Ritter is a Bad Dog!

I usually don't like to be too negative about a foster dog, because no one wants to adopt a dog that is criticized by the foster parent.  But fortunately for me, Ritter has already been adopted!  I'm keeping him for the week because his new family is out of town, but he's going to his new house on Sunday.  And I don't think they are aware of this blog, so it should be safe to tell you all about Ritter. 

Ritter pretended to be a perfect dog when he came to my house.  He was perfect at his last foster home, but he was being picked on by bigger dogs, so he came to my house for his own safety.  At least that's what his last foster mom said.  After keeping him for two weeks, I think maybe he came here for her own safety.  And I already warned her if he gets returned, he's going to have to go back to her house or no one will be safe, most especially him!  I was mostly kidding, but don't tell her that.

It all started off so easily.  He was said to be house-trained, and good with other dogs, perfectly well behaved in the house and very affectionate.  Sounds great, right?  And for three days, he was.  Then the real Ritter appeared.  And I found out none of those things was true.  Except the last, which turned out to be not a good thing at all. 

House-trained?  Not really.  Oh, most of the time he does fine, but it seems he can't pass an empty dog crate without lifting his leg and urinating into the crate.  This may be because he hates the crate and is showing his displeasure, but keep in mind the only time he does this is when he is outside of the crate.  And okay fine, he's only done this twice in two weeks, despite constantly being around dog crates, but it's still really annoying, especially when said crates had a blanket and several dog toys in the line of fire. 

Good with other dogs?  Well, okay, yes.  It's true he's great with other pets, but he's also great at getting them into trouble.  He's found at least three different places to escape the fenced in yard, and then Tulsa just follows him right out into the surrounding fields.  He's a very bad influence, and I'm constantly worried about them getting out and getting hurt.  At least he's finding all the weak spots in the new fence so I can get them sealed up one at a time!  In the meantime, they're bringing in ticks from the fields, which somehow find their way to the couch and the bed and onto me - all in spite of their monthly flea/tick preventative. 

Well behaved in the house?  Sure, if you don't count the computer cord he ate one day while I was at work.  I was so careful after that - I knew he couldn't be trusted.  The cord had the chew-repellent cover on it, but that didn't stop him from chewing it into little pieces.  Fortunately I had a replacement cord.  I kept the computer in another room unless I was using it so he couldn't hurt it.  Then the next night while I was typing away, my computer went dim, and I looked down, and Ritter had crawled under the desk to chew up the other cord.  This was when I officially deemed him a Bad Dog. 

Very affectionate.  In spite of his Bad Dog designation, it's hard to be mad at the little guy when he just wants to be close to you.  And by close to you, I mean right in your face, laying on your chest like he's a cat, close to you.  And the more you push him away, the closer he insists on being, as if by scooting closer he can make you like him more.  This was annoying, but I could live with it.  Until he started hanging out by the rose bush outside, which is currently surrounded by poison ivy.  So now I have poison ivy on my legs and arms, thanks to one very affectionate Bad Dog.  Sunday is not getting here soon enough!