Good Behavior

     Henry was waiting in the car while I was teaching at the Alexander Technique Training Center. One of the students asked, "Whose dog is in the car outside?" And the director of the school suggested I bring Henry inside instead of waiting in the car. Henry was very hesitant going down the stairs that lead to the studio. (He seems to be afraid of basements.) And once he entered the room he was walking around sniffing everything and looking at the mirrors in the room for about 45 minutes before finally settling down and relaxing. Everybody (about 8 people in the room) loves Henry. He gets lots of attention and compliments on his looks. One student has nick-named him 'little lamb.' He has been back to class twice since. After greeting everyone with a polite sniff, he spends most of his time lying down, minding his own business, on a tiny pillow on the floor. Every time he moves, whether to drink water or to stretch and yawn, he elicits comments on how adorable he is. The most common comment is "Awwwwwww...." When the class takes a break, Henry goes for a quick walk around the block and then begs for food while the class snacks during break. Everyone has been very good about not feeding him. So much of this blog has been about his behavioral problems. Too little has been about his good behavior. He is so good with people. Very respectful and gentle. And everyone who has seen this side of Henry loves him.

Approaching Charlie

     During his first week with us, when Henry snapped at Charlie it was the red flag that could not be ignored and made it clear that Henry needed to improve his social skills. Since that incident, Henry and Charlie have been reintroduced and have played together. They met again this morning and here is now it went.
     Henry and Zico were both on-leash walking around the park. We spot Charlie on the other side of the park and tails start wagging. Henry is about to get over-excited so I call him to me, he touches my hand and gets a treat. (I recently bought a belt-attaching pouch to access treats easily and quickly.) We progress toward Charlie repeating this procedure.
     Zico is also eager to greet Charlie and begins to pull.  I let Zico off-leash because it will soon be difficult to deal with Henry if Zico is pulling. Zico runs toward Charlie and that gets Henry over-excited. He starts barking. But not for long because nowadays I can distract him and quiet him. Formerly this was not the case, once he started barking all I could do was remove him from the scene. I stand between him and Charlie and made him sit and look at me for a treat. Then we continue to progress toward Charlie as before, calling him to me every few steps until we are right next to Charlie.
     The dogs play, only Henry is on the leash. Occasionally he barks at Charlie. This is uncharacteristic of Henry. (Nowadays.) Normally, once he gets close to another dog, he interacts calmly. When he does bark at Charlie, I call him and he sits for a treat.
    Zico is perky this morning! He starts rough-housing with Henry and as they jump around I accidentally drop Henry's leash. There is a moment of anxiety and I start to give chase for half a second. But he is occupied with Zico and not chasing squirrels. I relax and call him to me and he comes.
     The dogs keep playing and Henry barks periodically.  Finally, I realize that since Henry is the only dog on a leash, I just need to keep him moving to prevent him from barking. It is time to head home anyway. We pass two dogs on the street on the way home. I keep Henry distracted with treats and he does not bark at the first one. He also does not bark at the second one but I think he did not even see the second dog, as we walked by it sitting quietly on its front porch.
     All in all, a pleasant morning walk with the dogs.