Romeo’s Story
After spending his life chained up, Romeo’s pent up energy was giving him a major case of the zoomies! Find out how he settled in with his new mum, Enza, in this post.
Romeo spent the first 18 months of his life chained up outside but when Enza brought him to the UK he got his fresh start.
Romeo arrived with us on the 4th June 2020 after having spent roughly 6 months at Dali waiting to be adopted. All we know about his past is that he had been rescued from a life on a short chain, in a yard with no shelter from the sun and rain. His birthday is registered as 15th Feb 2019, so he was roughly 18 months old when he came to us.
Whilst everybody else that had been united with their new furbabies were posting pics of sleepy, timid and confused looking pups, Romeo was literally racing around our house and climbing on every bit of furniture - he didn't seem the least bit phased by his new surroundings. However he was very hard to settle; he didn't know what his bed was and despite lots of encouragement he refused to even step onto it. Nor would he go into his crate. So, despite being one of these people that would NEVER share a bed with a dog, he slept on our bed from day 1. By day he usually napped on the back of the sofa. When I say "napped", I mean we were lucky if he settled for more than 15 mins. His behaviour for the first few weeks was challenging - he was like a hyperactive child. You couldn't walk past him carrying anything as he would just grab it off you and then a chase all around the house and garden would ensue. He would grab at my dressing gown cord or hem of my top or sleeve and start tugging - I would push him away and he would come lunging back at me. He was actually beginning to worry me and I was thinking that we'd made an awful mistake.
Romeo struggled to settle in his new bed when he first arrived, but soon got the hang of his routine.
About a week and a half after his arrival, I contacted a local dog trainer and arranged for some 1-2-1 sessions. One of the first things she told us was that we had to enforce sleep time in the crate. His manic behaviour was partially down to his lack of sleep. So we had to coax him into the crate by dropping treats in and quickly closing the door behind him, and leaving him to rest for a couple of hours. We started making him go into crate at bedtimes too - I felt mean tricking him but I could already see that just by getting the amount of sleep he should be getting he was slowly coming down off the ceiling. He quite quickly started going willingly into his crate: he soon learnt the whole bedtime routine: outside for a wee, then back indoors for a little treat and then off he would go. He now spends a lot of his day napping in his crate and we never bother closing the door - it's his space.
We also worked on lots of reward training techniques. So, for a few months Romeo was never bowl fed; all of his meals were given to him as treats throughout the day. Within a couple of months of him arriving with us, depending on the surroundings, we were able to take him on off-lead walks. If there were too many distractions, then he would be off like a shot! Romeo is a very sociable dog and HAS to say hello to every dog he sees - and if he saw a dog a mile away then he would have to race off and say hello! He quickly became very well known in our local park. Not just because of his distinctive eye patch but because he HAD to approach every dog and greet them!
Romeo’s a socialite at his local park and always likes to flirt with the ladies!
Over time he has become much more of a pleasure to walk. He still has his moments - if he sees a bigger, male dog in particular(he has a real penchant for Retrievers!) he will race over and try and hump them. If we spot them before he does, then we swiftly click his lead on, otherwise we usually end up chasing him and his poor victim around and have to drag him off! He loves to chase and even better, to be chased. His little trick with the ladies is to annoy them so that they eventually get cross with him, tell him off and then chase! He's also VERY fast - like Greyhound fast! And he will often just have a mad minute of racing around which makes passers-by just stop and laugh at him!
Romeo looks like a rascal, and he IS a rascal - but a very happy and loveable one! We have guessed that he may have been knocked about by his previous owner; if you reach out to stroke the top of his head, he will dodge away but is fine if you approach any other way and then go for his head. He is a great family dog, and happily tolerates our 5yr old daughter cuddling up to him and singing him songs. He wants to be loved by everybody he meets and that walks through our door. We have no regrets about our decision to adopt him - it's one of the best things we have ever done!
This post was written by Enza Lisanti, a Dali supporter and Romeo’s new mum <3