he likes to be fussed over and cuddled...rubs his face deep into you hands,. doesn't seem too overly concerned about the other animals...he even took over maude's bed (which is ok for the first day or so, but he is going to have to give it back.)
but i scared him badly ay 2am..i feel so horrible about this. i happened to get up to go to the bathroom at the exact same time that eli had gotten up to have a poop. i think i caught him in the act of what he thought was a terrible thing...the look of absolute terror as he tried to slink away from me was so very sad. i caught him and held him and told him he was a very good dog and i told him he could poop a million times in this house if he had to and it was ok (sigh..oh yay.)...poop is less than nothing...his fear is the big and sad thing.
anyway..i put him back up on maude's bed (sorry maude) and covered him up with a small fleece and he felt safe and went back to sleep.
i don't know if he is just a very responsible dog who was horrified at his sudden desperate need or if he has had accidents before and been treated unkindly...i just feel terrible that i picked a bad time last night to have to get up and my timing upset him...that totally sucked.
Eli will soon figure out that "accident" does not equal pain or anger. He's in the right place, where his sweetness and charm will be celebrated and his deficits will be underplayed or ignored. My hope is that his new normal will be overwhelmingly positive enough to eventually help him forget that his old life ceased to exist when he was abandoned at his most vulnerable.