Honey the Great Dane

Last weekend was very special and exciting because I got to meet my blog friends, Cookie & Cinnamon the Beagles, in person!!

In fact, we actually used to live quite close to each other – when Cookie was still an “only dog” - we used to pass each other sometimes when out walking in the streets or in the park. But Cookie always seemed very scared of me and I was also very young so I was sometimes naughty – so my human did not want to make him stressy and we always made sure that we did not go too near them. So we never got a chance to become friends!

Then the great thing was we found each other through our blogs and then our humans started getting very friendly with each other. They even went off and had fun without us in a special exercise class  called Hoopla! where they spin big hoops around their bodies! (Humans are so weird…)

So we decided it was high time that us dogs got together! So last weekend, we arranged to meet up at Shore Road Reserve, an off-leash dog park near where we both live…

 

Cinnamon was not nervous at all – she came right up to me and immediately invited me to a game of tag!

She was a real flirt, in fact – she wanted all the dogs there to chase her!

 Hsin-Yi told me to “restrain” myself so that I wouldn’t scare Cinnamon the first time I met her – she might find my usual bouncing and rough wrestling too overwhelming! So I tried very hard to be good and not too rough…although it was really difficult! Cinnamon was a very good tease and it was so exciting to chase her!!

The good news was Cookie didn’t seem so scared of me anymore – although he didn’t join in our chasing game, we did have a nice walk altogether afterwards and he was quite happy to trot along next to me.

We also all posed very nicely together for photos! Don’t we look adorable?

Cookie & Cinnamon very quickly worked out that Hsin-Yi had yummy sausage treats in her pockets and they instantly started trying to earn them, doing Sits and Downs…gosh, I’d never seen such obsessive attention in a dog – it made me tired just watching them and I had to lie down for  rest!

Hsin-Yi said it was amazing because she is used to dopey me who needs 5 minutes to think about everything before I do it…she has never worked with dogs that responded so fast and with such obsessive attention  before! 

Paul started telling her to imagine all the tricks and activities she could do with a dog that had so much more drive and energy than me (because he thinks Beagles are really cute and might like one after me…) but Hsin-Yi decided that she still likes having a mellow dog, even though I am much harder to motivate! (hey! not fair! I do get excited and animated sometimes…for all of 15 seconds!! Hee! Hee!) :)

 Well, we all had a wonderful time and my humans are so pleased because now we can meet up regularly for playdates and training!

Here is a cute little video Hsin-Yi made of our meeting…her favourite part is at the end where you see our 3 bums walking off together, with tails wagging…

 

 

Tips for Safe Doggie Meetings:

It’s always a good idea for us doggies to meet each other for the first time off-leash and in a ‘neutral territory’, because then we feel more relaxed and we can decide how much personal space we need to feel comfortable. We are also free to behave naturally and go through the normal canine greetings – eg. approaching each other in a curve or from the side, not head on, like when we meet in the street.

If we don’t feel like playing together or being near each other, it’s best not to try and force us to be friends…sometimes, we need a bit of time to warm up to each other! And if one of us is a bit boisterous, then it would be good if our humans controlled us a bit so that we don’t overwhelm the other, shyer dog.

Humans often like to stop when out walking and try to get strange dogs to “say hello” to each other.  This might be OK for some dogs, especially young, playful ones, but a lot of us grown-up dogs find this very rude – and so we might get grumpy!   Us dogs always feel more vulnerable and defensive when we are restrained on a leash and especially if the leashes are held tight or get tangled up as we circle each other! Also, if our humans are nervous, all their stressy vibes pass down the leash to us and make us feel stressy too.

The other problem with doggies who are allowed to “say hello” to every dog they meet is that they soon start getting over-excited when they see another dog and start jumping or barking or lunging, trying to drag their humans over to them…even if the other dog doesn’t want to say hello!

This is a very common mistake humans with new puppies make – they worry about ‘socialisation’ so they let their puppies stop to meet every dog on the walk – when they should really be teaching their puppy to walk politely past other doggies in the street and only socialise when they say it’s OK, like at the dog park or in training class.

Another reason it is a bad idea to let us go up to every doggie we meet on walks is that the other doggie might have some “issues” and if they feel threatened enough, they may attack us. Then we would have a bad experience which may leave some damage on our minds and change the way we behave…we may even start to get suspicious of other doggies in the future and become fear aggressive ourselves! There are many doggies whose friendly temperaments were ruined after they had a bad experience… so even if you are really friendly, your human shouldn’t just let you bounce up to every dog you meet because the other doggie may not be as friendly.

Not all doggies are sociable – some may have been abused and are very scared; others may be sick and old and want to be left alone…so it is important to respect that. It is much better if your humans choose a few stable dogs that they know are friendly, for you to meet – than to risk letting you have a bad experience. Quality over quantity!

My humans made this mistake with me when I was a puppy and that is one reason why I became so naughty and out-of-control. But now I have learnt to walk past other dogs politely when I’m on leash and I am almost never allowed to socialise with strange dogs when I’m on the lead. Sometimes, if we’ve been passing each other a lot and seem friendly to each other, then my humans might let us have a sniff…but generally, they only let me meet new dogs when we’re in an off-leash place. That way, there is a greater chance of everyone remaining safe and happy – and us doggies becoming good friends!