Every Girl's Crazy 'Bout a Sharp Dressed Man

This is our weekend foster, ZZ Top, or Z, Mr. Z, Zeebert, and/or Snotty Biscuits. He's a ten month old Mastiff mix. He's been in the isolation cage at a vet clinic for the last two weeks. He's got a nasty case of kennel cough. Lindsay asked if we'd be willing to take him for the weekend so that we can provide an evaluation of his personality and behavior. I went to get him on Friday night and he was ridiculously excited to see people. Once he realized he got to go home with someone, rather than stay in his isolation cage, he was giddy.

As soon as we got home, we did the introduction dance with Hudson, Lexi and Porter. Everyone meets on neutral ground and goes for a short walk together. (This prevents my dogs from getting all territorial with Z.) Everyone got along okay, so we headed home. There were a few brief scuffles at home. Z found a ball that Lexi had hidden under the couch. Hudson picked it up after Z had discarded it. Z took offense at this and let Hudson know that the ball was clearly his, Hudson told Z that he didn't see his name on it, and there was some growling, barking and lunging. Ironically, that seemed to cement their relationship, since they are now best friends.

Lexi, who pushes everyone around all the time, thought nothing of trying to push Z around as well. He wasn't having any of that. She stepped on him several times. Z only growled. She chose to disregard his warnings and stepped on him again. He went after her. He had to do so three times before she accepted that he is not a pushover, and they are now fine.

Happily, Porter is doing MUCH better with Z than he did with Harley. I think Harley was bigger and more exuberant than Porter was prepared for. Z, likely because he isn't feeling all that great, is much calmer, and less pushy with butt-smelling. As a result, Z is Porter's new mini-me. Whenever they are in the yard together, Z trails after Porter smelling everything he smells, peeing on everything he pees on and generally trying to be P's shadow.

His nose is still running and his little cough hurts my heart, but he's eating his twice daily meal of two cups of Precise, so we're ahead of the curve. The vet told me that they couldn't get him to eat kibble at all and were tempting him with canned food. I haven't had any problems at all. Z is getting a little frustrated with me wiping his nose though. If he sees me coming with a tissue in hand, he's gone and hiding anywhere he fits. He's a little head-shy and it's clear that he's not quite sure what to make of dog beds. I don't think anyone has ever taught him sit, down or anything else. Z is even unaware of the universal "join me on the couch" pat that my dogs would know even if they were blind. I wonder if Z used to get in trouble for getting on furniture? He's really averse to climbing on the couch, the bed or even a dog bed.
He's a real sweetheart and Tony and I are looking forward to seeing him settled in his forever home!