People meeting dogs
 She is fantastic with the kids, she plays well with Opal, she follows me around, watches me cook, clean, and teach, and is usually not far from me. She's learning that she can go out and come in when she asks. She's learning that when we ask her to go outside it doesn't mean forever, it just means we need her out for a few minutes. She has stopped barking at my husband when he comes home, and instead reacts to him as a happy dog does. She is doing a little better about meeting men when she is on leash and out for walks, but its slow progress.In all of this, Amy is still a rescue, and she still has issues that stem from her former life. Our family totally understands this. So this week the neighbor came over for a couple of minutes, and I didn't think about leashing Amy or putting her out. The neighbor has two rescue basset hounds, surely she understands appropriate behavior around a rescue dog. Right? Nope. Holy cow. So Amy was growly... which I wouldn't pet a growling dog. But the neighbor reached out to pet Amy, straight on, on the top of the head pat-pat-pat, then brushed the hair back out of Amy's eyes, to look at her straight in the eye, all while Amy growled. I rushed across the room to lead Amy to the back door. I am so glad that all Amy did was growl. But wow. I'm taken aback at how people either forget, or don't know how to greet a dog they don't know. Or a dog that is growling. The problem with having such an adorable dog is that everyone wants to pet her. When she's on leash I can warn people approaching not to touch, but I didn't even think about in the house/yard. Or maybe Amy knows the neighbor is kind of annoying...  |
|
|
| I'm sorry...but what an idiot! The dogs growling, BACKOFF. Good dog for not taking his fingers off. |
| Clearly you are making great progress, because that showed a LOT of self-restraint on Amy's part. I've had dogs all my life, but my parents taught me at a very young age that you never, never, NEVER pet a growling dog. Sheesh! |
| Brave or foolish...or both! |
| Dumb, dumb, dumb!!! Who continues to pet a growling dog? A growl is a warning....a warning that a BITE is next! |
| I have to follow-up on this. There was a sleepover here last night with a family of siblings coming to spend the night. My friend--the mother of this herd of kids--came in the door, and Amy ran up to her, plopped her bum down right in front of her, and nosed her for pets. Amy absolutely adored her. When my friend and her husband (big scary man! Oh no!) came in this morning to pick the kids up, Amy ran over, hesitated, sat for pets from the wife. Then she looked at the man, barked once at him, but then wiggled toward him for a pet. Only a quick sniff of the hands and a quick ear scratch though. She was so conflicted. She acted like she wanted to like the husband, because he obviously was connected to the extra kids and the friend, and she liked them. He came here with the new friend, whom Amy loved, but he was a man... She waited for the ear scratches to end, stepped back and barked at him  But then when I tried to get her to go outside I had to lead her out, because she wanted pets, and she didn't want the visiting kids to leave. Normally, she's happy to go outside and get away from anything scary. So the man wasn't that scary.So either Amy is getting better at meeting people or she's an excellent judge of character.  And she did marvelously with the extra kids and excitement. |
| Thats wonderful progress! |
Fantastic news.   |
Great news!  |
 Good girl, Amy! |
Didn't find exactly what you're looking for? Search again here:
Custom Search
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|