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Buttons—Two Years On

Buttons has been with us now for a little over 2 years, so I though it was a good time to write another update on his progress. He was such a scared dog when we first met him, that never in my wildest dreams did I imagine he would blossom into such a character.

Many aspects of the outside world (such as strangers) still terrify him, and he still has a seemingly random fear of unrelated objects (flannels, the bathroom floor, and envelopes, to name but a few). But by far the greatest challenge to Buttons is any sort of change. He is obsessed with routines and rituals, and something as simple as putting new throws on the dog beds can cause him to be unsettled for hours. If I remove the mat from underneath his bowl stand he will not eat or drink until it is returned. Needless to say I now have several spares. Buttons is not a nervous or fearful dog—he is a true genetic spook in every sense of the word. Living with a spook is like living with an autistic child, and we are thrilled to see how far he has come. It is deeply rewarding to know that he now has the tools to enjoy life, as long as we don't change the boundaries too much.

For a dog who spent nearly nine years of his life in kennels, Buttons has developed an astounding palate when it comes to food. Cheese is one of his favourites, and he particularly loves parmesan and gorgonzola, however he refuses to touch edam or any sort of cheap cheese slice (and believe me he always knows if you are trying to palm him off with the cheap stuff!). He loves spaghetti, but won't eat rice or small pieces of pasta unless they are well mixed with one of his preferred foods. He won't eat burgers from McDonalds, but loves home cooked ones. He goes mad for sardines, but will walk away from any meal that has been ‘contaminated’ with tuna. Basically the list is endless.

I was talking to another dog owner about him, and she asked why I pandered to him in this way. If it were her dog she would just take his food away and the next time round he could either eat it or go hungry. Although I do agree to a certain extent I also think that dogs deserve choices, afterall that is one of the things that separates their life in kennels from their life in a home. Obviously I don't mean choices about everything. For example if they need to go to the vet then I don't allow them to refuse if they are not in the mood, however expressing a preference over certain food types seems like a fairly reasonable behaviour to me. Obviously some dogs are just more picky about what they eat, but if Buttons doesn't want to eat tuna then I will give him sardines instead—it really doesn't seem like something that is worth making a big deal about.

One of the things he has learnt in the past 12 months is that he has the ability to actually control certain aspects of his environment, and he revels in his new-found power. The dogs don't come upstairs, but Buttons has worked out that if he barks one of us will always come down to him. At first he would only bark when he wanted to be let out in the garden (either to go to the toilet or just wander around), but it wasn't long before he progressed to barking for other reasons. Buttons will bark if he wants someone to come and rub his ears; if he feels lonely and wants all his pack to be in the same part of the house; if another dog happens to be in the bed that he would like to be in; if mealtime is approaching, and he is worried I may have forgotten he will need feeding soon; or if he has rearranged his bed into an uncomfortable lump, and needs the help of a human to sort it out. Needless to say this is one area where we don't always pander to his requests, although when faced with that slightly vacant expression and those big brown eyes it can be a struggle to be firm with him. I think he now truly believes that his full name is ButtonsNo.

Jack has passed on his love of prancing round the garden while pointlessly barking, and he and Buttons will spend ages outside looking across the valley and barking at nothing. If they get bored of looking at the view, they will turn and bark at each other. Their tails never stop wagging when they are playing the barking game. And sometimes, when even Jack is bored of barking, Buttons will stand in the middle of the garden and just bark at the sky.

Buttons does come out on occasional walks, but only if both Nigel and myself come along. He likes all of us to remain fairly close together when we are away from the house, and will stop walking if anyone (dog or human) falls behind, and wait until we are all caught up again. He seems to have a strong sense of family, and is always happiest when the pack is all together.

But of all of his behaviours the one that I think has come as the greatest shock to us is his need for affection. Buttons is the most physically affectionate dog I know. He loves any sort of fuss or attention, and is always coming over and planting his head in your lap for an ear rub. And if you stop too soon he will lean on you until you finish the job to his satisfaction. He loves any activity that involves close physical contact, and will happily lay with his head in my lap while I trim his nails, or push the other dogs out of the way when I get the grooming things out.

He still loves to dig, has several special toys that he likes to carry around and position in his bed, and has even been caught jumping up to pull washing from the line.

Considering that I was once told we were wasting our time taking on such an old, scared dog, not a single day passes when I am not thankful that we did.

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