Quoted:
Max is going through a lot, and he’s handling it soooo well.

Anything to make this a good transition, so tonight he eats steak!  Just a bite or two.

https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/82768/F33F3086-35F3-43EA-8BF6-071486249939_jpe-2565670.JPG

Quoted:
Max (now "Charlie" according to the kids) is doing great.  He's very playful and it seems the travel stress has worn off.  He figured out the doggy door quickly after I showed him.  I heard him going in and out through the night.  Our back deck is on the 2nd level, and he seems to love the view.  He'll walk the whole deck just checking out the yard and woods behind the house.  He loves playing with my wife and the girls.  He'll flop on his back to get his belly rubbed and "mouth" play with them.  Honestly, he behaves as though he's never been mistreated.  He just wants to play.  That's a pleasant surprise.

Our old fella Leo is less than impressed.  I'm slowly exposing them to each other.  Leo is old, has joint pain, and is very protective and jealous of us.  It usually takes a week or so for him to warm up to new dogs.  I'm posting this from the vet waiting room, getting Leo caught up on all his annual stuff.  I'll get pics when I get home.

Quoted:
Max (now "Charlie" according to the kids) is doing great.  He's very playful and it seems the travel stress has worn off.  He figured out the doggy door quickly after I showed him.  I heard him going in and out through the night.  Our back deck is on the 2nd level, and he seems to love the view.  He'll walk the whole deck just checking out the yard and woods behind the house.  He loves playing with my wife and the girls.  He'll flop on his back to get his belly rubbed and "mouth" play with them.  Honestly, he behaves as though he's never been mistreated.  He just wants to play.  That's a pleasant surprise.

Our old fella Leo is less than impressed.  I'm slowly exposing them to each other.  Leo is old, has joint pain, and is very protective and jealous of us.  It usually takes a week or so for him to warm up to new dogs.  I'm posting this from the vet waiting room, getting Leo caught up on all his annual stuff.  I'll get pics when I get home.

Quoted:
Charlie/Max is doing great.  He's a super happy playful guy!  Old man Leo is still not happy about the situation but we've introduced him to Charlie/Max several times.  Charlie just wants to play, Leo just wants to be a grumpy ass.  This is SOP for Leo...it takes a week or so of us introducing a new dog to Leo before Leo will accept him into the house.  

My MIL is our neighbor, so both houses/acreages are used by the kids and animals.  Our son's dog Rex (about the same age/size as Charlie...Rex appears to be a GSD / Lab mix) stays over there (son moved in with Grandma between apartments...he's too cool to move back in with us for a couple of months).  My wife and the girls took Charlie/Max over last night to make introductions with Rex.  Apparently they smelled butts for a bit and then it was play time.  I think Rex is going to end up with us again as our son can't have animals at his new place.  So it'll work out great for Charlie/Max and Rex to have an eager play partner.  Leo will play with Rex for a while and then he gets tired/sore and gets grumpy about it.  

My wife is not a dog person at all, but she's really falling in love with Charlie/Max.  He's a super lovable little guy.  I was playing with him in the living room last night and we started playing pretty rough.  He's got a bark bigger than his size, which surprised me.  I'm pleased by that.   Once he knows he's part of our "pack" I want him to be intimidating to anyone threatening the girls.  He's also very gentle.  He'll "mouth play" with everyone, but he never bites or pinches.   My wife even made note of this.

All in all everyone (except old man Leo) is super happy to have Charlie/Max in the household.  They girls have been taking him for walks in the yard, he's been playing with all of us inside, the girls outside, and Rex over in my MIL's back yard.  He listens well (other than when he's in super-hyper-puppy mode) and is eating and drinking.  All in all I'd say he's adapting great!  My oldest daughter is already asking "when can Charlie sleep in my bed?"  lol

Quoted:
Charlie/Max is doing great.  He's a super happy playful guy!  Old man Leo is still not happy about the situation but we've introduced him to Charlie/Max several times.  Charlie just wants to play, Leo just wants to be a grumpy ass.  This is SOP for Leo...it takes a week or so of us introducing a new dog to Leo before Leo will accept him into the house.  

My MIL is our neighbor, so both houses/acreages are used by the kids and animals.  Our son's dog Rex (about the same age/size as Charlie...Rex appears to be a GSD / Lab mix) stays over there (son moved in with Grandma between apartments...he's too cool to move back in with us for a couple of months).  My wife and the girls took Charlie/Max over last night to make introductions with Rex.  Apparently they smelled butts for a bit and then it was play time.  I think Rex is going to end up with us again as our son can't have animals at his new place.  So it'll work out great for Charlie/Max and Rex to have an eager play partner.  Leo will play with Rex for a while and then he gets tired/sore and gets grumpy about it.  

My wife is not a dog person at all, but she's really falling in love with Charlie/Max.  He's a super lovable little guy.  I was playing with him in the living room last night and we started playing pretty rough.  He's got a bark bigger than his size, which surprised me.  I'm pleased by that.   Once he knows he's part of our "pack" I want him to be intimidating to anyone threatening the girls.  He's also very gentle.  He'll "mouth play" with everyone, but he never bites or pinches.   My wife even made note of this.

All in all everyone (except old man Leo) is super happy to have Charlie/Max in the household.  They girls have been taking him for walks in the yard, he's been playing with all of us inside, the girls outside, and Rex over in my MIL's back yard.  He listens well (other than when he's in super-hyper-puppy mode) and is eating and drinking.  All in all I'd say he's adapting great!  My oldest daughter is already asking "when can Charlie sleep in my bed?"  lol

Quoted:
Charlie (was Max) and Rex are buddies now.  They love to play together, so it works great.

Leo has reluctantly become more tolerant of Charlie.  We continued to slowly introduce them to each other and let Leo know that he's not to get "ugly" with Charlie.  Leo doesn't like it, but he'll do it.  We now let Charlie in the house (on a leash) without Leo being leashed.  When we let Charlie in the house unleashed we  make sure Leo is shut in a room somewhere.  Initial introductions had both dogs leashed.  Leo is pretty tolerant of Charlie now giving only the occasional growl if Charlie gets to "jumpy" on Leo's chosen person (my oldest daughter).

Leo still hasn't been given the opportunity to get Charlie on his belly and assert his dominance.  I've wanted to establish with Leo that Charlie isn't to be hurt and Leo seems to understand that now.  I've informed the family that Leo will still at some point have to assert his dominance over Charlie, but I wanted to make sure Leo would just get him down and not injure him.  I feel we're at that point.  We went through the same process with Leo and Rex.  I just want to be cautious with it.

One thing hindering this is Charlie's reactions to other dogs.  He's very aggressive when he's playing.  If you were to listen to him and observe his mouth only it looks like he's going to have a full blown fight with our other dogs (Leo or Rex).  It actually surprised / scared me the first couple of times I saw it.  However watching his body you can see he's just playing.  Ears are up and forward, tail is high and curled forward, etc.  But he jumps, growls and bites like it's WW III.  It scared the hell out of Rex at firs, but he's come around to realize they are playing.

Grumpy old Leo still isn't having it though.  When Leo is inside (free roaming) and we've got Charlie inside (on a leash) they're generally ok until Charlie wants to play with Leo...which essentially looks like Charlie is trying to attack Leo.  Body language says Charlie is playing.  His actions don't.  Leo is full tucked ears and tail, ready to rumble.  And I can't say I blame him.  

Charlie also has a habit of barking all night long.  We have lots of wildlife in the area with a bunch of it being nocturnal (deer, armadillos, raccoons, etc).  We put a bark control collar on him which has helped immensely.  A side benefit of the collar is help with socialization...since it goes off when he barks,  it goes off when he tries to be hyper-aggressive in his play / interaction with Leo or Rex  The interaction with Leo has improved since Charlie isn't barking like a rabid Cujo at Leo.  They now walk around each other, lie next to each other, etc without Leo feeling like a 70 year old man about to get jumped by a meth'd out 20 year old.

All in all things are going well and progress is being made as expected.  And of course the rest of the fam loves Charlie.

Quoted:
Charlie (was Max) and Rex are buddies now.  They love to play together, so it works great.

Leo has reluctantly become more tolerant of Charlie.  We continued to slowly introduce them to each other and let Leo know that he's not to get "ugly" with Charlie.  Leo doesn't like it, but he'll do it.  We now let Charlie in the house (on a leash) without Leo being leashed.  When we let Charlie in the house unleashed we  make sure Leo is shut in a room somewhere.  Initial introductions had both dogs leashed.  Leo is pretty tolerant of Charlie now giving only the occasional growl if Charlie gets to "jumpy" on Leo's chosen person (my oldest daughter).

Leo still hasn't been given the opportunity to get Charlie on his belly and assert his dominance.  I've wanted to establish with Leo that Charlie isn't to be hurt and Leo seems to understand that now.  I've informed the family that Leo will still at some point have to assert his dominance over Charlie, but I wanted to make sure Leo would just get him down and not injure him.  I feel we're at that point.  We went through the same process with Leo and Rex.  I just want to be cautious with it.

One thing hindering this is Charlie's reactions to other dogs.  He's very aggressive when he's playing.  If you were to listen to him and observe his mouth only it looks like he's going to have a full blown fight with our other dogs (Leo or Rex).  It actually surprised / scared me the first couple of times I saw it.  However watching his body you can see he's just playing.  Ears are up and forward, tail is high and curled forward, etc.  But he jumps, growls and bites like it's WW III.  It scared the hell out of Rex at firs, but he's come around to realize they are playing.

Grumpy old Leo still isn't having it though.  When Leo is inside (free roaming) and we've got Charlie inside (on a leash) they're generally ok until Charlie wants to play with Leo...which essentially looks like Charlie is trying to attack Leo.  Body language says Charlie is playing.  His actions don't.  Leo is full tucked ears and tail, ready to rumble.  And I can't say I blame him.  

Charlie also has a habit of barking all night long.  We have lots of wildlife in the area with a bunch of it being nocturnal (deer, armadillos, raccoons, etc).  We put a bark control collar on him which has helped immensely.  A side benefit of the collar is help with socialization...since it goes off when he barks,  it goes off when he tries to be hyper-aggressive in his play / interaction with Leo or Rex  The interaction with Leo has improved since Charlie isn't barking like a rabid Cujo at Leo.  They now walk around each other, lie next to each other, etc without Leo feeling like a 70 year old man about to get jumped by a meth'd out 20 year old.

All in all things are going well and progress is being made as expected.  And of course the rest of the fam loves Charlie.