Embracing My Dog

Our good friends Crystal and Maisy recently wrote a post titled, "In Praise of the Abnormal Dog."  It's a wonderfully inclusive post that you'll have to read to get the full effect.

It's something I've thought about a lot, and especially this morning.

We all spent the night at our cabin, and after arriving home this morning, I didn't put the kitties crates away (or close the door).  Buzz went to sniff Rascal's crate and Bailey immediately shoved herself into a tiny crate so she could guard it.

Why am I posting this?  Because all my girlie-dog did was lift a lip.  I've been oh-so-concerned about the relationship between my two dogs now that Buzz is deaf and doesn't respond to her "get away" cues.  Buzz has had teeth on him more times than I wish to convey, despite me trying very hard to protect both of them.

In the past Bailey has gone from lip lifting to snarl/lunge in record time because other creatures did not respond the way she wanted.  For her to lift a lip... and WAIT, is pretty darn impressive.  She's been showing me a lot lately that she's capable of quite a bit more than I give her credit for.  She's learning that even at home, I can manage things that are going on, and she doesn't have to take on the Hallway Monitor job she doesn't really want.

Buzz responded, she didn't aggress... and it was a pretty funny situation after that.  I practiced calling her away/out (she did so successfully, score one for training), and then I put her into her own crate, for a break.

Improvement, improvement, improvement.  We can do this, we can function as a household.