Tonka is now being called Ben again, at the request of DINO. They’ve advised me that this will prevent confusion for him, and it will make it easier for the adopter to transition him to a new name, if they choose to rename him.

Yesterday was a fairly quiet day. I kept Ben on lead all day because of his known issues with cats. He and Violet are sorting things out between them, but he must still remain under strict control until he becomes calmer and he’s able to show he can be trusted with more freedom. I wanted a quiet day for him so he could start relaxing as he works to process all the changes he’s having to deal with.

Last night, however, was not good. He showed me an issue so big and so dangerous that is now my main focus.

When we open the hall closet to put food in the dishes, Glimmer sits near the door, and Violet goes right into the closet. Last night, it was business as usual… until Ben attacked Violet. It happened so fast that there was no time to blink. Violet got in front of Ben so she could get into the closet, Ben misinterpreted that, and before anyone could blink, he was in a red-zone state.  Thankfully, all he got was a big mouthful of her fur before I got him under control and corrected him, but that’s not the point. The point is that instead of trusting that he would be fed even though she was between him and the food, he made the decision that Violet was a threat and he attacked her.

It was not Violet’s fault, nor was it Ben’s fault that this incident occurred. Ben reacted as he did because it’s all he knows. He has not had an easy life, and although I’ve earned some trust from him, that trust does not extend to food.  At least, not yet.

DINO will be making Ben available for adoption in two weeks. I need a minimum of 6 months just to get him to a point where he’s better able to trust and where he can be trusted not to automatically attack around food when other animals are present. Ben is an extremely reactive dog in virtually every area; building trust with him is not an easy job, because somewhere along the line, he’s learned to mistrust humans. Last night’s attack showed me that he has deeper problems that have to be addressed immediately before he is even remotely ready to be considered as an adoptable dog.

When I met Ben 8 months ago, I assessed him as a red-zone dog in need of complete rehabilitation. As he is right now, that assessment stands. He is a good dog – he’s doing the best he can to show that – but he is not adoptable yet. He has a long, difficult recovery journey ahead of him before he can be with a family.

  Tonka is home. I picked him up yesterday. He was so happy and excited to see me that he was shaking. And when I put him in the car and got him buckled in, he was nearly beside himself with happiness. He knew he was coming home.

The reunion between him and my husband was a bit rough – my husband approached the car and smiled, and Tonka misinterpreted the behavior and became extremely reactive. I immediately corrected him, and then I removed him from the car so that he could be re-introduced to my husband. Once Tonka got my husband’s scent, he remembered him and settled down. This reactivity, however, is something that will need to be worked on.

Bringing Tonka into the house, our cat Violet was the first to greet him. Tonka didn’t expect that. His adoption bio says he’s not good with cats, but he did a fantastic job of remaining calm while Violet gave him a thorough check. I did keep him on lead the entire time, just to be on the safe side.  When he saw Glimmer, he got excited and tried to greet her. She corrected him by growling at him, telling him he was too intense and he needed to calm down.

Tonka was bedded down in the kennel in our bedroom last night. He got anxious about it and started whining, but he calmed down when he realized that my husband and I were there and getting ready for bed ourselves. And when Glimmer came in, he seemed to know that things were okay, and he went to sleep. He slept all night.

Tonka wolfs his food as if he expects it to be taken away from him. He doesn’t relax at all while he’s eating, and he constantly looks around to make sure no one is trying to get in and take it from him. The issue presented when the pack was fed their first supper together last night. His rehabilitation begins today, and this is one of the first issues I’ll be addressing.

We have a long journey ahead of us, but Tonka is showing that he’s trying really hard to learn his place in the pack and follow the rules, boundaries, and limitations that are set out for him. He does have several issues that need to be addressed, but I expect most of those problems to resolve as he starts to feel more secure. Stability, security, and consistent leadership will go a long way towards helping this 15-month-old pup become happy, calm, and balanced.