Life with Parker

So, I’ve had the dog for a little over a week now, and so far everything is going fine. Some people have been curious as to how he ended up with me, so…

As I mentioned in a previous post, I found him on Petfinder. I had a pretty specific list of wants when it came to a dog. I wanted a small dog who wouldn’t mind not having a ton of room, didn’t bark much, didn’t chew or get into things, was already housebroken, and wasn’t a puppy, but also wasn’t too old. This usually meant I could peruse the site at will with no fear of actually getting a dog, since I’m the King Of Talking Myself Out Of Things and I wasn’t finding a dog that fit the bill.

But then along came Parker, and before I knew it I was taking him home.

Parker was named after the street where he was rescued. The story goes that his owners moved away and just put him out on the street. The shelter folks put together a posse to try and catch him, but couldn’t, so they ended up having to ambush him. Fortunately for him, they caught him that time. That was about a month before I got him.

He’s not a jumpy or nervous dog, but he barks at most people, and he’s very submissive and still doesn’t want to look up at me when I pet him. The first day I had him, he wouldn’t even get on the couch with me. He would sit a few feet away and just watch me like a hawk. So I feel like he must have been mistreated, or at least treated harshly in the past. He has warmed up to me really well, though. Now I can’t even sit down without him wanting to snuggle up beside me. So now that he’s OK with me, I’m slowly introducing him to people. I’m going to give him a try at a dog park in the near future and see what he thinks of that. I think he’d enjoy running around if he can get along with the other dogs.

He’s also very well-behaved. Even though I was careful to pick the type of dog I wanted, there was no guarantee he’d live up to his billing, but I got lucky. He is very well housebroken, when he goes outside he knows what he’s there for and usually doesn’t linger, and he lets me know when he’s done and wants to come back in. He doesn’t seem to mind me restricting him to the kitchen when I’m not here, and even when I’ve experimented and given him the run of the apartment while I slept, he’s been content to sit on the couch. He doesn’t seem to want to chew or get into things… Basically he’s spoiled me for any other dog I might ever have. Some of my dog-owning friends are very jealous

I was told that he knew his name already, but if so it’s news to me. I could say “Parker,” or “speedbump,” or “fruit salad” or whatever and it’s the same difference to him. Maybe it’s just that I don’t use it enough. I rarely have occasion to call him for anything. I plan on trying to teach him a few things once I get back from my trip next week. I bought a training book the other day, but it was on the clearance aisle, so maybe it doesn’t work. I guess I’ll find out.

So, that’s Parker’s story so far. Until next time!