones and his growth

As you all know if youve read anything i write at all im an animal lover, especially poodles. Bones my second poodle who is a rescue came to me emaciated, scared and severely abused. ive had him for a little over 3 years now and it took the first year and a half to two years to even be able to have a belt around him without his running to another room for fear of being beaten with it.

i never lay a hand on my dogs, i use my voice and a water gun for correction. With abused animals its the only way to go unless you want to do more damage. My goal however is to undo what other humans have dont and teach them to trust humans again. This does not happen overnight and takes a lot of one on one time and dedication. The first 2 and a half years that i had bones he did a lot of changing and learning but its been the past4 months in which he has changed the most and its all for the better.

When i moved i really expected him to go backwards in everything i had done but instead he met my nephew, sho has desensitized him to the point of how starting to rough house with him and bones goes back for more. Its amazing and makes me soo happy to see these changes. Of course living where there are also other dogs has also been good for him but its the interaction with different people that has really made the changes.

Bones will go up to my nephew and wait for him to give him attention, push him around or even toss him on the couch, all in playing as i know no one here would hurt any of my dogs on purpose and Bones and Murphy both eat it up. They love my nephew and the way he plays with them.

Once i had moved away from my ex i started rough housing with my boys a little, as i was never allowed to before but dogs like playing like that sometimes and it doesnt hurt anything as long as your careful and watch closely for any signs that they are uncomfortable with whats going on. My boys eat up playing rough when they want to play and im soo glad as Bones in particular has grown soo much, so while ill admit moving was very scary for me it did end up being a good thing, especially for the dogs.