Presenting Kony, The Gentle Giant

This past Wednesday, after dinner, I went to go meet Kony, the new foster. I had already had a chance to meet him briefly at an event. Sid and Onyx got to meet him there as well, but I was still a little nervous about the introduction. Let's face it, three dogs and two cats could get a bit chaotic, and somehow, I forgot about Kony's size until I saw him at the pick up meeting. If Kony were to get on his back legs and stand up, he could probably rest his front paws on my shoulder. It is nice being able to pet and hug him without having to bend down though, and he loves being petted and loved. He is a very sweet and gentle boy.

Kony greeting everyone

It's nice to say that once again, things went smoothly when I brought him into the home. It was done a bit differently this time since Sid and Onyx were outside. We brought Sid in first, let him get comfortable, then introduced Onyx into the situation. Onyx does follow Sid's lead with a lot of things. They have become very attached to one another. 

Arrival day is turning into a routine. After getting the dog use to his foster brother's and letting him see the back yard and get use to his surroundings, bath time happens. Unlike Rayzr and Onyx, Kony is not a happy bath dog. Bathing him was a two person job, but once he knew we weren't hurting him, he did calm down. He wasn't happy about the bath after he calmed down, but he is smart enough to know if he doesn't fight us, it ends quickly.

Kony relaxing after a bath

Kony is a pretty laid back boy. He prefers to lay down in the quieter parts of the house. He will play and wrestle with his foster brothers, but he doesn't want to play as much as the other two do, which is every waking moment.

Kony is pretty good in cars as well. He seems to enjoy sleeping through the car ride. He is so quiet and so good it would be easy to forget he was with you until you got to your destination. This is a big difference from Sid who thinks car ride time is also climbing over everyone and everything time and needs to be secured when in a vehicle.

Kony is also a dog that listens. If he is doing something you don't want him to do, which isn't often, all you have to do is say his name and he stops. He doesn't seem to know commands like sit very well, but he is learning quickly. Or maybe he did know and the new environment threw him off and he's starting to show what he knew again. He learned how to use the doggy door in the pool cage, which is actually pretty funny since he seems like he'd be too big for it when he walks up to it.

The one area that it has been very useful that he listens so well is with the cats. He definitely wants to see what they taste like. He hasn't tried to hurt them, but he has stared at the one and drooled. Fortunately, the cats are smart enough to avoid him, and he doesn't have enough of a prey drive to go after them. I think he can be taught to see the cats as part of the pack, however, I do think supervision and caution would always need to be used. Having a way to separate the two seems to be a must. And having a cat that doesn't back down seems to be helping as well.

Because of the cat issue, I did want to crate him though. After ordering a larger crate then the one I had set up for the fosters since he would not fit in the other one, I found out he is not a happy dog in the crate. Over night when the cats are sleeping in one of the bedrooms, I don't mind locking him in the living room. While the dogs are not at home alone a lot, he will be crated then. I am going to try to work with him to make him feel more comfy being crated in case his new forever home prefers to crate their dogs. I found in the past, the easiest way to train my dogs to not hate the crate is to first let them get use to laying in it not closed, then close them in it for a few minutes at a time, each time a little longer. He does like laying in a crate that is open already, so I don't think the next step will take a long time to accomplish.

What a handsome boy!

I think teaching him new things or getting to adapt his behavior is going to be pretty easy. Kony is already a good dog who listens well and he obviously wants to please his humans. He really doesn't need much work, if any, depending on what kind of home he goes into. If you want to learn more about Kony, you can find him on PetFinder.