Ted came in to foster in January with the thought that he was in congestive heart failure and only had a few months to live. It was determined that he is not in CHF and is in perfect health, other than a little arthritis.However, Ted did not come from a very good situation and, as a result, has incredible anxiety. When Ted arrived he would not allow us to touch him, if we did he would scream and run to hide. He did not know what it was like to be indoors, he could not use the stairs or go in or out of doors. As the months went on he slowly gained confidence and allowed us to touch him without screaming. He confidently runs up and down the stairs, and has even climbed on the sofa to lay on his mom’s lap.no one else’s yet..but a huge accomplishment in our eyes. If we move too fast or accidentally step on him (this happens frequently because he is constantly glued to our legs) he will still scream and run away.Ted loves kids, but does not love the noises they make; if they are too noisy he shakes and runs away. However he absolutely loves his doggie sisters and is great with the resident cats.Ted is on daily anxiety medication, which helps take the edge off, and has more of a sedative type medication when there are storms, fireworks, or we are going to have people over. Because of his severe anxiety and the slow progress he has made with human interaction, we feel it best that Ted not be adopted out. A change such as that would be too much for him and we fear it would cause him to retreat back into his shell. We are making slow progress with him, but it is progress nonetheless. He is by far the sweetest dog we have ever met and we are absolutely in love with this old man!