Welcome to Frankie's world

In July I adopted Frankie from his amazing foster parents. Since then it has been an adventure as Frankie as adjusted to Colorado life. It's a whole new scary world beyond Virginia and we have a long way to go in training Frankie to adjust to it. This blog is dedicated to the hilarious (and sometimes frustrating) stories.

Many things in Colorado really terrify Frankie. Here's a non-inclusive list of the things that terrify him:

• printing printers

"IT'S ALIVE!!!!"

• people on bikes
• people on skateboards
• people on rollerblades
• people with wheels including wheelchairs or strollers
• people on motorcycles
• horses

"HOLY CRAP!!!!! WHAT ARE YOU!?!?!?!!"

• trotting grandmas
• men moving too quickly (i.e. running) --> this is what caused me to start professional dog training with him so Frankie and I can run together in peace. 
• most men

Literally the list of men he likes is very short:

1. his foster dad
2. my dad (after three days of lots of carrots and persuasion)
3. my partner
4. my brother-from-another-mother Adam 

Adam still thinks I'm lying about Frankie hating men since Frankie inexplicably loves him so much.

       5. his dog trainer Andrew

See, that's just 5 men! When I first met Frankie, I thought Frankie was just a cautious feminist like me, but now I've learned he's a feminazi who needs to learn #NotAllMen are the devil incarnate!

• things that cover water....... such as...

1- Rain drains. Whenever we crossed the street, if we were walking towards a rain drain, Frankie would do this awkward circle around it to get on the side-walk somewhere else. At first, I thought he was afraid of falling in, but then I saw these critters climb out:

and now I think Frankie is just afraid of the raccoons that seem to live in every Boulder rain drain!

2- Wooden bridges. A month ago we moved to a much nicer neighborhood. It's 3mi away from campus, so it is very quiet and residential. It's also right next to a lot of great trails where dogs can be off-leash. Here are some pics of the beautiful apartment complex:

 

Now, except for the bridge in the above picture, this place is a total dog heaven. There are so many places for him to romp around and he already has so many new dog buddies he plays with.

This bridge, however, remains an ongoing daily terror.

"Neesha, you realize THERE IS WATER RIGHT UNDER THIS? Are you sure about these pieces of wood? They don't seem very sturdy to me!!"

Successful bridge crossings happen one of two ways: 1) I coax him with carrots by dropping the leash, walking to either the middle or other side of the bridge, and then Frankie does this military-esque sprint-crawl as fast as he can until he reaches me (by which point he doesn't care about the carrot-- GODDAMMIT HE'S JUST SO HAPPY TO HAVE SURVIVED THAT BRIDGE!) or 2) this is much more in frequent, but sometimes nothing can persuade him that the bridge is cross-able and I just have to carry him. When we make it to the other side and I set him back on the ground, it's as if he's totally forgotten the terrors of the bridge and he's suddenly found himself in the wondrous land of grasshopper-hunting.

In Frankie's defense, under the bridge there are some pretty scary Olympic-level swimming rats....

backstrokin' rats

• sprinklers
• rain. Yes, Frankie is terrified of rain, or at least just seems to totally hate it (maybe he thinks he's been surrounded by sprinklers!?). I'm trying multiple strategies on this, all of which of course include carrots and rain gear.

He's a shining star in the rain! 

But then I realized that cover didn't protect his belly/legs from getting wet (after all, when it rains grass lawns turn into rain forests for the tiny guy!). So then I introduced this coat:

"I know I look awesome, but seriously, let's just stay inside, ok?"

So yes, 

...but Frankie and I will eventually figure it out. Whatever happens, wherever we go, it's a Bron-Y-Aur stomp.