Snap

     There have been four instances of Henry nipping other dogs, and the other dogs made it clear that this behavior was not welcome. And whenever Henry sees another dog, he barks and pulls on his leash. This, as was later explained to me, is very uncharacteristic of coonhounds. Normally, coonhounds just wag their tails and greet other dogs like friends. Last week Henry met Charlie, a sweet-natured 9 year old poodle. Henry snapped at Charlie, showing his teeth, for no obvious reason. That was very disappointing. Charlie is another of Zico's pals so I was hoping they would get along. It became all too clear that Henry has a problem with other dogs. Adding to the disappointment, I can not subject the other dogs and dog owners to Henry's behavior. And not taking the dogs to places where we are likely to encounter other dogs impacts Zico.
     I called Ann from Northeast Coonhound Rescue for advice and she agreed to getting Henry together with a few other coonhounds to help with his socialization. Zico was invited too. So we drove up to Lexington and let Henry and Zico play with Ashley and Terri, two recently arrived female coonhounds looking for foster homes and forever homes. All the dogs were off-leash in a big fenced yard. Henry had moments of behaving badly, such as trying to mount or standing in front of one of the females and barking. This was alternating with moments of normal playful romping. Sometimes I would correct Henry with a tap or by standing between him and another dog. More often, I was too far away to correct him, but Ashley and Terri learned to stand up to him.
     At one point, after being there almost an hour, all four dogs were barking at each other in a very unpleasant way so I intervened. I stood in front of Henry. The other dogs ran away and quieted down. I reached down for Henry's collar, expecting to have to catch him and prevent him from chasing the others. But he held still for me. I turned him around so that he was not facing the others, not looking at them. And I don't know what inspired me to do this, but I put both arms around him in a firm embrace. He did not struggle and after a few moments I could feel him relaxing. I released him, expecting him to run and join the others. But he didn't. Something had changed. Henry started walking around the yard, calmly minding his own business, not interacting with the other dogs. It was more than I could have hoped for. Maybe Henry needs an hour or so with a new dog before he can relax and behave.
     So Henry has a problem. Not an extreme problem, he has never bitten anyone or another dog. And we have seen that he also can behave properly with other dogs. I contacted a local doggie day care center and briefly explained the situation. They agreed to take him. I hope (and they believe) that this will help him become better socialized. There are plenty of dogs in homes who behave worse than Henry. And I am confident that with the right guidance Henry will learn to interact better with other dogs. In fact, I believe that Henry could be adopted today to a family that would commit to working on his socializing. Inside the house he is as good a dog as anyone could ever want. And he gets along wonderfully with Zico. (Interestingly, he and Zico hit it off right away.) Henry has learned so much in the past two weeks about behaving nicely indoors. When he learns to mind his manners with other dogs he will be a perfect family member.