00:00The first initial few days, he cried a lot.
00:11He was really shy, no confidence.
00:17He was rescued from a breeder.
00:21It was a new environment, we were new people, and he didn't trust people to begin with.
00:25And paced the house a ton.
00:33We did not realize how hard we were going to have to work to earn his trust.
00:40He just needed space.
00:44When my husband would come home from work, Joey, our boss at home, would be so excited to see my husband,
00:48and I think Gunther would take that social cue of like, oh, this is good.
00:52Gunther really started to take to my husband after a few weeks of settling in.
01:03I think that he seemed more fearful of me.
01:09One of the ways that I tried to earn Gunther's trust, and I think has been successful,
01:13is coming down to the floor and being on his level.
01:16We're just doing a floor hang.
01:29One of the first milestones that I saw that he was finally at least comfortable with Joey,
01:36Joey could teach Gunther how to be a dog in a family and trust people.
01:41If we did not have Joey, I think it would have been such a different experience,
01:44because he really has been the bridge between us and Gunther.
01:47This is so big because this is an independent choice that he made without Joey,
01:52and I think that that's huge.
01:54Hi, honey. Look at you.
01:58Did you decide to come lay in the bed by yourself?
02:02Milestones look different for every dog, and every small milestone was a big step in the right direction for Gunther.
02:07Hi. You're sniffing me. You're going to make me cry.
02:29Seeing him start to make progress and open up and push his own boundaries
02:33made me so proud of him because he's starting to meet me in the middle.
02:38You're going to catch me, Gunther. Gunther, you're going to catch me.
02:42Having all of his personality traits come out and to know that we've been able to give him a good, safe, happy space,
02:48that he can just be a dog, that has been the most rewarding thing.
02:51Look who's snuggling.
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