1-5-10 Ups and Downs

I am quickly learning with a foster dog that there are many ups and many downs. Luckily with River it is mostly ups. He is filling out to a nice 94 lbs so I am cutting back on his food so he doesn't gain any more weight. That means he is only eating 3 cups of quality grain free kibble and 1/2 can wet food a day and by next week he will be at 2 cups of dry and 1/2 can wet. People are constantly amazed that my 100lb dogs only eat 1.5 to 2 cups of food a day. It is all in what kind of food you feed. River has learned sit and down with food guidance and seems to like to learn new things. Potty training is getting better and better which is good as one of Rivers one areas that he has a hard time with is being confined. He has a really hard time with his crate. I tried just leaving him in it at night but he got himself way to upset, so now I am working on short stays in the crate, feeding him in there and giving him treats in his crate to teach him it is not a bad place. On a positive note we took him for another car ride last night and he did really good getting in the car.
We had some friends over to visit this weekend and he got to play with their 7 month old puppy. At first the puppy was frightened of River, which he didn't help by being so excited about the puppy he was leaping like a silly rabbit and letting out huge "woofs" (Did I mention River has a very LOUD bark when he does bark?). Eventually the pup got over her fear and then proceeded to play and wrestle with River. He is about twice her size but was soooo gentle, lying down on the ground and letting her chew on him happily. River really enjoys playing with other dogs. I should have video taped it but of course I forgot. Maybe they can visit again an we can get it on camera.