4/10 - Mason has been adopted

3/10 - Mason is pending adoption

2/19/10 - Well it has been a busy week for Mason.  On Sat 2/13/2010 Kim visited our home to provide a 4 hour training with Mason.  It went pretty well and Kim left us with directions on what to work on.  Mason is now using a "Halti" and he responses well to it.  He visited the Vet on 2/15/2010 and was brought up to date on all his shots.  Even thought he got very anxious about seeing another dog (we have to work on this) he was great with the vet and the technicians....kept wanting to give kisses!!  Per Kim's instructions Mason is being worked with each day both in the woods and on the road.  The "road work" is the teaching program.  As each day goes by, Mason becomes less anxious about vehicles passing us on the street when we were out walking.  Originally he would jump toward the vehicles (we've all seen other dogs do this)..well, each day I could see an improvement in Mason. Today was the icing on the cake, we had 10 vehicles pass us this morning during our walk, two vehicles being a school bus and a full size pickup one behind the other....Mason was a CHAMP.  I talked to him as the vehicles passed and he never jumped around..just kept walking along next to me.  I was so happy I started crying!!  Another challenge Mason has this week is that we have contractors working inside our house.  Mason did bark and howl for a few minutes when the contractors first entered the house, but he then settles down in the other section of the house with us.  As I type this, Mason is asleep under the table with his head on my feet.  His former owner said that Mason did not like the crate, we have been feeding him in the crate so he can gain his confidence.  We leave the crate door open and for the last three days we have occassionally found him asleep in the crate instead of on his dogbed!!  So last night, I tossed a couple of treats in the crate, when he entered, I looked the crate door and walked away.  At first Mason cried a little, I went back to the crate, told him to "quiet" and walked away.  I didn't hear a peep from him.  At the end of 45 minutes, we opened the crate door to let him out.  This will be continued each day, just for a longer period each time.,Mason gets very excited about other people walking on the street, so this weekend, my daughters-in-law are going to help me by walking up and down the street as Mason and I take our walks...hopefully he won't feel that he has to meet everyone in town.  We have left Mason free in the house when we both have to leave...no messes, no destruction.  Mason also loves the snow and really enjoys his runs with David out in the back pastures.  He is a lovebug and really wants to please.

2/10/10 - Mason continues to improve.  He is a great dog in the house.  Not destructive at all.  He would like to get on the sofa, but obeys well when he his told No.  He knows the commands: sit, stay, wait, and no.  He enjoys the walks in the woods, we are using a harness on him.  Mason does not pull like he originally did, we walk with a loose leash in the woods.  However when I take him on the road it is a different story.  He gets very nervous and shows a lot of anxiety when meeting up with other walkers and vehicles going past us.,We will continue taking him on short walks on the road in the hope of helping him get over this anxiety. 

2/6/10 - Just a quick note to let you know that we picked up Mason this afternoon.  The initial meeting was ominous to say the lease..Mason was jumping all around, out of control.  So Chris (Mason's dad) and my husband took Mason for a walk to calm him down.  When they returned Mason was much better so we continued walking him until Chris was out of site.  Then we loaded Mason into our vehicle for the trip to CT.  Mason rode very well, periodically giving kisses and then lying in the dog bed we brought with us. Chris said that Mason won't eat this morning.   He finally ate tonight. Mason has met our 2 sons and daughter-in-laws...Mason gets very excited when meeting new people, jumping a lot, but eventually calms down.  Mason seemed to be unsure about our 10 yr old granddaughter.  She was nervous about his size, and we think it picked up on it, because he kept staring at her.  All in all, I think today has been successful.  Mason is now lying in his dog bed again.  He took a nap this afternoon in the living room, while Dave and I were relaxing in our recliners.  Mason does get very nervous when someone leaves the house...for example, Dave went outside to feed the horses tonight and Mason paced and cried the entire time he was gone.  He would calm down when I reminded him that I was still in the house. 
When we are all in the house, Mason is much calmer than we anticipated.  He is a beautiful animal that would love to be a lap dog if allowed. 
 

We'll  keep you posted.