Spike and Adia spent some time on the futon yesterday… progress. Today when I was doing some clicker training with her, he dashed over to be included. Click and a treat each for giving me eye contact - they both liked the game. I’ve been rewarding a sit so much that she’s starting to sit as a default behaviour, such a good girl!
It isn’t so hot today, although the humidex makes if feel like a sauna. Still, a bit cooler than it has been so we ventured into the village with Adia again. She’s all eyes and nose, trying to take it all in. Most things were okay, but a passing motorcycle bothered her a bit. Sadly it went by so quickly we didn’t have a chance to get used to it.
We did run across 2 dogs - one with an older gentleman who understood that we didn’t want the pup running up to us and kept everything calm and positive. And they another guy, dare I say JERK, who was going to let his dog, on the dreaded flexi leash, mob us, even though we asked him not to. He didn’t persist after I insisted and told him Adia is afraid of dogs and we want to take it slowly, but he did mouth off about it. I’m not certain he was out of earshot when I said to Carm “what a jerk”. It’s unlike me to say anything, but jeesh, what is it with people.
People don’t realize the danger of flexi’s either - there have been countless cases of the rope getting wrapped around legs (dog and human) and causing grievous damage. Think wire cheese slicer…
After that we drove to the dog park so that we could hang around outside the fence for a while - a safe way to increase exposure. Most of the dogs left when we got there so it was a bit of a bust. One dog was left, sitting in the far corner, so Carm badgered me into going just inside the gate so she could sniff around. With an eagle eye on the other dog, and the other eye on the parking lot I let her investigate (on leash). About 20 bikes went by right outside the fence we were standing near - that got some eyeballs but she didn’t freak out - her curiosity overrides her caution.
All those kids filed into the park (Adia wanted to say hello), and a truck pulled up with another dog. We skidaddled and everything was good. A positive experience, although next time I’ll hope for more dogs for us to look at through the fence.
(note that the outside photos were all taken at our place)
“When you part from your friend, you grieve not;
For that which you love most in him may be clearer in his absence, as
the mountain to the climber is clearer from the plain.”
~Khalil Gibran
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