I feel like a million bucks. This is Boy, the big hairy boy. Sophie took me to the do-it-yourself grooming place to wash, brush and detangle all that wiry orange hair that covers me from head to toe. It took almost two full hours but I am absolutely stunning and no longer smell like a dog. By the way, I only weight 90lbs. So later in the day, feeling fresh and clean, she decided to see how I really do with other dogs since I am known to have leash aggression.
She took me to a quiet dog park which had only a handful of dogs present (of course muzzled and with the permission of the people who were in the park with their dogs at that time). It turned out surprisingly well.
Here is how it went down: when I got out of the car in front of the park, of course I reacted as the dogs from the park all ran to the fence to check me out.
Sophie had to control me and make me settle down, which can be a bit of a challenge, but doable. I the went into the park and started having a good old time running, chasing, playing, sniffing etc… but one little dog got really scared of me and started running around, screeching at the top of his lungs, which got all the dogs to come and see what was going on.
A protective Shepherd came around to protect his little buddy and put his paw over me, looking to dominate me. Since I was muzzled, Sophie decided it was time to leave as I had no defense if the rest of the pack teamed up on me.
The results, as per Sophie’s observations to my body language and reaction, were successful. Of course more sessions will be needed, but from the get-go, she was pretty sure that I have no real aggression, I just over react on leash when I see another dog.