When Cody came, I expected he'd be a handful. Unable to be touched,
reactive to other dogs - an all around long-term project. While I
don't wish to diminish the growth Cody is making and the challenges he
will continue to conquer, he is growing into quite the easy keeper.
Taking it slow and letting Cody choose the pace allows him to spend more
time in areas he finds uncomfortable and be rewarded for his bravery.
What I expected was a "demon dog"....
What I got - a sweet, loving guy.
Part of letting Cody choose his pace is controlling his enviroment so that he isn't exposed to too much at once. Sometimes though the enviroment throws something at you that you wouldn't choose yourself. On our walk, this was a neighborhood dog named Astro. Astro is a lab mix, likely around 11-12 years old, obese, and very sweet and gentle. Astro saw Cody and waddled over to us at a normal obese-senior-dog pace that allowed us to quickly move away if we needed. My first instinct was to avoid a meeting, but Cody saw Astro and indicated through a wagging tail and tugging at the leash that he wanted to meet this gentle elder. During the meeting I watched for any sign that Cody was getting uncomfortable and wanted to move away, and I turned my body parrallel to Cody to encourage him to move back into me if he wanted to.
After we moved away we continued our walk, and on our way back we encountered Astro again. Cody again displayed interest and a wagging tail at Astro, so once again I decided to let Cody control his level of interaction. It's a little harder to hear in this one but right before I call his name and encourage him to move away he lets out a low growl at Astro, indicating he's reached his comfort level. My job at that point is break his focus on Astro so he can realize he can move away from this uncomfortable interaction.
For a dog who was labelled as reactive to larger dogs this was a great meet up. We've since seen a few other big dogs at a distance and Cody paused, whines, and wags his stubby tail, indicating he wants to make more friends. At this time I'm only letting Cody meet dogs who I know or who display a certain energy (no wild yearlings, please!) but Cody will have more introductions to larger dogs in his future so he can get even more comfortable!
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