Hercules is doing very well thus far, and come to find out he walks on a leash and sits beautifully. He seems well able to stop and think once he clearly understands he is not in charge and has no decisions to make - free roaming within a home environment is way too much for this boy, he very much needs the guidance and leadership that pack law requires.
click here to view Hercules's video on his good job of coming, sitting and remembering to stay

When Hercules came in, he had extreme difficulty with direct eye contact (exaggerated eye avoidance) and would turn his head away to avoid it. As seen in his above video he is holding eye contact with me and not feeling threatened by it. EXCELLENT!
Thus far, at the rate he is learning, I feel confident in his ability to adapt to a new environment where the people element will take charge and guide him through any confusion of change. He will not and cannot make his own way through changes and inconsistencies and begins to become highly agitated at the thought.

click here to view Hercules's first time left alone video
The total time alone was approximately 15 minutes. Long enough for him to decide to just lay down and begin to wait patiently - very good reward timing. Upon returning, I spoke with him but passed him by. In order to obtain a reasonable response to being "left alone" both the highs and the lows in his behavior need to be worked with - no big displays by either human or dog upon both leaving and returning. This was his first "leaving" situation here at camp so I over exaggerated both the entering and the leaving - as he does a few more, I will step down my actions and reactions until it becomes nothing special. In this way he is able to "desensitize" his extreme behavior upon being left alone.

Hercules has had a very busy time here at camp, learning a lot of new things - today he met his fellow campmate, Simba.

Hercules did not seem to have a problem with another "adult male" however Simba was concerned with it.

click here to view the video of their meeting

As shown in the video, they both must listen to me above everything and rather than "group hugs" they both have to learn to mind their own business and just pay attention to me. Too many errors in judgement followed by errors in behavior result from "allowing" the dogs to decide for themselves - if indeed the human is in charge (or the leader) - then the human makes all the decisions, just like the leader in pack does.
Tomorrow I will let Herc meet our "camp social organizer" Marnie and see how he does with a
strange - but cute - female.