Burke's first week (and a half)

Well, it's been an exciting week for the new dog. Jodi and Lisa drove up from Creswell on Nov. 25 to check out the house and the yard, and having determined that it was an appropriate environment for Burke, went back to Creswell without him.

He warmed up to me within the first day or two, and got the lay of the house down pretty quickly. He's established a couple of safety zones, one being my bedroom, the other being the corner of the kitchen, in front of the door that leads to the basement. He also has the basement, where he hangs out when I'm at work, or out someplace where I can't take him. I've got his crate down there, and he spends a lot of his basement time in there, although I know he comes out of it at least every once in a while. He's getting used to the neighborhood as well, although sudden noises still send him into a panicked crouch. He's gradually getting desensitized to all of the random stimulation of being in an urban environment. The main challenge is going to be getting him comfortable with the back yard. For whatever reason, he really doesn't seem to like it out there, which will need to change, as the back yard is to be his toilet. He's house trained, and he's done his thing out back a few times now, so I know he's capable of it, it's just a matter of getting him to make that association, I guess. We'll keep working on it.

Burke hasn't shown any interest in fetch yet, and in general he doesn't seem to be very toy motivated. He does have a rawhide chew toy he seems to like, but that's about it. He's not much for tug-of-war, either. Basically, he works really hard at relaxing. He does, however, like to go on hikes. He's been in Forest Park a couple times, and I'm going to try to get out into the Gorge with him sometime this weekend. Hiking notwithstanding, he's definitely a mellow dog, not nearly as intense as Copilot (and Cope wasn't really that intense to begin with, not by border collie standards anyway). He'll be a bit of a project, as he's got some kinks to work out, but he has a great personality, and he'll be a great dog.