January 31

We have had Bandit a little over a week and he has shown himself to be a very, very good dog for the most part – what a lover! We do have a current issue with him urinating in the house, but believe this is a temporary issue since he came from a farm and probably wasn’t in the house a whole lot.

Bandit was surrendered for “running away”. He hasn’t shown an inclination for that yet, but we are keeping him on a long line at this time to be sure, and with the cold weather I don’t want to be chasing him all over! He just always wants to be near people. Bandit rides beautifully in the car, walks very nice on a leash and has had no issues with being crated in a kennel. He did real well for his first bath (which was sorely needed) and he cleaned up marvelously! We clipped his nails tonight and had no issues or struggling at all. Bandit has not shown any issues so far with food aggression, fighting over rawhides or toys, or had any tiffs with my three dogs – another BC, a Sheltie, and an American Bulldog. The first couple of days the Bulldog displayed all his best “moves” trying to get Bandit to play, but Bandit showed no real interest or understanding of what the Bulldog was trying to do. In the last two days Bandit has finally started to play with the other dogs. Bandit shows an interest in our household cats, but just sniffs them and lets them bat at him! Bandit has seen the horses but shown no real interest to chase or even bark at them.

Bandit has no real preference for male or female humans, I have no idea yet about his behavior towards children, but so far he just seems to take everything in stride – not jubilant, but no signs of fear as he’s made his way from a farm, to a humane shelter, to our home.

February 17

Bandit is doing wonderfully, though we are still having occasional issues with him urinating in the house, but there has been dramatic improvement in that area over the last two weeks. Other than that, he seems to have a very stable temperament, there continues to be only peace in my house, no signs of aggression or fear.

I have been letting Bandit run loose and trailing a 15’ line and still he has shown no inclination to run away – he usually beats one or more my dogs when I tell them we are heading up to the house! Inside the house Bandit is very calm, he just lays down, maybe chews on a bone, but never wants to roughhouse with the other guys, he is really a great dog! Outside in the yard he has relaxed a bit and loves to roughhouse with the Bulldog and barks periodically, but has yet to show any interest in Frisbees or the tug rope.

Bandit walks very, very well on a leash, never pulls very hard and is quick to respond to a tight leash. I let him ride free in the car and took just him to our dog club one evening. He was a little unsure in the car at first but then laid down, once in awhile he would stick his head on the console between the front seats. At club, he whined a

little bit when left in an open wire crate, but we squirted him with water at times, and he quieted down nicely after about a half-hour. Outside of the crate he was great with all the strange dogs and I even let a young girl hold his leash and walk him around and he seems terrific with children; at one point he was resting his head and front legs in her lap, he is definitely a lover and needs hugs!

Since the worming treatment he must be feeling much better, as he now likes to howl a lot more, especially when he is really happy – like letting him out of his crate in the morning or when I go outside to play with dogs. He doesn’t bark much except when he is trying to get the Bulldog to play. For the last 3+ weeks Bandit has been running free in our yard with the other dogs, AND still has not shown any interest in running away, I just don’t understand the reason for his surrender at this point. All he wants to do is be interacting with a person or a dog… if left unattended then he might choose to leave I guess.

Bandit has gotten a few more baths and is still so easy to handle. I also clipped all his claws by myself and didn’t have a single issue – he is so much better than my own dogs! He is eating only dry food, except for Saturdays he gets a little glob of wet food as do all the dogs, and some yogurt on Sundays – he eats every meal and quickly! He is an extremely easy “keeper” and will make someone a great companion!

Bandit still gets along great with the cats, both inside the house and in the barn, and has not shown any interest in chasing them; mostly he acknowledges them and that is it. We were taking Bandit inside the barn when we did the chores with the horses and Bandit just sat quietly while tied and waited for us. If we made the mistake of leaving the barn without him then he would howl and bark. The horses don’t bother or seem to interest him much either, but he hasn’t had the opportunity to get real close.

Mar 14, 2008

Bandit went for his checkup on the 23rd of February. He is now all caught up on vaccines and his heartworm check was negative. He did have a very bad case of round worms and tape worms. The treatment for those kind of knocked him out for a few days (very low energy, very tired) but since rebounding from that he has been energetic again and hasn’t urinated in the house since the last update! Yea! Bandit walked right into the vet office, went right up to the technician and sat down in front of her and waited to be petted – the whole staff was impressed with his gentle demeanor! The vet felt that Bandit was pretty much at an ideal weight of about 50 pounds.

Bandit has been playing well with the Bulldog, though he gets a little rough at times and the Bulldog just puts him in his place. In the house Bandit enjoys chewing on rawhides (there still has yet to be any sign of possessiveness among any of the dogs) and has actually been carrying around a squeak toy! When we got another bout of cold weather and the dogs couldn’t get outside much, Bandit did wrestle with the Bulldog a little bit inside the house, but normally he is content to lay and chew on a rawhide or just lay at my feet while I am on the computer.