When I first met Little Bear for assessment, I didn’t know what the outcome would be. Once she got rid of all that mental stress she was carrying, and realized she wasn’t going to drive me away, she changed completely. It was like a switch went off in her head. I never thought I would be able to kiss her on the head, or have her roll over to expose her belly to me. She did it last night after she shut down her brother Freddie from coming after me. What a beautiful experience to see a dog change so much and so fast.
Freddie bit me already, completely my fault – my brain took a hike and I went over the top of a dog that wasn’t ready. He corrected me, and I respect the dog a little more now. Have to admit, I do carry some fear of him but that’s on me to work out. Freddie has a hair trigger, and he will go for you if he’s stirred up enough – and it really doesn’t take that much. In this video, Freddie comes after me twice – only to be put in his place by his littermate Bear. She is correcting him, and it seems like she’s protecting me in the process.
The walk starts out rough, both dogs are pulling, Bear is all over the place exploring on a 16 foot retractable leash. Freddie is trying to keep up. I don’t care that the dogs are pulling, this isn’t about structure. Freddie hasn’t been out for a walk in a while, and he needs to burn it off. Murray is walking Freddie starting out, but we switch dogs at the 18:30 mark – Freddie knows right away that I have the leash, but he doesn’t react or seem to care.
At about the 27:30 mark, we get the first bad reaction from Freddie to a dog. Bear goes off to meet the dog, and Freddie is lunging – he’s a big boy and hard to handle when he’s in full display. Remain calm, wait til the target passes and move forward. It’s important for Freddie to watch his sister being social, watch and learn – he will get it eventually. My main concern was that he would redirect all that energy on me – but he didn’t. Consequently, over the course of the walk, he got less and less reactive around dogs.
More importantly – notice that Bear didn’t react to Freddie’s negative reaction, she met the dog, albeit on a taught leash.
Throughout the walk, I’m squatting down and inviting Bear in for affection. This is important, I need Bear to show Freddie that I’m trustworthy – Bear is showing her brother that she trusts me – and I need her to transfer that trust for me. We seen some positive outcomes here – Freddie came close, he would sniff me but wanted nothing to do with affection – and that’s ok for now. As we walked, Freddie would drop back and I could feel his went nose on my hand, or rubbing against my leg. He’s checking me out.
He’s not reacting to people at all. As we cross the bridge at the 33:30 mark, he’s curious, getting close to people and sniffing them as they pass by. Yes, some people are nervous of the big pit cross, but I’m not letting the dog get close enough to engage.
At theh 40 minute mark, Murray takes Freddie into the trees 10 feet away while Bear meets a St. Bernard. Freddie was watching, but didn’t react at all. Move forward. Now bear in mind, I have Freddie’s leash and I’m squatting down to invite Bear in for affection – Freddie does approach to sniff me but again, not ready to engage. I’m not to push him this time – it HAS to be his choice to come to me and he’s not ready.
52 minute mark, dogs hit the river and we sit down to relax. Freddie has no intention of attacking me, and he’s got full access to me. This is partly about desensitization. Partly about getting him exercise. And partly about making me “not a big deal”. He’s had every opportunity to bite, but hasn’t offered once.
At the 1:14 mark, we sit on a park bench, and Freddie crawls up between us. He’s pretty calm, he sniffs me.
As we are walking up the bridge, we pass a couple of kids sitting down. No reaction from Freddie. We pass 2 teens sitting down with a dog, no reaction from Freddie. At the 1:24 mark, a dog walks by and Freddie’s reaction to it isn’t that bad. At the 1:33:44 mark, we pass a lady with what looked like a miniature Samoyed off leash, Freddie didn’t react at all.
At the 1:37 mark, we are back in the yard. It’s too dark now to get good video. The 2 dogs in the house stir up Freddie and he tries to come for me – but Bear jumped in and shut it down in a hurry. It’s like she’s protecting me. After Murray takes Freddie into the house, Bear did something that she’s never done before. Lays down, rolls over, exposes her belly and wants a rub – which I gladly gave. That’s the ultimate in trust from a dog.
The video overall is not very exciting, but shows that a dog in the back yard isn’t necessarily a reflection of a dog on a leash. Or vice versa.