Thanks guys!  Still a bit nervous on how things will go, but I'm getting pretty exciting as well!  I'm getting my 2nd Covid vaccine tomorrow, so hopefully it doesn't kick my butt and I'm able to get Walter Friday evening.  Not sure on his name.  Walter suits him well it seems but would like something different than Wally.  I'm sure I'll figure that out.

Note sure why, but they deleted his old Petfinder page and put up a new one about a week or so ago (link below).  They added a couple of photos, so maybe they had trouble updating his old one.

https://www.pet.....9e706c185c

I absolutely love this pic of him:

Hey guys.  So day 1 and night 2 are in the books and overall it's still going well.  The throw pillow thing did come a bit of a head yesterday as he tried to start tugging on one that I was laying my head on after I had decided to previously put them all up and break one out if I wanted to lay down on the couch.  I pulled back and won the tug of war and yelled at him pretty loud.  After that he stopped and would only go after the pillows if unattended and has mostly moved on to breaking out all of his toys and chewing on them.  So I guess that was a win lol.  

On the going to bed adventures.  My bedroom is upstairs, and his foster moms lived in a ranch so he hasn't had many steps to go up and down recently.  So the first night he followed me up the steps as he had a couple of times when I had to use the bathroom (my bathroom is also upstairs).  He's not too comfortable in going up steps yet (more on that later), but he went up nonetheless.  After very inquisitively watching me floss and brush my teeth he refused to follow me into the bedroom.  I had brought his bed up from the living room, but he hadn't figured out that it was for sleeping yet (up until last night he thought it was for dragging it around along with some humping).  So I coerced him with some treats into the bedroom and tried to shut the door, but then he started freaking out.  So I left the door open and hopped into bed, but he just paced around and wouldn't lie down anywhere.  So I decided to break protocol and let him up in the bed (his foster moms had left me instructions to keep him off the furniture for the first couple of weeks to help establish me as the clear alpha).  I broke out the bed steps I kept from Wally's days, but Walter refused to go up them.  I tried to entice him with treats, but no go at all.  So then I tried putting him in his crate for the night.  He went right in along with his kong stuffed with a frozen peanut butter and carrot treat.  Seemed perfectly fine in there.  Then a few minutes later I hear some banging, so I go downstairs to check it out.  Wasn't really a big deal as the banging was him hitting the side of the crate while chewing on his Kong.  So I start heading back up, but having seen me leads to some really loud whining.  Then I decide to give upstairs another go with his crate mat, and I let him out and take his crate mat and Kong upstairs.  He follows me up the stairs.  I put the mat down on the floor with his Kong.  He lays down and goes back to chewing his Kong.  A few minutes later he's at head of the bed next to where I sleep putting his head up on it.  So I move his mat over to there, and he FINALLY lays down and goes to sleep.

Last night was shorter, but also an adventure.  I had fallen asleep on the couch and he in his dog bed, which he finally figured it is for sleeping!  I woke up in the middle of the night, took him out, then when I went up stairs for bed he wouldn't follow me up the steps.  Just sat at the bottom staring up at me.  So I try to lure him up with treats, and he still refuses to go up until I break out the frozen peanut butter for his Kong.  So he picks it up his Kong, starts working on the treat for a couple of minutes then heads back down stairs.  I go check on him and he's in his dog bed chewing on his Kong, so I'm like: screw it just let him sleep there.  Then much to my surprise about 15 minutes later he comes up the stairs and comes to his mat.  So I shut the door, and he doesn't freak out.  And he goes to sleep.  Hopefully night 3 is much less adventuress as I need to get up early for work.

A couple of other things from the past 2 days:

- I think he may be younger than the 2-3 they were saying b/c he still seems to have plenty of puppy in him.  Nonstop playing, chewing on a bone or treat toy, wanting petting, or he's getting into mischief.  Then he'll finally crash.  No chilling out at all in him.  Or maybe this is a bulldog thing or extra nervous energy.

- He goes in his crate fine, but he did not like it one bit when I left the house to run errands at all.  I have to go to the grocery today, so we'll see how that goes.  Then there's back to work tomorrow.........

- He seems to have a guilty conscience.  Maybe from his past.  In the morning when I've gotten up he seems a little shy until I tell him "good boy Walter" and give him some pets.  Also, anytime I've come out of the bathroom and he's at the bottom of the steps I've asked "Are you being good?" and he'll dip his lead then lay down submissively when I'm walking down the steps.  That's good that he's being submissive, but there was probably some abuse in the past (not surprising since he was abandoned).

Anyway, that's enough for now.  Here's another good pic:

Haha, yeah maybe both on his thoughts, lol.  He hasn't actually figured out that he can simply walk up the stairs; he gets a bit of a running start and goes charging up them as fast as he can.  I've tried to guide him up them by walking, but he'll only got 1-2 steps then puts on the breaks.   

I'm not sure what the training method his foster moms were giving him.  They were working virtually with someone, and they're supposed to give me her number.  So I'm planning on continuing with her if I can for the first month or so until he's more acclimated and hopefully ready for group training.  Hopefully I'll be able to find a good place that'll be group training by then.  Unfortunately the lady who I took both Benny and Wally to has retired, and she didn't respond when I emailed her to let her know that Wally had passed.  I might try to reach out to her again through her FB page and see if she can recommend someone.  TBH I think not allowing him on the furniture has confused him a bit, but since they know Walter and bulldogs better than I do then I figure that I should head their advice where I can.