I had been pretty distraught all day. I want to be able to handle my dogs without fear of threat. This isn't always possible with Ben. And more than anything, I love to groom my dogs. I did get so much hair out of Ben in the beginning. He really enjoyed it except when a hair was pulled the wrong way and he barked and growled at which point I stopped. I think he learned this behaviour and grooming became more difficult.
The muzzle training has paid off and last afternoon I was able to groom him while he wore it for about 10 minutes. I kept telling him what a good boy he was and gave a very occasional treat. I was thrilled as huge tufts of hair came out of his 'pants'. I had been wanting to get to those for so long. I started on his tail but that is where I got some growling so I just did some so he would get used to it and not hate it so much. There were no barks, though, and that makes me happy. He probably hadn't been groomed in three years as you can see by the original photos of him.
We took the boys out to the farm on this humid evening. You can't really tell how fluffy his pants and part of his tail are in the above photo but they are!! Ben was wearing a leash but thanks to Photoshop, he's not. You'll notice the strange angle of Ben. The photo is a funny angle but he does have extremely dropped hips or croup which gives him a real rolling gate in the back end and he really brings his hind end under himself. I really hope this won't present him with problems in the future.
I do know who his breeder is and they are no longer breeding.
Ben has bought himself some more time. That changes a lot, too. He's down there barking for attention. He wants to come upstairs but no way. He just doesn't behave well enough yet and he sleeps so much better downstairs. I never thought I would keep a dog from coming up here until Ben.
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