Is Santa here yet?
Some of you may or may not know that Loki has a case of what I call the "Alphagettis" so I'm delighted to take any opportunity to introduce him to new dogs. He is great with small dogs but some larger furfriends he can be insecure around. He compensates for this by growling and/or barking. Sometimes he'll whimper-whine when passing other dogs. He usually displays this type of behaviour when he comes upon dogs that are extremely high energy, show any signs of their own alphagettis, or are off leash who come running up to him when he's on leash. Like any person, he prefers a neutral introduction. Knowing little about his Doberdog past, it leads me to believe he was perhaps challenged by other dogs at some point.
When he displays this type of "Alpha"behaviour we correct him and reintroduce him to the new dog(s). It's great when the other dog owners are accomodating and allow us the chance to do so. He calms right down once he realizes "Ok, New Dog, you're not so bad, I'm still the best, but you're ok" He's been getting SO much better. With every new introduction, I'm seeing a huge difference.
All of the above being said, none of my close friends have kids yet, but a lot of us have Adopted dogs over the past year. It's especially fun when we bring the Muttley Crew together. Loki really enjoys being with the dogs, they all get along so well! It's an accidental spectacle when we all walk down the street, "Pack Walk" style.
We decided to fill our thermoses and head down with the furchildren to the Help Santa Toy Parade.
After the big red guy made his rockstar appearance, the Muttley Crew went for a play.