August 31, 2009 : A letter from Martina: Barney is doing fine. He is still developing and changing.
He became much more secure in his surroundings. He even started to be interested in other dogs. Not for long, and he still doesn’t like to be sniffed, but at least he stops once in a while and says hello, instead of running away. he is very funny. When he passes a dog he pretends not to see her/him, and as soon as they pass, Barney stops and turns around to look and sniff after them. I travel a lot and I try to take him with me as much as I can. He is a real trooper. As long as he is with me, he is up for anything. I dragged him on an out of town job, to a film festival, to the beach – he doesn’t care. And he really likes car rides. I can just throw him in a car and drive for 12 hours – he loves it. On the film set he became the mascot on set. Everyone loved Barney and took care of him. It was funny to drag him in the early morning to work and then go ‘home’ to the Red Roof Inn (very dog friendly hotel!) at night. I think Barney enjoyed it. He loves people in general. He is very fixated on me, but that will change in time. I can tell that I am his anchor to a still unfamiliar world. And he is stubborn which is really funny, because it doesn’t really fit in the overall picture. He knows exactly what he wants and how he wants it. He knows which way he wants to walk and argues if I don’t agree! And then there is the cute factor. He is so cute, strangers are throwing themselves in front of him to get a chance to pet him. It’s hard for him to learn boundaries, or to learn to make a decision who and why he likes or dislikes people, because people are all over him, all the time. I try my best to protect him, but when people see a cute dog, they are fast! But overall he is doing very well. He is a happy dog! |
