Ever since Chandler began to show a tendency for hindquarter strains and injuries related to his loose hips, I've been cautious about taking him to dog parks, despite his sociability. There is always the chance that a more assertive dog will make him over-accelerate or just plain not allow him to stop. These outings pretty much ceased when he reached his second birthday and his natural bossy English Shepherd nature started blossoming. There was just too much risk that he'd try to be the "fun police" and get himself in past his abilities; you never know what's going to walk in through the gate at a dog park.
Because of this most of his canine social outings have been with smaller groups of my friends and their trained and socialized dogs. Both of the Whippets in Chan's nosework class are quite nice, so I've slowly been letting him play with them. Being light, they also essentially rebound off him even if they collide. Last week, I quickly removed Chan when I thought he was getting a bit too bossy. This week my smart boy did not even try to herd Whippets.
First on the scene here is Skyler. His sister Volley arrives later and takes full advantage of her female prerogative to leap all over the boys. Skylar's owner is the one busily praising Chan for polite play. Please excuse my chuckling in the background. ;)
No comments:
Post a Comment