July 21, 2026 – Yesterday Pete and I took a road trip with Bojack so he could visit his mom. We love our road trips, and of course the visit was a big hit, they missed each other so much… Definitely will be planning another one (or more)! Where Zoey is staying there is a black lab, and the 2 dogs had a blast together! It was just a fun day for all of us, I’m just wishing I had been able to get some pictures.
July 19, 2026 – And then there were three! Today my granddog Shylo got dropped off for a week while her family went on vacation. None are small. Or even medium. I’m just thankful they all get along.
BoJack is doing great, settled in like he’s lived here forever. And has, simply because we talk to him all the time, picked things like “Get out of the way”, “stay”, “get back”, “are you hungry?” “do you want some water?” etc. He is learning “leave it” from Maisie as well too. My parrot Maxwell has learned, “Stop it, Jack!” too – hahahaha!
July 17, 2026 – It’s been a few days, things have been strange here between the heavy smoke outside here and the 3 digit heat indices, not being able to cook because it’s so hot in the house, or open windows to get any air flow, or even turn on fans. All of this, along with the strange colors of the thick air and the sky, has made everything about our lives feel strange…surreal, even. We walk around feeling dazed and confused, and can tell it’s affecting the dogs in the same way. But, as you will be able to see by the photos below, that’s not a bad thing, as they seem to be pulling together as a team to deal with it all.
The barking situation is about 75% improved, and I can now almost always move freely in bed. So yay! While the above is all great, there isn’t a whole lot else new, except today, for some reason, he chewed up his leash! I never thought that I’d have to keep it out of his reach…hindsight is 20/20 as they say; I have enough heavy-duty leashes around to use until I can replace it though.
Enjoy the pictures!
July 13, 2026 – My bad, the day got away from me, I forgot to pick up his water dish, and let him go 2½ hours without letting him out 🤦♂️. So I had lots of mopping up to do…from the living room to the bathroom, actually. But not his fault, with kids coming and going, and working on the blog…Jack’s routine got away from me.
As far as his training goes, he’s responding really well to 2 more commands! He is a big-time barker, especially when Pete or the kids come in – and he knows them all, well – but Pete has taught him a couple of words, in a certain tone, with a hand signal, that stops the noise and settles him right down. Not a command, more like communicating what is expected of him. The other one is at night. Jack sleeps right next to me, holding me down by the blankets. And when I get my leg cramps or back spasms and try to move, I can’t. But I need to move NOW and Jack is a REALLY heavy dog. I’ve been working on “move” and finally by early this morning he actually sat up enough for me to push him to the side so I could jump up. So those are going very well now.
Lastly, he and 7YO granddaughter Luna have been unsure of each other since he’s been here; he’s been barking at her (same as everybody) so she backs away, so he barks more. Well she was here today, he was outside and she sitting next to me. He got the back door open (somehow) and ran in, jumped up next to her, and – as instructed – she didn’t react at all. So he gave her arm a big lick, she started talking to him, he layed down next to her, and they became friends. He was even following her around the house.So now he’s friends with the whole family :).
Today is his 7th day at Camp Gooboy, and given how much he’s had to adjust and get used to, I’d say he is doing an amazing job!!!
July 12, 2026 – Today our daughter and son-in-law brought their dog Shylo over to meet Bojack. Shylo will be spending a week with us later this month while their family goes on vacation, so it was time. Happy to say that they got along really well! Sniffed around, ran around, then wandered around the yard. Pretty uneventful in the end and I’m sure everything will go fine that week, as long as they are separated for eating and sleeping. Good dogs!
June 11, 1016 – As we’re getting to know each other better, I’ve learned that Bojack is a dribbler. Which makes me so glad that we got rugs that are washable and/or easy to clean, and we have the tools to use on them. We let him outside every 60-90 minutes, as well, and let him fill upon water when he comes in, then pick up his dish. We’re managing. But his happy demeanor and willingness to please still makes him a fun pup to be around.
We’re working on his barking. He does it a lot. I get down in his face and say “NO!” (but not loudly which would defeat the purpose) and he puts his head down, backing up a step or 2, then I tell him he’s a good boy.
Lastly, he and Maisie have been co-sleeping, right up next to each other. She sleeps on the bed with us of course, and they want to be together. Since it was our intent to protect Maisie’s spot, and since she doesn’t want it protected, we’re allowing them to sleep together at our feet. So that’s that. (He has always slept with Zoey.) I am very happy that they are pals. Yesterday we were gone for a few hours and I pictured finding all kinds of destruction when we got home, but they greeted us at the door, together, happy we were home.
So that’s what is new with Bojack.
July 9, 2026 – I probably won’t be posting about Bojack every single day while he’s here, as we are settling into a nice routine now.
I want to talk about last night. At bedtime he decided he was going to try to share the bed with us (including Maisie); that’s not acceptable, and he didn’t know “down” so his training started late last night. And it went very well! I’d walk him down to the bottom of the bed and point to the floor while giving the command, then lots to praise, then repeat when he’d jump back up. Once he started hesitating for a split second to jump up, I say “down” before he had the chance to actually jump, and toss him a treat as a reward and a distraction. It was probably about 40 minutes before he had the hang of it and knew he wasn’t supposed to jump up.
But he didn’t want to sleep in the living room alone. That was ok, I think he did great, so I went down and slept with him and he slept quietly all night. He was a very GOOBOY and our first official training went GREAT!
I had planned to start official training today, which means his collar and leash always on, and he’s always at my side or my feet. I started with 2 more words, in conversational tone, that were more an explanation of what I was doing and what I wanted from him: “wait” and “stay”, I can’t tell you how many times I have been glad I’ve taught Maisie both, and the difference between them. So far so good, plus he’s learning the “shhhh” sound when he’s barking too much – he barks a lot but that’s already improving with “shhhh”. After half a day, he’s at the point where he stays with me most of the time while his leash is on, even if I’m not holding it, and listens attentively as we are centered on each other. Very pleased!
July 8, 2026 – Today was much like yesterday, but hotter, so the dogs didn’t spend as much time outside in the yard. Bojack was pretty stressed overnight, had a hard time relaxing, cried a bit, barked at every sound, etc., but I didn’t blame him. He’d never spent the night with anyone but his mom before. Maybe tonight he will feel more comfortable.
Bojack has attached himself to me, almost literally. Whenever I walk anywhere in the house he is right against my leg(s). He sat outside the bathroom door the entire time I was in the shower. He follows Pete around too, as if to keep his eye on him, but not quite as closely :). He has, I think, accepted us equally.
It was hot out today so the dogs didn’t out to play much but it will be back into the 80s tomorrow so I will encourage play time again. We are pretty amazed at how well it is all going, Zoey has raised a fantastic dog here that makes caring for him pretty easy!
July 7, 2026 – I introduce you to Bojack. He will be staying with us for a while as his mom gets moved and settled into another town. It might be a few months but Pete and I, with some guidance from son-in-law Bill, feel we are up for the challenge. Bojack is a very gooboy, as sweet as they come. His mom, who is our helper Zoey (no, I don’t know what I will do without her now that she’s moving away!) was unable to find anyone who was willing to take in a pibble for a while, and was absolutely crushed at the thought of losing him, and we didn’t feel we could let that happen either. So here he is.
He and Maisie get along fine, she immediately showed him who’s boss, and he is submissive to other dogs anyway, so within 5 minutes they were doing zoomies around the yard like best friends. She showed him where the water bowl is, and he got a tour of the house before Zoey had to leave. I could tell it was tough on her. There are a few behaviors that she wants him to learn, so that will be something he can accomplish at Camp Gooboy too.
I made this page so that I can share how things are going with Bojack, Zoey can check in whenever she wants to see what’s new, and I can talk about what we’re doing together as far as training and fun times (which should always be – and will be – one and the same thing). And I will share the occasional photo in the Fab Finds column as well.
I hope you will enjoy the page!
#pitbulls #dogs #FosterDog #DogTraining #DogsOfMastodon
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