A Dog named Beans, and Water-Therapy

My brother Sean and his wife Sonia, adopted a rescue dog named Jacob last summer.  Jacob, or Beans, as he’s affectionately known, has some issues.  Daddy Issues you might say.

Here is a picture of Beans waiting patiently while Dad (Sean) uses the bathroom.

He is a relatively normal dog when he’s around Sean and Sonia, and even me (I look a lot like Sean)  But when strangers arrive, he turns into a shy two-year-old–wrapping himself around Sean’s leg, constantly manuevering/running away from people.  His walks rarely last longer than a few blocks before he sees people, other dogs, little girls, and gets scared and starts tugging on the leash to go home.  Currently, he is squeaking like an annoying little *dog, and staring out the porch door, waiting for Sean’s return.

Very serious. Very noble beast.

He was much worse.  Fear poops when a stranger came in the door.  Fear pee when strangers tried to pet him on the street.  We know he was picked up as a stray dog, and was scheduled to be put-down when he was rescued a kill-shelter in the south, and brought up to NJ where Sean and Sonia adopted him.  We don’t know exactly how he was abused, but it seems patently obvious that a lot of terrible things happened to him during the first nine months of his life.

Last weekend, at Skaneateles, he had the time of his life, and took big strides.  He’s mostly yellow lab, with some sort of terrier, maybe greyhound.  When he got to go in the water, got to try out swimming a little bit (he looks eerily like an otter while paddling) he was the happiest dog in the world.  So happy, he let the “strangers,” two couples who were staying at the lake with us, pet him.  (Previously, he’d instituted a strict “no touching” rule.)

Here’s a picture of me, Sean, and Beans, relaxing down by the water.