Well, Jack, you might check out flatlined’s comments in thisthread (post 19 and later) about her dog who is being tutored by a cat and who only pees in the litter box. Could be worse.
Some dogs lift their leg, some dogs don’t. I’ve had males who rarely bother and females who did it all the time.
Out of an excess of caution, next time you take him to the vet, you might ask the vet to check his hips. Not lifting might be an indication of hip trouble.
I can just see him twirling and walking backwards. Bobby-boy just wanted to play with purty kitty. You were wise not to stop, he might’ve gotten a swat on the nose. That would’ve turned him against all cats. How is Mort doing?
Mort is still a little put out, but I’ve been doing some exercises with Bob to get things rolling. While Bob is in his room during the day, the cat door is open so Mort can come upstairs as much as he likes. I don’t know how much he does, however. This weekend we’ve been running some drills where I have Mort in one room in the basement with a closed door, and I lead Bob down (once he can calmly walk down stairs (which is the biggest challenge so far, but he’s getting it)) and let him sniff around for a while and get used to Mort’s scent. I’ve done it a few times, so Bob’s been in both of Mort’s rooms. Once he relaxes down there, I bring him back upstairs and try to get him to ignore the cat door as well as I can. Which he does with a little encouragement. I don’t have to “No” him, I just have to say, “Come on Bob,” and he leaves it alone.
Next step is to bring Mort up while Bob is secured. Once I can get Bob to calm down I’ll let Mort do what he wants - which I’m betting will be running back downstairs, but he’ll be safe regardless. I’m pretty sure if I repeat these exercises I’ll eventually get them at least used to each other, if not liking each other.
Looks like Bob Dog has a YouTube channel, and he’s looking for work.
Slow and easy wins the race. Good dog, Bob.
And what is Otto spelled inside out?
Toot!
A quick Bob update. He’s learning how to push my buttons and I experienced the first bout of uncontrollable zoomies last night. This past weekend, a number of times, he’s gotten really pushy in wanting to play. He’ll be perfectly calm laying on the floor and if I get up to get a glass of water or find the remote or anything he starts jumping up on me and when I correct him he starts barking at me. I can get him to sit, even lay down and relax, but it only takes a few seconds for him to go back to nuts. It’s happened maybe four or five times over the weekend, which is concerning. I’d really like to nip this shit in the bud.
Last night he was doing that shit and there was no stopping him. He ended up doing crazy-ass windsprints between the kitchen and the living room - a distance of about fifteen feet. I just let him go until he knocked something over. It was still light outside so we went out back and played ball for a little while and that seemed to do the trick, but damn, I can’t have that happening too often either. And it’s not like he wasn’t exercised - he’s had at least 4 miles worth of walks and two other ball-playing sessions. I guess I have to keep an eye on his energy building up like that. I mean, it’s a shitty thing to say, but I’m starting to look forward to work tomorrow so I can get a little break from him. At least I know he’s cool in his room all day.
Operation Mort is not going well. Bob can be calm enough if I bring him to Mort, but as soon as I secure him and open the basement door, he starts going nuts and it’s hard to get him calm. I managed it, after about twenty minutes and I went down and got Mort, but as soon as stepped through the door with him Bob started barking and play bowing and Mort said, fuck this, and bolted back downstairs. I’ll keep trying. It may be a while - I think I’m going to have to keep working on Bob’s calmness and comfortability around here before I solve this.
Oh, and here’s another piece of his evil genius. He has discovered the joy of digging for moles in the back yard. He just figured it out this weekend and now I’ve got three pretty decent pits started in the back yard. Now, if he starts digging and I say, “Bob, no!” he’ll stop, and pretty much leave it alone for a little while until it strikes his fancy again, but then he does this thing where he’ll drop his ball in the hole and then look at me as if to say, “I’m not digging, I’m just trying to get my ball,” but he’s not fooling anybody.
On the digging, is it warm where you are? Often dogs will dig because the dirt they pull up is a lot cooler than regular ground or lawn. Annoying as hell though.
Keep up the stories and photos. I caught myself saying, Dawwww!, at seeing him sacked out next to the door. Mine would do something similar with laying in the doorway.
I think taking him out to play when he gets rambunctious will only teach him to act wild so you take him out for a play session. I think it would be better to confine him immediately until he settles. Hopefully he’ll associate wild behavior with being confined and learn to control himself.
StG
I thought of that, but I was concerned about making his room a place of punishment. I want him to be happy when he’s in there. Then again, I think he just tolerates that room. It’s where he eats so he’s more than happy to go in there and when I throw his Kong in his crate he’ll willingly go in there to get it, but when he knows when I’m trying to get him to stay in there and he’ll either balk at coming in or break for the door as I start to close it. It’s not an uncontrollable thing - I basically push him back and get him to sit and tell him to wait as I’m closing the door. Sometimes he’ll protest bark and scratch at the door for a second or too, but so far he’s just been settling in. And he chills in there for a while after I’m home so I can actually get some chores done without him underfoot.
But … point well taken, I’ll try it next time that happens, trying to remember to make it a positive thing and not a punishment thing. Somehow.
Another suggestion would be to initiate a short training session. He gets antsy, you run him through his learned commands, and start work on some new ones. This focuses his mind, and reinforces expected behavior.
I’ll also mention that it’s not uncommon at all for adopted animals to start to get a little frisky once they’ve settled in. He’ll work through it. I’ve had it happen with several dogs and even a horse. A few weeks in and the dog seems to realize that this is home and you’re not a temporary fixture. They become a little more relaxed and push the boundaries a bit. Good news is that he trusts you? 
I’d up the exercise even more as well.
I have very little experience with bigger dogs. I agree with Sunny about upping your excercise routine. A tired dog is a happy dog.
That’s plenty of exercise for lots of humans and some dogs. It clearly isn’t enough exercise for Bob, though. Some dogs are built to run at speed, not just to walk, for a quite a bit more than four miles in a day, and he may well be one of them.
Not sure what you’re going to do about it, though, as you’ve probably got limited time to go run with him, and very likely couldn’t keep up with him anyway (not a criticism of your running abilities, very few people can run well enough to properly exercise such a dog). Is it possible to build him an outside pen that’s secure enough that you can allow him access to it while he’s unattended, and large enough that he can at least run in circles in it at some speed?
Does he fetch? Or swim? (Apologies if you answered this already and I missed it.) Both are great ways of tiring out even the most switched-on dog.
Having you run more than four miles a day to entertain him, doesn’t sound feasible. OTOH, Bob looks a bit like a dog my best friend in high school had. Well, actually it was his mother’s dog, and she trained for marathons when she wasn’t instructing multiple aerobics classes. Both Mom and dog were happy with the 10 mile a day running regimen.
I will add that when some of my dogs are trying persistsetly to get my to interact with them, nudging and pawing and so forth, I will deliberately turn my back on them and refuse to even make eye contact until they stop and settle down. It works surprising well. Then I’ll call them and give them some mild praise (I don’t want to get them ramped up again) and a few pats. If they start getting rowdy again, I turn away and over and over (it may take 2-4 times) until they lay down beside me. The point being that I give attention when it’s good for me, not directed by them.
StG
A treadmill might be in Bobs future.
My groomer uses one for hyper clients. She says most dog get it pretty quick. YMMV. My lazy, quiet Yorkie has never been on it.
Doubtful he will start lifting. We have a 4 yr old Boxer that squats. And an 18 month old Puggle that lifts, and he didn’t learn from our Boxer. Once a squatter, always a squatter lol
We have a Dobe with a spinal deformity that sometimes pees directly between his front legs…but more usually, the whiz hits him in his right elbow. He basically always has one wet foot.
I kind of had a very trying weekend with Bob. His acting up, while I could control him, was wearing me down. It was to a point one night where I knew if I stood up at all he’d start up so I was just not moving as long as he was being quiet. But that’s no way to live. I’m not going to be held captive because he gets unruly. So, yeah, my anxiety was threatening to get the better of me the more frustrated I got and the more I started second guessing myself. I’ve had to keep telling myself that it was similar with Daisy-Dog when I first got her, but she was only a 25 pound terrier instead of 55 pound whatever Bob is. He’s settling in and figuring out this is his home, like someone here said, so it makes sense that this is some boundry-testing. I just hope I can keep my shit together and get him on the right page. I know he’s smart. I know he will settle in and be good, but damn, it’s difficult.
Deep breath. Stay positive. That’s my wheelhouse these days. I don’t want to be negative. Any issues that are presenting themselves will be resolved.
In the meantime, I do think routine is better for him. I had a four day holiday weekend and I spent it pretty much every second with Bob. There were many walks and many bouts of fetch in the backyard, but not on any sort of schedule. Today, so far, I’ve come home and did some chores before I sprung him from his room. Afterward we went for a poop and a pee and spent about 45 mintues in the backyard playing around. He was still being a little unruly so I was a little concerned, but he is listening better today and not persisting so much. Since then, I’ve fed him lunch and let him work through a busy-bone snack and now he’s sacked out on the kitchen floor. I’m going to take him for his evening walk in about an hour and then hopefully have a peaceful enough night. Bed time is 9:00 – his shining moment. He curls up in bed with me and doesn’t bother me all night.
Bob’s a good boy and I will be a good owner, if it kills me.