I'm going to give you some Cesar Millan advice, and I won't even charge you $24.95 to read my book. When we moved to Chicago, I told you I was super nervous about how the dogs would react around other dogs. That's because Bailey started her life hidden inside the Tri-Delta house in Laramie, Wyoming, so she missed that crucial socialization. Buckeye started his life in practically a retirement community in Fort Myers, Florida, so he also never socialized. (And he still likes to eat dinner at 4 p.m.--weird)Fast forward to 2009, when we moved to a dog community, on a dog floor, in a dog-loving city. At first, the dogs tried to attack every Puggle, Yorkie, Retriever and Pit Bull in sight. I was humiliated, because they are my children, and I feel responsible.
Now fast forward about 9 months, and they are completely different dogs. Today on our walk, they smelled nearly 10 dogs, and didn't snarl or try and attack a single one. Me? I'm a proud mama.
Here's the thing: dogs sense your energy. (This is the Cesar Millan part. Actually, I changed my mind--please type in your credit card info before continuing.) If you are tense, and pull back on their lease when another dog approaches, your dog thinks something is wrong, so they get aggressive. If you just let loose on their leash and let them smell other dogs, then don't feel your tension, and they just smell the other dog's butt. (Can you imagine if we greeted people that way? A little less hand-shaking, and a lot more smelling.)
Now that I've calmed down, the dogs have too. I have to thank my 3 favorite gentleman for that: Jose Cuervo, Jim Beam and Jack Daniels.
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