Mt. Pleasant Classical Academy

Puppy Bows. I love seeing a dog greet another dog; dropping down on his forearms so his chest and face are on the ground while his butt is high in the air. He’s saying, please play, don’t you want to play with me, as his tail wags wildly. It is a wonderful signal dogs use with each other. Our Brutus is always quick to whip his puppy bow out shortly after meeting a dog. He so wants to play and so it was when he met Kaiser. Kaiser though reacted with a snarl, a growl, a snap, and more snarls and growls. He was ready for a fight and quite ready to start it. These two dogs met three times over the last couple weeks so Kaiser would get familiar with his dog sitting family, us. After each visit I commiserated with dh about the growling and snarling and snapping Kaiser displayed and wondered what we had gotten ourselves into when we told our friends we would take their dog for awhile. Each visit Brutus gave Kaiser several puppy bows too, never giving up that maybe Kaiser would change his mind about playing with him.

On Kaiser’s defense he is obedience trained and when one says sit, he not only goes into a sit but stays in a sit until you release him. Same with down, he is a pleasure to walk, and is crate trained.

On Monday Kaiser came to our home for his stay with us. I hoped that with the owners gone Kaiser might be less aggressive and stop his growling, snarling, and snapping. It didn’t happen. We took the dogs for a 3 mile walk with both dogs heeling throughout the walk. Caser Milan would have been pleased I’m sure. Back home Kaiser continued to react nasty to Brutus if he walked close to him. Too many times to count I yelled NO, put the dogs into downs and stood over them waiting for the tension to disappear. In our home we quickly found that Kaiser would start fighting with Brutus so the dogs were both in a continuous down with one of us constantly watching them. ScienceKid took Kaiser out for a run hoping that if we drained some of his energy he would be better behaved toward Brutus. In the evening we walked the dogs again, both behaved beautifully on the walk. Back home again Kaiser snarled, growled, and snapped at Brutus when he came close. And yes, I wondered what on earth we had gotten ourselves into.

Tuesday and Wednesday were a repeat of Monday. I became even more concerned that our Christmas Holidays were going to be tension-filled, stress-filled dog sitting. It was like living with a Dennis the Menace and Mr. Wilson.

Brutus as Dennis “Please Mr. Wilson, won’t you play with me. Please, please, play with me. Here I am, see me jumping around and puppy bowing to you, please play with me, PLEASE.’:

Kaiser as Mr. Wilson, always answered, “No, leave me alone. I’m a grumpy old-man and I don’t want to play with you, Just go away. Leave me alone.”

In a way I felt like I was back to supervising 3 and 4yos again. Constantly watching their behavior, stepping in when one crossed the line and placing them in time-out to cool down and get themselves back under control. Never a need to spank or hit, just a take-control when things turned sour, let them know that I will control things until they learn how to control their behavior. Until then I was there to keep them safe, put them into a time-out, aka a down; and do it consistently and constantly until they learn to behavior correctly.

This morning I let Kaiser out of his crate, took the dogs to the back door and told them to SIT. Both sat immediately and looked at me. Ahhh, what a sweet sight, if only it could last. I opened the door, went out, and gave the dogs the release OK word. Both headed out into the yard with me watching their every move, me ready to scream NO when the fighting began.

Then the miracle occurred. Kaiser waltzed over to Brutus and puppy bowed. He PUPPY BOWED to Brutus. They played, they played spithead, and waltzed around each other, and played. There weren’t any growls, or snarls, or snaps. It was wonderful.

Now we have another problem. Kaiser wants to play with Brutus in the house, and of course puppy Brutus is always ready to comply.

It’s OK, I’ll take this new situation any day over the one at the beginning of the week. Four days down, umpteen more to go.