I Don't Know The Reason I Stayed Here All Season

It's been 8 months since Jack moved into his new home in Virginia. In the beginning, Jack was emotionally very needy. He didn't know his new people...he couldn't understand anything he was told. He was following his Mommy within an inch everywhere she went, as if afraid that she will forget about his presence, forget about him. He never could figure what she wanted him to do and just awkwardly jerked in space, mixing up commands, eager to please and get any reassurance in his worthiness. At any sign of attention from his humans he would drop on the floor and roll on his back, so to encourage belly rubs - as that's what was the solution to his emotional confusion. Maybe, he associated a human touch with being accepted, being loved. Submissively spreading on the floor was all he might have felt he could offer. All that plus stubborn resistance to training and periodic urination inside, were signs of great anxiety.
With time, Jack learned to read his humans and the routine happenings in the house. He got in tune with moods of the humans and in pace with activities. That gave him lots of confidence and he seems to be more self-sufficient now. He knows he will get his treats, and his rubs -- per Mommy's schedule and discretion. He relaxed quite a bit and quit peeing in the house.

In another way he establishes his place under the sun is by constantly competing with his older sis Tais. He never lets Tais go though a door before him...If both dogs are called to report, he would first smash Tais on the floor before he runs to the call because he knows how to slow down an old, arthritic dog. If pettings or treats are being dispersed, he is most agitated about getting them first, and getting them all --wedging his face (or the whole body when he can) between the person and Tais or another dog. Quite a bully this pretty face!!