Hot on the success of our weekend exploits, Sally and I were keen to test the boy still further with his first close encounter with another furry paws. Rocky was the chosen contender. A dog well known to Sally and trained by her, so in a good place to behave himself, at least that's the plan.
Rocky was an absolute doll, and won my heart in a matter of seconds when he gave me a 'cuddle', this involves snuggling into your legs and laying his head against you in such a heart-melting kind of way that you could forgive him almost anything.
Sonny was really good and started well without 'swearing' at him. We set off for our walk, plodding the now familiar trails around the lake. Sonny did most of his avoidance behaviour, walking the other side of me and sniffing, weeing and generally ignoring Rocky as much as he could, with the occasional sneaky peak out of the corner of his eye. The best part was that Rocky (normally a very friendly and lively dog off lead) recognised the very subtle signals that Sonny was delivering, so he made absolutely no approaches to him and remained relaxed, chilled and in good order.
At this critical stage of closer introductions it is really important to ensure that the dogs he gets to meet have the right 'energy'. As you know my observations of neighbour dogs have shown that many of them are not 'balanced' and therefore would set him off, rather than improve his confidence. Collies in particular are a problem due to the aforementioned 'stalking behaviour' which is natural to them but he immediately reacts to by lunging etc.
We interspersed our forays around the lake with circling one another in the fields and doing the passing exercise where we pretend not to know one another and say 'Hi'. This is all good practise for other walks where we will meet people unexpectedly. In addition Sonny will now walk quickly or, slowly on command and I am to put as many of these exercises into our normal walks so that I can use these as a way to divert him out of a situation if a potential problem presents itself to us.
Sonny is still reactive with the more assertive dogs but in the main his reactions are becoming less than they were which is so great to see. He is genuinely starting to become desensitized. We did have a few hairy moments. There was the passing of the elderly couple, the lady looking quite frail and holding onto a walking frame, with the dog in tow. I couldn't risk Sonny maybe lunging and causing a fragile old lady to crash to the floor, so diverted away from her. At another turn of the road, we met a rather dominant mongrel type. In my efforts to divert my runaway brain from anxious thoughts, I was busy counting backwards. Unfortunately, Sonny was having none of it and decided to lunge at the other dog, whereupon I found myself shrieking out '356!!!!' out loud, and in a public place. I fear it's only a matter of time before the men in white coats come to get me....
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