Beau's breakthrough

Beau, a 3 year old neutered Manchester Terrier, came home to live with us a week ago. His previous owners were splitting up and no longer wanted him. He is very very nervous about *everything* and hasn't been socialised properly and crated most of his days. He's scared of other dogs and most humans, sudden noises and movements etc. He was the only dog in the household of 2 people and, we're told, took to guarding the wife. Watching and listening to the husband with him when we met Beau, it was clear that he wasn't handled a great deal and considered himself the leader of his little pack.

It's been a challenging week (but, heck, it's only been a week). His first few days were spent shaking like crazy and standing in the corner of whatever room he was in. Lula, our 7 month old Staffie bitch, has been great overall. She spent the first couple of days trying to make friends with him with lots of lovely calming signals but was constantly met with gnashing of teeth, biting and lots of spats. She has become frustrated in the last couple of days and started getting jealous of any attention he asks of us and been a little bit of a bully.

However, they have slowly started sleeping together. Up until now it's been Lula going over to Beau to snuggle up. Tonight, for the first time, Beau went over to Lula on her bed and snuggled into her (after she climbed all over him to remind him who's boss). Tonight he also displayed some play behaviours toward her for the first time (she was almost sound asleep at the time ) and they are much more comfortable with each other around the house. Lula is also much happier now that he's calmed down and isn't bullying him anywhere near as much. It's been a tough fight between them to decide who's number 3 and who's number 4 and I suspect it isn't over yet, but they're both so much more relaxed around each other already.

He's finally stopped shaking most of the time and started exploring his surroundings. He's obviously starting to trust us a little more. It's like he's really started to come out of his shell tonight. And I'm thrilled, can't wait till tomorrow . I've got a feeling, that beneath all the fear, he's a right little trooper.

Awww that is fab news!!!

It's great when things suddenly slot into place and harmony (well nearly anyway) resumes in the household

The joys of dog ownership!

Great story SM - I'm sure he'll settle right in soon enough, you're doing a great job... except on the piccies - where are they?

Great news, nice to hear a success story. Keep up the good work

So pleased hes settling in,
We had very much the same problems with Daisy and i feel it was really all down to no apparent socialisation from her early days with the previous owners (although at times we wondered what an earth had happened to her before she came to us) She seemed to have no 'playing' skills and a fear for all sorts of things.
Daisy is now a happy,beautiful,well socialised little Beagle and it is so rewarding to see her now.
Well done to you all x

That is such good news, I'm sure they'll be best buddies in no time at all.
I have introduced several older dogs & bitches that have come from undesirable homes and haven't had the best start in life. I have found that patience is really the only way to deal with them, they will come out of their shells once they know that they are loved and respected and that no-one is going to hurt or ignore them again. If you have another dog that has never known anything but love and a good home the new one will gain confidence from them and soon start to join in and enjoy its new life.
Well done

Great to hear that Beau is coming out of his shell and that he and your staffie are becoming buddies it nice when things begin to get better and hope they contnue to improve for you all each day that passes. as Az says it would be nice to have some pictures.

Lovely story, and thanks for sharing
So glad that Beau has found someone committed to him no matter what. Well Done.

excellent news. good luck to you all.

Thanks everyone for the well wishes

Goodness, it's been almost three weeks now and it's gone sooo quickly. We're still having a few scuffles between them as to who's number one. I think the problem is that Lula thinks she's number one, it's her home and all, but being only 7 months old doesn't quite have the authority to pull it off other than with brute force. Beau thinks he should be number one, after all he was in his last home, but he's still too fearful and lacks the confidence to really grasp the position. And so the little tiffs continue but are getting less and less each day

Today is the first time that Beau has invited Lula to play with him and so he's finally getting used to her staffie puppy rough play. They sleep together most of the time now and he's allowed in the bed at night with the rest of the family :smt002 . He will even go onto their bed and lie next to her now (she would always snuggle up to him and increasingly he's been letting her).

And Lula absolutely adores him. She plays too rough with him a lot of the time but she's learning to play more gently and he's learning that it's OK. When he's not following her following me, she's off to find him and just try "hanging out" with him. When I get home and let them out of their crates she's all over him and soooo happy to be reunited (even though the crates are right next to each other). She used to be happy to see me return once upon a time .

He's a quick learner and is settling into our routines and our house rules. He's accepting that acceptable things in his first home aren't acceptable here (begging for food, putting paws onto kitchen counters or tables etc to find food, jumping onto the sofa uninvited) and is accepting us as leaders in the family.

In all I'm loving having two doggies and so pleased he seems to like it here

For those photo requests. There are some in these threads here, here and here. There's also HEAPS of photos of the both of them on Lula's blog and I'll get snapping again soon