benzo gets a lot of attention when we take him places (which is not that often right now for climate/covid reasons). he's very charismatic, and even when he's freaking out at something mundane like a hand cart or a skateboard, everybody talks about how cute he is and how smart he looks. the staff at the vet give him special treatment without us asking; I can see how they handle other dogs and our little man seems to be a favorite. the other day one of the actual vets said she took over from an assistant for a simple nail trim because she wanted to see him
the thing is, what people are mistaking for intelligence and curiosity in this dog is actually hypervigilance due to trauma. something happened to the little man before we adopted him, and we're not entirely sure what, but it made him very difficult for the shelter to get him adopted. they were fully expecting us to bring him back within a few days (especially since we adopted him right before Christmas), but he's been with us since the end of 2019
and I think the reason is that my partner and I have the exact same problems. in the same way that I don't think either of us could be in a relationship with someone who wasn't similarly damaged, I don't think anyone who doesn't understand trauma would put up with this little beast