Heart Like a Dog

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

Meet and Greet…(Day One Hundred and Twenty)

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What do you want your pet to do when you are walking or hiking and meet another person that does not have a dog?

What I want is for my dog to ignore that person unless they express an interest in meeting my dog.  The last thing I want (which happened to Chet on Sunday) is for my dog to go charging happily towards someone and jump at them.  Good thing Chet is a big guy, cause that chocolate lab could have really knocked him down and hurt him.

That being said, I would like to share two experiences that recently happened when we encountered “dogless” people.  The area we walk our dogs is owned by the town and has a small town garage on premises; as we were leaving the park we noticed that a man was at the garage removing some stored items.  Since we saw him well in advance, we called the dogs to us and leashed them.  Then we started to walk past;  Delilah got a little bit antsy, so Chet said walk on the other side of me, which we did.  I am here to tell you that if I could have picked my dog up and danced with her that is exactly what I would have done.  She was spot on perfect!  She walked slightly ahead of me, tail and head held high and never looked once at that man!  I wanted to buy her a filet mignon!   Exactly what I expect from her.

The other experience happened today; we met an older man on the trail, I saw him first so I called the dogs to me and made them sit as he approached.  I put one finger through each of their collars and told them to stay.  After the man had passed us, he stopped to inquire about the dogs, after a minute or so I let the dogs free and they ran on ahead completely ignoring him.  Of course, Sampson had to run back to the man and get a pat, but he did it very cautiously and respectfully; I couldn’t have asked for more.

Spring Fever…Day One Hundred and Fourteen

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It was another eventful evening at obedience class tonight.  I went without the dogs and am I ever grateful that I did.    Since we have been taking up to park, I think they are ok with exercise, but I wanted to go to help out with anyone that might help.  (I’m entertaining the idea of becoming a dog trainer.)

It seems like all the dogs are on edge, waiting for some nicer weather so they can go out and release some energy, since that isn’t happening some of them are trying to release their energy in class.  One little black lab tried to punk poor Mac (a Rhodesian Ridgeback mix);  Mac has been attacked before so naturally he is a little wary, when the dog came at him Mac went right back at him.  Mac got away from his owner and then Gunner (a Giant Schnauzer) took off and his mom ended up on the floor with a scraped and bruised wrist.  As Mac and Gunner lunged (here I am sitting on sidelines observing it all) I saw about five or six dogs rise as well.  This is what Sara calls a “Pack Mentality.”   Thankfully it was over in less than a minute, but still it left me thankful that both my dogs were home.  Miss Delilah certainly would have wanted to add her two cents to the mix.

Just as we get tired of the weather that constricts us from our regular routines, so too must our dogs.  The reason I really backed off walking them was because of the ice (and cold) but I have ski pants and I need to remember that and use them if needed.  I have found a renewed enjoyment in hiking with Chet, Sampson and Delilah, even if it’s only on the same trails around our house.

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