Blink and You'll Miss It

There are some things that we see Mojo do that could be a hint of the dog he's going to become.

Or, maybe better put:  the dog he was designed to be that has gotten buried under layers of fear, stress, and overall disappointment in the human race.

Anyway, the problem with these glimpses is that they're so fleeting I don't usually have a camera at the ready, but this wouldn't be much of a blog if I didn't at least mention a couple of things over the past couple of days that happened -- albeit briefly! -- that took us by surprise.

But first off, I need to mention that Mojo has relocated.  He now "lives" in the bedroom instead of the kitchen.  It's his new safe place, and he hasn't selected a corner.  He stays at the foot of the bed.  But, considering that I work out of the bedroom a lot, and (obviously) we're here all night, we're encouraged that he's chosen to be where we are.

The logistics of this are that he comes in from outside at the far east end of the house.  The bedroom is at the far west of the house.  So he does traverse the entire house to get to his new spot.  And it did take him several days to make the decision permanent, which is Mojo's typical timeline:  he tests the water for reallllllllllllllly long time before he's willing to jump in with all 4 feet.

What we're hoping is that he'll develop a love for the middle of the house and hang out with us when we're eating, reading, or watching TV in the great room. Maybe on a nice doggy bed.

Which brings me back to the fleeting glimpses of things to come. 

Take, for example, the super-deluxe-memory-foam doggie bed that we've been trying to persuade him to use from Day 1.  His foster parents mentioned that Mojo loved using dog beds when he lived with them, so I snagged him the best they had at PetCo the very day he came home.  I've slept on it.  Jay's slept on it.  Mojo ... has found it interesting that Jay and I have slept on it, but hasn't opted in.  We've put him on the bed (picture left), but when left to his own devices, he is always found as in picture right.  But now that he has laid on it, he's been sniffing around it a lot, so maybe he'll go for it eventually.

The other glimpse of the future that took us by complete surprise is that he actually stopped to pick up the tennis ball out in the yard during his off-leash laps.  It must have surprised him as much as it did us, because he dropped it a second later and hasn't touched it again.

But it hasn't been for a lack of trying on our part:  Jay and I have been tossing the ball in his direction just in case he gets the urge to play again.  But so far if there's any fetching going on, it's being done by the two of us!