We've had Buddy for over three months now, and there's been a lot of development since I published this post, so wanted to tell you about it! He was a good dog when we got him, but he's an even better dog now. When we first got him, he was okay on the lead, but would pull now and again. You do not want a dog Buddy's size pulling! We bought him a Halti lead and now he's an amazing walker. What a Halti lead does is guide the dog's head in the other direction if he pulls or is focused on something (another dog, cat, scent etc). Having your head turned away from what you're doing can be annoying, so to make sure that doesn't happen, he walks nicely. The Halti lead goes around the dog's nose, so a lot of people think he's wearing a muzzle, and therefore assume he's aggressive. A Halti lead is definitely not a muzzle! He can open his mouth all he wants. Also, Buddy is the furthest from aggressive. That's one thing we didn't have to correct. Since we've had him, he's never growled or gone for another dog.
The next thing we needed to correct was him chasing the cats. He previously didn't live with cats, so wasn't used to them. In the first couple weeks of having him, he just wanted to play, so chased them. We gradually introduced him to them and now he's fine. He even sleeps with them.
The other thing I mentioned in my 'Meet Buddy' post was that he was chasing Jessie, and Jessie kept growling at him. He then thought Jessie was playing, so would go to play with her, which made Jessie growl even more. It was one big circle! After a while, Jessie stopped growling and would spend a lot of time under the table to keep away from him. Now, they are the best of friends. They don't stop playing! It can be quite annoying actually because they're so noisy. Because of Buddy's size and strength, he could easily hurt Jessie, but he's so gentle with her. The other day, he let Jessie have his bone, which was the cutest thing.
For a while, we put him in his cage at night because we couldn't trust him (due to not knowing his personality and habits). We've been leaving him out of his cage recently though and he's been good as gold. He usually sleeps in the chair in the dining room or next to my dad. You would think he would take up most of the bed, but he doesn't. I think our cats take up just as much room because they stretch out!
I'm so glad he's living with us. Because of how he looks, he could have easily ended up with a scumbag who only has a dog to 'look hard' and train to be aggressive.
This is what Buddy is currently doing:
![]()
