CH 6 A Special Friend
Anne | January 17, 2010Whenever someone new shows up at Flat Rock it is cause for both joy and caution. Joy, because a new friend is always a good thing. Dogs don’t acknowledge human inhibitions; they cut straight to the butt sniff and chest butt. Within moments of meeting they determine who is boss bitch, who plays how and who prefers to walk alone. This system is virtually foolproof until well-intentioned humans butt in.
Thus, the cause for caution. A new dog, or more accurately, dog/person unit, may or may not integrate into the group. The butt sniffing and chest butt protocol entails growling, barking and snapping; behavior that can be alarming for anyone not expecting it. Fortunately it doesn’t usually mean trouble.
Common knowledge at Flat Rock holds that a new pit bull can be an exception to the general dog way of fitting in. Some are just “dog aggressive” and must be avoided at all costs. You never know. Better safe than sorry.
“Here come some new dogs,” Wendy said. “Better leash Dolly. It’s a pit”
Two goldens and a heavy black dog came bounding around the corner followed by two men. “No, no. It’s okay,” one of them called out. “He’s very friendly. Let them go”
We were cautious. Dolly was still on the leash, Wendy, Peter and their dogs surrounded us.
“Bubba, come here,” the man with the thick eyebrows called.
“Wait a minute. I know them,” I said. “Ken? Ken Jones?”
“I think they are okay,” I said to the others. “I’ve heard about Bubba. He’s a marshmallow.”
Paul, that friend who said me and a pit bull bitch would be a perfect match, told me about this dog. He was very impressed with the black pit bull cross. The Bubbs spent lots of time sitting on the couch and snarfing cookies from guests. I’d known Bubba’s mother for years. We taught a class together at the local college and I teach in an after school program she runs.
I decided to let Dolly go when everyone arrived and the dogs were starting to calm down. After all, Bubba came from a good family. It turned out to be a most excellent decision.
Immediately Dolly recognized Bubba as one of her own kind. She growled and snapped and jumped all over him. Bubba growled and snapped and sat right down. He already knew to take advantage of his superior size in the never ending games of strength the two dogs would come to play. Dolly, younger by a year and a half and much more svelte, overcame his weight advantage with energy and enthusiasm.
“Oh, boy,” I warned. “Stand back.”
Dolly raced to the edge of the woods and grabbed a stick. It was as if none of the other dogs or people existed. She ran straight to Bubba and stopped. Front feet extended and tail up in the air. The budding coquette looked up under her eyelashes at her new conquest and said, “Errr.”
Well, that was it for Bubba. He was completely enchanted by the pit bull temptress. He grabbed the other end of that stick and the rest, as they say, was history. For the next 20 minutes they tugged and growled, periodically racing keeping to catch up with the others. The other dogs ignored them; the owners seemed enthralled by the single-mindedness of the two pits. By the end of the walk the stick was history and Dolly and Bubba firm friends.
“We’ll have to do this again,” Ken said. “But how do you know me?”
Turns out the humans still needed to do some sniffing and butting.
For a more serious look at dog socialization vist: http://site.bigpawdesigns.com/blog/?p=508
This is so true, a socialized dog is a much happier dog. We took our pup to playdates really early, and all our other dogs had lots of family dogs and humans as well.
I like that link you provided, thats very informative too.
Lilly is almost too socialized, she goes whacky at all her playdates and acts so silly, even tho she isn’t a puppy any more.
Our other dogs were more dignified, but she is a charachter, silly Lilly.
And dogs sure do bring people together just like kids.
Okay — you have me hooked to go back and read the first 5 chapters. I like your writing style.
You mentioned on your website that you not only teach music, but you get paid to write. What do you write, other than the blog? (Or maybe someone is paying you to write the blog???)
Hi Barb,.
Thank you for the kind words. I write for the Townsend Times, a local weekly newspaper in Massachusetts. It would be nice if someone paid me for the blog, I am writing a grant proposal that’s due very soon.
Doll and I truly value our dog friends. Certainly I have met people I wouldn’t have otherwise.
We have a pit/Am Staff also who can be quite a marshmellow. He wears a coat outside this time of year and sleeps curled up on the bed between my husband and I.
Its true that humans often don’t “get” dog behavior. Ebony my service dog is well acquainted with proper winery behavior, including how to interact with resident winery dogs. As a service dog, she takes her job very seriously and she doesn’t want dogs distracting her when she is on the clock. If she is wearing her vest and the leash around my neck she is working. If the vest is off and the extending reel leash is on she is off the clock. It is hard to explain that distinction to other dogs and their owners. She is also a BIG black dog and she will guard me from other dogs. People will freak out when she growls and snaps at dogs that try to sniff at her or get too close to me when working. Owners don’t understand when i ask them to keep their dogs at bay, especially if Ebony thinks I am having a bad day. She will tolerate no distractions and she trained the puppy at home all about leaving her along while working by showing her GRRRR face and growling. I don’t think she would actually hurt another dog unless it threatened me but it distracts and stresses us when we are dealing with dog management instead of concentrating on not falling down! We have people convinced that I am taking a dangerous dog in public and the other end of the spectrum who think that I am unreasonable when I tell them Ebony needs to work right now, not greet.
This is the same BIG black dog that gets as submissive as possible so the 6lb kitten will chase her in a game of tag. But that is only when she is off duty and she knows I am safe.
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Thank you for your post, and i trust it helps me a lot.
You write so well and dog stories are always a winner with me. I really enjoy reading here
Anita
We just took in another rescue cat from the local shelter last calendar week. I will never be able to understand how anyone could desert or worse disregard a cat. A portion of individuals think that cats can fend for themselves since they are predatory animals. They are damned free and strong little critters, but once a cat has been tamed it not only loses its power to live in the wild, but the person who received the cat in has a duty to give care for it. It really saddens me to acknowledge that anyone could abandon a cat. That is why I seek to aid as best I can by taking in rescue cats.
Animal mistreatment has forever bothered me. It appears like it is getting worse, at least where I live. But there are still sweet individuals out there who feel like I do that we must take care of them. I hope the judicial system will match up with our means of believing about this. It is still handled as a relatively minor criminal offence. That’s wrong.