I’m not sure we can do this. What are we going to do with this dog? Is there someone we know that would take him and give him a good life? Mom and Dad were experiencing a similar feeling with Rocket’s litter mate, Hoppy. We began to believe that we had made a mistake. We were all feeling defeated, sad, and unsure of what to do. We were dedicated, determined people, and we made a commitment, so we hung on. After a few more weeks, Mom and Dad noticed that Hoppy was doing much better and for him there was hope. But Rocket, he continued to do everything at high speed. He was not able to settle down. Everything was a game, every minute was playtime, every noise or movement around him needed his attention. My partner has incredible patience. He worked with Rocket tirelessly. When it was time to eat, Rocket was made to sit down before eating, he was taught to sit down before going outside, and to sit down before coming back through the door. Everything we did was a lesson to sit down before moving onto the next thing, whether it was eating, going outside, getting a treat, greeting visitors, or playing with toys. The time and effort that was put into this one simple act is what has really made the difference in managing Rocket’s unending energy. When evening rolled around and it was time to relax on the couch, my partner often had to hold onto Rocket until he would finally give in and fall into a relaxed state. By this point in the day, Rocket would have been in motion without rest or pause for hours on end. In order to tire him out, we often took him on hikes or to a dog park or large field so that he could run and expel some of that high energy. There was no rest through the day for any of us, including Frank! Even so, during all of this craziness, we began to see improvement. We started to feel as though we could manage Rocket’s behavior and that we would be able to fulfill our commitment to give him a good, loving home. Slowly, we started to see more of his personality, too. We could see that he was a loveable dog who really wanted to please us. He tried so hard, he really did, and still does. It was time to learn more about Rocket and who he is. We needed to know what breed mix he was made of; it could help us understand him better and would certainly help with training. It was time for DNA testing…
