The Log Dog Blog: Worth the wait!

I love rescue dogs! Every single one that we’ve adopted, including Avalanche, has been a precious treasure to me. Not knowing their full backstory can sometimes mean that earning their trust takes some time. Avalanche latched onto C almost immediately, and became his sidekick within a few weeks. It took significantly longer for Avalanche to let me in, but every little milestone felt like I'd won the lottery and this is one of those times. C will always be Avalanche’s person because they are together every minute of the day since C works from home and I simply cannot compete with that, but I will gladly wear the title of Spare Human for the rest of my life!

These couple of pictures might not seem like a big deal, but trust me - they are!

If you’ve followed along for a while, you will know what when we adopted Avalanche in January 2023, at the age of 11, he did not demonstrate any understanding of what it means to be loved on. We tried to pet him and he would immediately move away from us, he would growl to express his displeasure at us invading his personal space, and he didn’t know anything about getting up on the furniture.

Slowly, we’ve made progress! He first learned to accept pets and hugs every time he was getting out of the car, but at any other time, he dodged our advances. I've always loved taking our dogs for car rides, but I had a huge incentive now because I knew I'd be able to hug him and I’ll even go so far as to say he now really loves those hugs, because he leans into me and lets me kiss him all over his head and face and nuzzle my face into his thick, amazing neck fur.

That in and of itself would have been enough for me. We will never know if his overall disinterest/nonchalance/aloofness/indifference are due to his life before we adopted him, his breed, or his personality (probably a combination of all three), but the fact that we got to a point where I could hug him at all was thrilling for me.

We’ve noticed over the past couple of months that every once in a while, he’ll be super playful, which is quite new for him, and he’ll jump up on our bed or the couch without us prompting him. He never stays for long - particularly on the bed - because he prefers to sleep on the floor, but now we can pet him when he’s on the furniture, which was always previously met with a growl. We think he doesn’t like feeling trapped, so if he was curled up in an armchair and we sat on its ottoman to pet him, we think he felt cornered, but now, we can pet him and he’ll even let me lean over and kiss him.

Again, if you have a lovey-dovey dog, this may sound like a big “so what,” but all of these little things are beyond monumental to us! Even just petting him has gone from something he was clearly very uncomfortable with to something he enjoys, as he’ll back up into us if we stop petting him and he wants more attention.

Our hugs have evolved, too. It took almost eight months before he allowed me to put my arms all the way around him. Eight months! I was so used to smothering my dogs with love that it was hard to be patient until he was ready, so those early, begrudgingly tolerated, half hugs when getting out of the car sustained me for a long time! Now, though, he fully leans into me when I hug him and it is MAGIC. After eight cuddly little dogs I could easily scoop up into my arms, to have this big, fluffy creature put his full weight against me is the best!

No more growls, no more squirming away from me, no more standing stiffly like a statue. He just melts into the hugs.

Two nights ago, he got into one of his silly moods (so rare for him, as he is a very serious dog) and when we went upstairs, he jumped up on the bed and did a few spins before flopping down. I approached him with some trepidation, because he is still inclined to get annoyed with us if we get too close to him when he’s on our bed. To my surprise, he had no response! As I inched closer and closer, I was sure he was going to leap off the bed when a customary dramatic sigh. Instead, he allowed me to get right beside him, and for the first time ever, he put his head on my arm! I’ve been waiting for him to initiate physical contact for over nineteen months!

C grabbed his phone and got a few pics of us and all I can say is that it was more than worth the wait. I have been on a high since that moment!