Thursday, February 26, 2009

How Nala learned to be a dog

We all know that when a dog rolls over to show you its stomach, that means it's acknowledging you as the dominant one. You know this, I know this. Nala did not know this.

There are a lot of reasons why I think Nala was taken away from her litter at a very young age, and this complete ignorance of basic dog body language is one reason why. She's the kind of dog that is very social, but at the beginning, it appeared to be just with people. (The first time we took her to the dog park, she jumped on us every time a dog came near. Or she ran to the closest human sitting along the fence. Like my boyfriend said at the time: "Looks like we have a wallflower.")

We worked very hard at helping her past this, and today she's just fine with other dogs. How did we do this?
  • We took her to the dog park - regularly. The one by our house has two parks, labeled for passive or active dogs rather than large or small. We started out at the one for passive dogs until she got bored with the lower energy level. We started adding in a little bit of time at the active dog side, and as she got used to it, switched entirely to the active dog side. (Warning: this should not be done with older dogs or those that have been attacked or abused in any way. If your dog does not adjust or is truly fearful, do not do this!)
  • We let her mingle with other dogs as we walked. This was fantastic for a couple reasons. One, it was a lot easier for her to deal with one dog sniffing her butt than a whole pack. Two, both Nala and the other dog were on leashes, giving both owners more control (safety first, people). We did this for a few months prior to introducing her to the dog park, a big reason why she was able to acclimate there.
  • We took her to the dog park with another dog she knew and trusted. Dogs are pack animals. When we took Nala with the neighbor's dog Darley, Nala had a sort of small pack she belonged to. Whenever a group of dogs ran to her, all she had to do was run to Darley to feel secure.
  • We started when she was very young. My older dog (10 years) is TERRIFIED of other dogs and taking her to the dog park is just cruel. She really believes she's going to be attacked and it's neither kind nor effective to force her into this. Nala, however, was less than 6 months when we started doing this and now she loves it.
There's still work to do though. She chases dogs, but only a certain distance. Then she loses interest and runs back to us. She also gets jealous when another dog tries to get attention from us - even, or especially, if it's Topi. And she introduces herself to other dogs by snarling and snapping, then licking their faces. (Don't ask; I don't get it either.)

But she's making huge strides. She played with a puppy; she shares her toys with her neighbor Darley; she even lets the big dog in training - that started as the target of her wrath - wrestle and bite her.

Yep. My girl has an obedience-school boyfriend.

SUCCESS!

No comments:

Post a Comment