Heart Like a Dog

The Good, the Bad, and the Oh My God of living with dogs!

Oh Deer….Day Two Hundred

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We’ve seen deer crossing streets in the area.

We’ve seen a huge buck right outside our fenced in backyard.

We knew there was deer in the woods where we walk;  occasionally we even walk on their trails.

We have seen trees which have been stripped of bark from the rubbing of antlers.

But we’ve never actually seen a deer in the woods where we walk…until today.

I’m going to have to ask you to use your imagination here.  I would ask you to close your eyes, but then you couldn’t read the words, so try to picture this in your mind.

I’m on the trail ahead of Chet, Sampson is ahead of me, Delilah is who knows where.  The path veers to the left; Chet, Sampson and I make the turn.  We call Delilah.

I hear her coming, so I turn to look and see Delilah running flat out and about 20 feet behind her, also running is a 200 pound doe!

I stand there with my hand over my mouth and I’m thinking Sweet Jesus, if Delilah turns around and sees that deer, we will never get her back!  She will chase that deer until one of them drops!

Thankfully Delilah turned to join us and the deer continued on its way.

Afterwards I thought, maybe Delilah knew that deer was behind her and that’s why she was running!  Can you imagine what she’s thinking?  Holy shit that’s the biggest dog I’ve ever seen!

 

Sweet Zoe….Day One Hundred, Ninety Nine

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This sweet little girl is Zoe.

Zoe is sad because she is on a gentle leader.  Zoe’s mom (Marcie) is sad because Zoe is afraid of other dogs and in order to protect herself Zoe maintains the “I’ll get you BEFORE you get me” attitude.

Marcie and Zoe attend the Thursday night drop in obedience class at our local training facility.  I fell in love with Zoe the first moment I saw her.

So last night when I dropped into class and saw Marcie and Zoe, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on her.

I restrained myself for about 10 minutes, then ran up to Marcie and said, “May I?”

As soon as we had our first pause, I slipped the gentle leader off….

Sarah got in behind me to work the big baby German Shepard, as we rounded the corner of the room, Zoe saw the Shepard behind us and made her move.  I snapped the leash and brought her back to me telling her “No!”

At the potty break I gave the leash back to Marcie, I felt miserable, like I had failed Zoe and Marcie.

A little back story on Zoe, Marcie has had her about four years, she did not have a problem with other dogs when Marcie got her; one day Marcie’s sister’s dog was over and while Marcie had her back turned there was some sort of altercation.  Marcie is not sure what the tiff was about.  Ever since that incident, Zoe has been aggressive with other dogs.   She can do a quick sniff and go,  but it has to be quick.

I thought I should throw this out to blogger land and see if any of you have any thoughts or suggestions on how to help Zoe and ultimately Marcie.

I feel like I have had success with Delilah but I don’t know how to transfer this to help Zoe or Marcie.   How can we help Zoe overcome her fear aggression?  I know as Zoe grows more confident Marcie will as well.

Look at this sweet face, let’s help take the sadness away.

Author’s Post Script: You may notice the fine white markings all over these pictures, that is deliberate.  It is a watermark I am using.  I heard from Sheltie Times that some of her pictures were stolen.

The Karate Kid…Day One Hundred, Ninety Eight

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“I see you’ve got the Crane Technique down,” Chet said from behind me as Sampson rushed past.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“That little move you do when the dogs push past you,” was his reply.

“Oh that.” 🙂

When you have a  ninety pound dog running at you full tilt, you learn to lift your leg.

Luckily for me I can hear them coming.

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