Ginko Meets Katie, Take 2, Part 4

On Wednesday, after I was mostly done working for the day, Tom and I walked Ginko over to Katie’s house to pick her up. On Dog-Geek’s advice after our early miscues, we wanted to walk them together back on to our property since their first meeting here didn’t go so well. We’ve gone out on leash to see Katie 5 days in a row now, so Ginko was very excited and pulled the whole way. Here’s how her 2+ hour stay went.

As soon as we let them off leash to run, they both took off sprinting and Ginko bumped her in the process. He and Lilly bump each other like a couple of NASCAR drivers. It doesn’t really mean anything to them, but it scared Katie and made her scream.

Since I’m realizing just how intense my dogs are when they play (it’s amazing what becomes “normal” to a girl), we did not bring out the ball. We just walked loops around the pastures over and over again, and I gave both of them treats regularly and praised the heck out of them for being near each other, letting me hug one on each side of me, etc.

At one point, back behind the house, Ginko decided to investigate Katie. She stood stock stil as he approached from the side, rather than head on. (Good boy!) He sniffed her gently from nose to behind. I praised both of them the entire time. I got a little worried when his tail wasn’t moving as he sniffed, but the more I praised, the more he wagged. Again, more treats for both.

We hung out on the front patio and “lawn” area with the 2 of them for a while. He found a ball somewhere, so he was pretty much occupied by himself. So, she soaked up loving from me and Tom.

I watched her carefully, and she was deferring to him constantly. If he swung one way around a tree, she went to the other side. If he moved toward her, she moved behind me or the table or whatever. Again, is that fear or good conflict prevention? How to tell?

We let them be for probably 45 minutes just the two of them. She never did lay down and her tail was pretty firmly tucked, but she seemed mostly OK. When Ginko took a dip in the pond, that seemed funny to her, and she raced back and forth along the shore. He was obsessed with something under the water, so he did not take her play bait. When he came out though, he thought running after her sounded fun, but she got scared and screamed again. He got within 3-4 feet of her, so I know he didn’t nip her or anything. She just gets scared and yipes … I think to ensure that this is PLAY and not something else. She is only about 18-months old, so they could be puppy cries.

Tom let Lilly out, then went inside. I could have used some help because Lilly chased Katie, which enticed Ginko to chase Katie, and they ended up “pinning” her against the gate up front. She was flat on the ground being as submissive as possible. It took me a while to get Lilly to stop barking so excitedly, but Ginko called off her well and came to me, so that she could get up. He was just standing there, but that combined with a bossy border collie was too much.

So for another couple hours, we just poked around, making loops around the house. Everyone got treats for coming near me. Everyone got treats after being close, sniffing or whatever. Everyone got treats for sitting. And, I did round robin style treat dispensing.

To be funny in the photo, I wanted to go biggest to smallest, but Katie was NOT interested in sitting next to Ginko. Use this photo as a study in dog body language. Very funny. I didn’t mean to put the two big dogs facing each other, but Katie wasn’t too interested in STAY while I lined up my photo. So, I put her in place and quick snapped the photo. Can you see how she’s looking at me out of the corner of her eye?

Toward the end of her stay, Katie got brave enough to goad Lilly into playing. Ginko did join in this time and even had a little boxing match with her, where both popped onto their hind legs and slapped each other with their forearms. But, when Ginko decided jaw wrestling sounded fun too, he scared her by air snapping near her head, and she screamed, which of course ended the game.

Unfortuately, Lilly turns into the barking Fun Police when the two big dogs try to play, so usually, my 2 end up cornering poor Katie. She sits or even lays down as a calming signal, but I still often have to work hard to call Lilly and Ginko off. At one point, I swear, I said loudly, “Lilly COME this very second!” And, she finally did.

Once I got Lilly to zip it, I convinced Katie to stand by me and watch how I goaded Ginko into racing around. I wanted her to see him sprint and have Lilly chase him, so that maybe she’ll get the idea it could be a safe thing to do.

I figured the somewhat successful boxing match was a good ending point, plus, it’s exhausting managing dog interactions for that long. Working at a doggy daycare must be incredibly tiring.

So, we put our monkeys in the house, and I walked Katie home.

Today (Thurs), we’re going to bring her over again. After discussions with Katie’s mom, we’re putting off letting her into the house until she can be around Ginko without screaming.

The inside part will be interesting when we get there, though. Tom is worried she’ll be a wild girl. It’s one thing to have a 20-inch agility dog, who likely can avoid breaking anything in the house. It’s another to have a gangly 33-inch dog (middle back, not the whithers) getting wild inside.

We’ll see. More to come.