Jake is new but he’s obviously not a puppy, he’s five-and-a-half. He has spent three months with me which means he spent 63 months someplace else. Rescue groups can only tell you so much about a dog, some of it you learn as you go.
In his previous life, Jake had access to a doggy-door. This I knew but I was not sure what that meant for us. When dogs can use a doggy-door they don’t have to learn to hold it. So when Jake became part of our family, although one could argue he was housebroken, I treated him as if he was not. I had hoped he would at least go to the door, any door and look for a doggy door which would then indicate that he had to go out and I could praise him and start associating a word or action with that need. Nope. He would just walk and then pee. The key was catching him mid act (which finally happened) and escorting him outside (check, check) and praise the be-Jesus out of him (and then some!). We are one month without an accident. Ah, baby steps!
Another fun fact (not really) is that I’m pretty sure Jake got fed human food. I’m not talking about approved human food that can also be bought for the dog, but more like pizza, and sandwiches and whatnot. This is a no, no in our house mostly because Melvin cannot have anything so it wouldn’t be right to feed Jake when I can’t verbally explain to Melvin why he’s being denied the joys of plate food. But also, Jake and Melvin eat well. Really well. Sometimes they eat better than the humans. They get veggies and fruit and much wholesome goodness. I spent a long time training Melvin to not beg. He might stare you down from the required distance he must be when someone is eating, but what perpetually hungry creature wouldn’t do that? Jake on the other hand will climb onto you when you are eating and try to take food off your fork. Not aggressively, it’s more much more adorable than that. If only it was acceptable. Or permitted. He’s slowly learning boundaries with food, having Melvin helps a ton with this one, but I still get up about twenty times during each meal to push him back into the acceptable ‘perimeter of gawking’.
One last thing that I didn’t know before I got him, that NO ONE who knew him well bothered to mention, is that dude can snore. I mean all 31 pounds of him could out-snore Godzilla. I’m 100% sure of this. The negative issue you can’t change, you just gotta learn to love!

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