After a rough week emotionally, I decided to take Lilly along to the Golden Fine Arts Festival last Saturday. She has been to this event, near her favorite city path, for several years running. And, honestly, I needed my girl that day. I needed to get out, and I needed my Lilly with me. Some days are like that. All in all, Lilly did well … despite MANY challenges.
First, the not-so-hot news: Lilly did snark at 2 dogs. BUT, both dogs pushed past our defenses and were intent on being face to face with Lilly. I used friends’ legs as a blockade. I circled around trash cans. I moved Lilly from side to side. I used my body as a barrier when necessary, and 99% of the time it worked fine. So, really, in these two snarking instances, her response was both measured and appropriate. If you insist in poking your face at her despite our best efforts to prevent it, then you will get snapped at.
I really try NOT to say anything to other dog owners, if I can help it. Typically, I only mention Lilly’s fear of dogs, if it seems the people and dogs miss all our body language cues that say BACK OFF. Most people are responsive and nice, when I say, “She’s afraid of other dogs.” One man, in particular, though, got snotty. (insert grumbling here)
I let this man and his dog get ahead of us since Lilly does much better with scary things in front of her than behind, and the more I watched this man’s young cattledog, the more I realized he was more like Lilly than he was different. This dog’s ears were pinned back. His eyes were dilated. He was panting and scanning the crowd. It made me sad.
Now, the good news: Lilly did great when a little girl and her dad asked if they could pet Lilly. I made sure there were no dogs coming. I made sure we had a big enough area in which to stand, and all of us bent down together while the little girl nicely petted Lilly down her back. Her dad was good and had her stand off to the side and not face Lilly head-on. I gave the girl some food to give Lilly, but she dropped it when Lilly tried to take it. It’s fine. I think it just made the girl a little nervous to have Lilly snuffle her hand.
Lilly also greeted several grown-ups who wanted to meet her. She POKED (hand targeted them). She was a little amped up, but her face seemed pretty relaxed and she worked well. Not slow. Not cautious.
She moved well in the crowd, staying close, watching me, etc. She gives a default SIT anytime I stop moving. She stops immediately when I ask her to WAIT so that people could cross in front of us.
Several people commented on how well-behaved she was. (There were many dogs in the crowd, who barked and lunged their way down the festival.)
Noises: She did get a bit freaked out by a band that was playing, by trash cans being drug across the pavement, and by slamming port-o-potty doors, but she did not completely flip out.
She waited to really melt down until we were saying goodbye to Grandma Ginny at her car and an ambulance went by with sirens blaring. Poor Lilly went completely flat, but once it passed by, she was fine.
You’d think with all the times she visited Tom at the firehouse would have paid off in this area, but those sirens are really something close up.
Despite the very few rough patches that you described, it sounds like Lilly is doing very well – especially in such a pandemonious environment!
I’m starting to wonder about K and noise sensitivity. Lately, when I’ve accidentally dropped something or made a loud sound, she drops her head low and tucks her tail. Her body language is brief but clear. It’s seems odd, although it shouldn’t, how they just keep on changing for their entire lives!
Lilly doesn’t need any fancy titles behind her name to be important. All she needs is a tag on her collar telling the world that she belongs to you. That is all any dog, or cat, prays for that is living in a shelter. All of my animals are rescues and, although they have no formal titles, each of them is a champion to me, too☺
Sounds like it was pretty positive overall – and it really sounds to me, based on this post and your last training update, that Lilly is starting to be able to recover faster after she gets rattled, which is great!