Of course not an hour at one time. It may have just seemed like 2 hours.
I took Peyton out of the equation yesterday and spent several hours just one on one with Jax. It was the first day it wasn't raining since he got here. A couple of things struck me, he is possibly overwhelmed with the uncertainty of all this and is even reserved in his play time with me. You'd be hard pressed to get Jax too excited about anything right now. This may be the fact he has not settled in yet.
He's a follower not a leader and rarely has a mind of his own but instead seems to wait for my cues. I think I could walk him a 1000 miles and never feel a dog on the end of my leash. He's a very very comfortable dog to walk now and unless he spooks he never ever hits the end of the leash.
I think back to when Peyt arrived. At the same amount of time, effort and methods, Peyt knew everything except Photoshop. She did her commands "snappy". Now at day 4, I don't even have a 100% reliable "sit" and the ones I do get are often slooow to develop.
Jax has not done anything wrong, he hasn't done much at all and the few things I have taught him takes an inordinate amount of time to learn. Like all dogs, he takes hand signals better than verbal cues. But is taking longer to tie the two together than Peyt did.
It's not all slow going. He and Peyt are rough and tumble play buddies now. He's completely comfortable with her and her with him. This is the most animated I have seen Jax which gives me hope there is a real fun loving dog in him somewhere. I think Jax takes life too serious until he figures it's ok. He's cautious, and not what I would call a bold dog at all.
We've met quite a few strangers and invariably, once they spend some time around him they all say, wow...this is a really good dog. There's nothing not to like about Jax. He's a friendly, slow moving, not threatening, well mannered, subdued dog. I just wish I could get him to live a little, feel free to be himself, have some confidence and a sense of security. Hopefully, this will come in time and we have plenty of that, Jax is not going anywhere.
Above all else, I want him to be well balanced and my goal is CGC. Not for me, but for Jax. I ran him through a series of CGC tests yesterday and here's where I think he would score. This is Jax in a nutshell. He is a really really good dog with only some confidence issues. The only way to build that confidence is with time...
Test 1. Accepting a Friendly Stranger - Pass
Test 2. Sitting Politely for Petting - Pass
Test 3. Appearance and Grooming -Pass
Test 4. Out for a Walk (walk on a loose leash) Pass
Test 5. Walking Through a Crowd - Pass
Test 6. Sit and Down on Command Pass- Staying in Place - fail
Test 7. Coming When Called - Pass
Test 8. Reaction to Another Dog - Pass
Test 9. Reactions to Distractions -Fail
Test 10. Supervised Separation - Fail
My goal for another dog was two-fold. A play buddy for Peyton, he passes. A companion dog for me, he passes. If Jax didn't change at all, Peyt and I would be happy. Jax is just "kinda" happy right now and I'm still convinced at day 4 as the day he came home, he's a really really good dog.