Many many moons ago, I wrote a post about exposing your dog to new experiences. If you missed it you can read about it here.
The bottom line is if your dog is experiencing something for the very first time you can never be truly sure how he/she will react.
Case in point.
Last night I wrote about my niece’s eighteenth birthday party which was held at our house. In this post there was an adorable picture of Sampson looking at my niece as she readied herself to pummel her Pinata.
What are you doing with that stick, T?
What I didn’t write was what happened after she took her first whack.
Sampson barked and got up and came to stand with me, my sister and my nephew. He actually placed himself between my nephew’s legs.
Taylor whacked the Pinata again and Sampson barked again and that’s when I brought him into the den to join Delilah.
As I explained to Hubby, I’m not going to ruin an eight-year-old dog by having him scared by a Pinata stick.
Normally Sampson is not afraid of loud noises. Last year I laughed when a particularly loud clap of thunder shook the house and Sampson jumped up and tore outside to lift his head and bark at the sky.
I’ve only ever seen Sampson afraid of one thing and that was an old rail road bridge we encountered on one of our hikes. As we approached the bridge we noticed the walk way beside the tracks looked like a grate. Sampson approached it, put one foot on it and trembled like a leaf.
We tried encouraging him and praising him but he was afraid so we turned around and headed back. We did not force him to confront his fears, we just let it be and made a note to be careful around grates.
I will tell you, he was none the worse for wear with the Pinata episode, once the candy had been divided up, the dogs came out of the bedroom and Sampson was once again comfortable.
Cuddled up with his new friend, Hannah.
Can you stay with me? No-one pays any attention to me here.
Book update: My book has 21,227 words.
P.S. I am struggling mightily trying to comment on some blogs. I have left comments on DogDaz, Pawfect Friends, Paws Abilities, Rescued Insanity and Laurie Bartolo Photography to name a few. Would you please check your spam folder and see if they managed to make it in there?
Wyatt would probably bark too… Luna on the other hand would probably get excited with the excitement and try and join in. This was the case when I had her with us when I threw a baby shower for a friend. She kept trying to join in with the games, pretty funny stuff. Thankfully they both are bird dogs and hunt so they love loud noises most days. We can hardly sneak a gun out of this house without them noticing and going crazy with excitement.
Many dogs are unsure of grates, goes with the whole lack of depth perception thing I think.
Anna
http://www.akginspiration.com
Too bad you didn’t get pictures or video of that! I don’t think either one of the dogs has been close when a gun was being shot. Delilah may have in a previous life but based upon her barking at the microwave as it popped corn I think it unlikely. 🙂
Depth perception or the feel of it. It could be a funky feeling on a paw with no protection.
Now you have me interested in seeing if I do have any pictures of that. I will have to look, but I doubt it. With my next dog, I probably will adopt the training methods of bird dogs… and see if I can introduce a cap gun shot at a distance when they are doing what they love (whether chasing birds, ball, fetch whatever) just so it helps them cope with noises later. Such a nice thing to have under their belt.
One of your recent comments went into my spam folder. I always keep an eye on that, and I made sure your comment showed up. I wonder why that’s happening all the sudden.
It’s really weird. With the exception of one, they were all wordpress blogs. I wonder if WP knows about it?
I check my spam folder regularly too. I think one of yours went in there once too.
I feel the same way about pinatas. A blindfolded person trying to whack something they can’t see? Eek.
Thankfully they weren’t just whacking! LOL They were using the stick to find the Pinata before they swung, still the sound was very loud and almost directly over his head.
That’s a good idea, using the stick to locate the pinata! Usually people make the one that’s blindfolded spin around a bunch of times to add disorientation to the hijinks of destruction. In those cases, everybody’s a potential pinata.
Sampson’s face…you could tell just what he was thinking about the whole thing. What a cutie!
I can understand… Who wants a blindfolded Peep thrashing about with a BIG stick.
Not any canine I know! 🙂
I have never seen a piñata but would probably react if I saw someone hitting something with a stick. I’m not that keen on grates and will walk around them if I can.
Because you are a very smart dog Bassa. Some dogs wouldn’t know enough to do that.
Hey Guys its been forever!!! Our fault ofcourse…. I had to take a break….with the whole Fred having epilepsy thing.
Fred is a scared dog…always has been. I remember the first day after rescuing him the ice maker, dishwasher, light switch – everything would freak him out. We just let him go through it – I would try and comfort but it never seemed to help. He still gets freaked with new things in the house but he just heads out the doggie door and the yard seems to be his safety zone.
Happy belated bday to your neice – I want a pinata 🙂
Kari
Hi Kari,
Glad to see you back, we’ve missed you!! I hope Fred is doing well. Some dogs are just more sensitive than others. Noises have never bothered Sampson before, and no point starting now, right?
Hugs and cuddles to poor Fred, we hope he is on the mend.
It’s funny what we don’t like. Dad grinding coffee sends me to my hidey spot!
I can see why, that’s a terrible noise, isn’t it?
I wonder if it was the sound of the whack that frightened him? My husband has told me of hunting dogs that have no problem with a shotgun being fired over their heads, but pistols and rifles may terrify them. It is the difference in sound.
I think it was. I don’t think it had anything to do with the fact that she was swinging something. She whacked it hard and it was loud and he was directly underneath it.
It is a difference in sound.
Hey Sampson,
Don’t worry Dude, I probably would have been scared of that too!!
Mum’s Golden used to be scared of grates too, I haven’t yet encountered one, so I’m not sure how brave I’d be 🙂
It looks like a great party,
Your pal Snoopy 🙂