Heart Like a Dog

The Good, the Bad, and the Oh My God of living with dogs!

Sweet Zoe….Day One Hundred, Ninety Nine

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This sweet little girl is Zoe.

Zoe is sad because she is on a gentle leader.  Zoe’s mom (Marcie) is sad because Zoe is afraid of other dogs and in order to protect herself Zoe maintains the “I’ll get you BEFORE you get me” attitude.

Marcie and Zoe attend the Thursday night drop in obedience class at our local training facility.  I fell in love with Zoe the first moment I saw her.

So last night when I dropped into class and saw Marcie and Zoe, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on her.

I restrained myself for about 10 minutes, then ran up to Marcie and said, “May I?”

As soon as we had our first pause, I slipped the gentle leader off….

Sarah got in behind me to work the big baby German Shepard, as we rounded the corner of the room, Zoe saw the Shepard behind us and made her move.  I snapped the leash and brought her back to me telling her “No!”

At the potty break I gave the leash back to Marcie, I felt miserable, like I had failed Zoe and Marcie.

A little back story on Zoe, Marcie has had her about four years, she did not have a problem with other dogs when Marcie got her; one day Marcie’s sister’s dog was over and while Marcie had her back turned there was some sort of altercation.  Marcie is not sure what the tiff was about.  Ever since that incident, Zoe has been aggressive with other dogs.   She can do a quick sniff and go,  but it has to be quick.

I thought I should throw this out to blogger land and see if any of you have any thoughts or suggestions on how to help Zoe and ultimately Marcie.

I feel like I have had success with Delilah but I don’t know how to transfer this to help Zoe or Marcie.   How can we help Zoe overcome her fear aggression?  I know as Zoe grows more confident Marcie will as well.

Look at this sweet face, let’s help take the sadness away.

Author’s Post Script: You may notice the fine white markings all over these pictures, that is deliberate.  It is a watermark I am using.  I heard from Sheltie Times that some of her pictures were stolen.

The Karate Kid…Day One Hundred, Ninety Eight

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“I see you’ve got the Crane Technique down,” Chet said from behind me as Sampson rushed past.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“That little move you do when the dogs push past you,” was his reply.

“Oh that.” 🙂

When you have a  ninety pound dog running at you full tilt, you learn to lift your leg.

Luckily for me I can hear them coming.

Terror in the Woods….Day One Hundred, Ninety Seven

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If you’ve been reading this blog for a while you will know that there have been a couple of times that I have had a couple of scary encounters in the woods.

Yesterday we had a totally terrifying experience.

Just as we were prepping for our walk it started to rain.  As long as it wasn’t downpouring I was willing to go; I just threw a hat on and thanked the powers that be that the bugs wouldn’t be coming along with us.

We knew the shelter of the trees would provide some protection from the rain, so immediately we headed off onto a trail we don’t normally take.  This trail is about 15 to 20 feet into the woods and runs along the side of the field for a ways.

Sampson left the woods and ran out into the field where he ran along side the wood line and back into the woods, completing a gigantic circle.

Chet asked, “Buddy, what the hell are you doing?”

I said, “He’s getting his run on.”

Chet questioned “Where did he get that energy from?” “I haven’t seen him run like that in a long time!”

(After I thought about it I realized that I had run out of Benadryl yesterday morning so he didn’t get his normal dose.  He was running because he wasn’t all doped up!)

We had planned on keeping the walk at about 20 minutes due to the rain, so we turned around and headed back.  As we approached the area closest to the field, Sampson again ran out into the field and from our vantage point 15 to 20 feet into the woods we watched him happily running back and forth in the little brook that runs along the side of the field.  (If you have never seen the video of him running in the brook, check it out.)

Chet and I were walking, watching and commenting on how happy he was if he was happy then we were happy.

We got to the end of the trail and Sampson wasn’t there waiting for us.  So Chet called him and whistled and we waited, but he didn’t come back.

Chet started walking up the field and I said, “I’m going back in.”

I headed up the wooded trail, looking as I went at the large rocks now slippery from the rain and worrying that possibly he had tried to scale a rock and slipped and was hurt.

Chet was calling and whistling as he walked the field and I was calling as I hiked the trail, I could hear the panic in my own voice and that active imagination I have started to run wild.  He was hurt on the side of some rocks; a wild animal had him and was gnawing him; someone had seen him and grabbed him.

And then, miraculously he was there in front of me!  Apparently he must have gone back to where he left us and when he couldn’t find us, he went searching for us, but he went the wrong way!

I have changed my opinion about as long as he’s happy I’m happy;  to..as long as he is happy and I can see him, I’m happy.

 

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