Beginnings, pt V

So now I had Helo home with Charlie and I which meant everything was going to be fine, right?

The first thing I learned about Helo was that he had a pretty serious case of separation anxiety. By "pretty serious" I mean I put him in the bedroom on the first day and went to grab something from the car and by the time I got back he was screaming bloody murder. I thought something had happened to him, but he just missed me.

That first night wasn't any easier. I managed to keep to our agreement of putting him in his crate to sleep, but I had the crate right next to the bed and dangled my arm over it to try and minimize the little guy's feelings of being alone. Yes, this may not have been the best thing for building up an independent dog, but it's what I had to do to keep my heart from breaking for the little guy.

He actually turned out to do better then Charlie had at crate training and the next morning he was up and raring to go. Sunday was spent just kind of getting him acclimated to our place and his new family. We had some time on webcam with Holly and I think he met a few of our neighbors as well.

When Monday morning rolled around I had a decision to make. I really couldn't see myself leaving him home alone so I opted to bring him into work with me. Since it was summer semester no one was at school so I figured he could just hang out with me in the lab, but again if I left the room he'd get nervous. I opted to spend the rest of time until Hol got back "working from home."

On the day Holly's flight arrived I decided to bring Helo with me to the airport. He was well behaved, for the most part. We just hung out on the roof of the central parking garage at Logan until Hol's flight arrived. Helo wasn't exactly sure what to make of her at first, but I'm pretty sure by the time we were on our way back up to Lowell he'd curled up in her lap and accepted her as part of his new family.

So ended the first days of Helo's time with us. We figured it had been a bit rough, but we'd be able to work through stuff. Hol had previously joked that we'd used up all our good dog luck with Charlie and that whatever dog we got next would be hell on four paws. Helo, while not perfect, didn't seem to be that dog, though. Sure he had a bit of separation anxiety and wasn't all that fond of leashes, but we figured he'd grow out of it.

I'm sure you can imagine what happened next...