Cowboy -- Home on the Range at last!

I wanted to give you an update on Cowboy whose new name is Nike (sounds like Mikey)).  I loved the name Cowboy, but it was pretty close to our pup named Cody so wanted to make sure the dogs could distinguish their names when called.  Nike is finally coming more readily when we call his name.

We have been having mini-breakthroughs all along with Nike.  He still doesn't like loud noises much and runs and hides in his crate.  He still is unsure about how he is going to be treated if he thinks someone is throwing stuff at him or raising their hand that he is going to get hurt and he cringes a little bit.  But he is definitely a lot better.  When I throw the ball for Cody, or the frisbee, Nike sort of gets that I am not throwing anything at him and he is chasing some balls and the frisbee sometimes, and/or wrestling them away from Cody.

He was terrible on the leash and very fearful, but we have been sticking with it.  And then I started taking him along with my bike and he did surprisingly well with that.  He only nearly caused me to catapult off my bike a few times, but all turned out well.  He was enjoying that exercise quite a bit.  He wasn't very good at coming to me when called, but that is improving.  We have a large open space near where I live and finally I am able to let him run with my other dog and he is coming back to me now - and he seems to be smiling now when running around.

He loves cuddles, and wants to be a lap dog.  He gets on great with Cody and they play chasings around the house and wrestle and chew things together.

The only thing he still needs a lot of work on is 'herding' too much.  He bites Cody on the backside, or his tail and has bitten the children on their rear ends a couple of times when they have been running in the front yard.  He seems to go into 'working' mode and doesn't like it if Cody is chasing water, or a ball or something - he waits, and then ambushes him and bites him.  Not sure why, but we are working on it.

Here are a couple of photos of him if you want to pass them onto the foster mom.  He seems really happy now and spends less time in his crate now - and is out playing or watching the world go by.

thanks,

Petra