Blue

My dog is an enigma to me. I've watched The Dog Whisperer and even read some of Caesar Milan's first book, but I don't always recognize what he describes and when I do recognize the stuff I can't do what he does to get it to stop seemingly instantly! Anyone who has watched his show realizes he's like some kind of magician.

So anyway, the reason my dog is an enigma to me stems from his interaction with other animals. If he encounters a dog his size he seems happiest, though he gets unexpectedly twitchy. they'll sniff each other, seem calm, them my dog will jump like he's been tazered, and sometimes that sets the two dogs at odds. Smaller dogs than himself he seems to react best to. Bigger dogs, he will attempt to face down but inevitably any dog that makes a move on him causes him to retreat in terror, yipping in a way I don't want any dog to sound. A few days after a larger beagle tried to eat him he woke me up at night making that sound, seeminlgy having a dream; He peed on my bed and it took him a while to calm down and realize nothing was going on, we were safe at home.

In an attempt to socialize him, I took him to the local Bark Park this weekend. It's a small plot of land with a tree in the middle, some communal water dishes, a bunch of tennis balls and other volunteered items tossed out there, and some benches. When we arrived there were about 8 dogs in there, all under the 25lb limit, and one inexplicably over and yet wandering around in there.

Henry took a while to warm up. He spent time milling around near the fence, which reminds me of his owner to some degree. The lone "big dog" was a friendly-as-heck chocolate lab who wanted to play with everyone and every thing. Only problem is that his size and quick movements made my dog cower. It took me a while to realize as his pack leader, I had to get into the middle of things or Henry would take no initiative, so I wanderd out there and when a few dogs came to me to pet them, Henry came out and exchanged pleasnatries, such as they are for dogs. He wandered around, sniffed, and occasionally retreated when a dog did something unexpectedly, but came back.

After 45 minutes I took him home because he'd taken to hanging out near the exit gate. I was unsure as to whether this was success or not. He'd not gotten in any scrapes, been too timid, but not incredibly brave either.

So Memorial Day I did a redux. I took him there and this time there was ANOTHER dog over the size limit for that area, a beautiful brown dog of some unknown type that seemed to bark at any men (humans) who wandered too close to his owner, who had inexplicably chosen to sit close to the water dishes. So anyone (such as myself) who tried to lead their dog to the water was greeted with unexplained barking that raised the tension level of the whole pen. After he left, things loosened up. At the 45 minute mark again I was considering taking Henry home, when a little white dog showed up and the whole area came alive. He was spastic as can be and ran in circles, causing every dog there to pursue. It was a hurricane of running pets, playing follow the leader, which was nice, especially since Henry got in on it.

Two dogs were playing in one corner like old friends, though they barely had ever met. I may be projecting here, but he other dogs (Henry especially) seemed to look on jealously, as though they wanted to be in that fray but didn't know how. Fortunately, they picked up a rope toy and Henry got in on it, after a while stealing it and proudly running off with it while five dogs followed him around the cage. I felt like a flag-football dad watching his sun pick up a fumble!

He's still slow to thaw, but I'm hoping a few more visits will help him out. He had a pretty good time, with only one "scare". Of all things, a poodle (though pretty darn big for a poodle) pursued him and ran faster than him, so when it got right on top of him Henry got scared and let out a few yips. He was fine, but it scared him to be run down by a faster dog.

Now if only I can figure out how to keep him from being crazy over the cats that like to visit my front porch. That better be covered in Caesar's book somewhere.