I tried something different with Dustor the other day. After being gone for four days visiting my mother out of state and coming home expecting the fruits of my precious efforts to get him comfortable with me, to have become all but undone while I was away, I came home to find him come to meet me at the pen gate for pets! Could it be – the little bugger missed me! It was late, so the next evening I sat down in my floor chair in his pen and just sat there patiently. At first he scurried into his tunnel reacting to me having moved into his space. I moved his ball with a bell inside into his space inside the tunnel and he played with it a little. Eventually he came out the back end of his tunnel and stayed there. I put a blanket on the floor near him to divert him. He immediately hopped onto it and explored it. I petted him but he froze so I withdrew my hand. After hopping about a bit, He came over to where I was and lay down next to me. He fell asleep and I watched him sleep. After a while after he woke up again, I let my hand drop next to him but just barely touching his hair. At first he didn’t do anything. He nudged my hand a few times rather firmly and I responded by petting his forehead a little. Then I dropped my hand on the floor again. He nudged it some more so I petted him some more. About this time I was getting tired of sitting so I stood up, left the pen, and lifted the chair out. I replaced where the chair had been with his mini-haven and he stayed outside of it, eating and grooming. I learned by this that it really is best to let them come to you. The main problem now is his mats, there are some on his butt, his neck. Today, I found a big mat with his fur sprouting from it, on the floor of his pen. He must have bitten it off while grooming. Like a cat not wanting his tail touched, my Dustor doesn’t want his mats touched. I can’t groom him much by myself, I’m going to need someone to help me.
Want to come over and hold him while I try to work on his mats? LOL
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