Positive Outcomes

Something bad happened.  But it had a good outcome and I want to write about it.  

The first several days Jackie was with us, she was in the living room minding her business when Rosco decided to have a grumpy grandpa moment.  In response to what he perceived as Jackie being too close to one of his plush toys, Rosco jumped on her snarling and snapping.  

In that moment my heart stopped— I had been being so vigilant with the introductions and managing the environment to assure something just like this would not occur.  Sometimes, in spite of all the managing and planning, you just happen to have luck on your side. That and a very good Border collie.  Jackie took the high road, calmly turning aside and loosely walking away, yielding the space and the toy (which she hadn’t even been interested in at that moment) to Rosco.  It allowed me to step in and diffuse Rosco. Jackie could easily have escalated the situation and retaliated, and with her age and size advantage over Rosco it could have been ugly.  

A credit to Jackie’s good nature and my sheer luck, Jackie chose to do the right thing.  It may be that she is still so new in the environment, but I’m hopeful it is an indication of emotional intelligence.  Time will tell but in the meantime I am taking no chances and continuing to manage the situation and work with Rosco to reduce resource-guarding behavior.

Today, several days after the Rosco grumpy episode, Jackie unintentionally met another neighborhood doodle.  (My neighborhood is seemingly full up with doodles.  I’m not sure what that says about me, and I’ll reserve my opinions about doodles to myself for the moment. To be fair my neighborhood also has goats, roosters, and horses so that's encouraging.) We were working on reinforcing voluntary behavior around the water when the very competent-swimming doodle swam across the entire river and right up to our more secluded beach area to say hello.  To his credit he was friendly, though a bit boisterous. I had several moments to prepare for his approach as we watched him swim easily across the river— I admit I was impressed with his swimming prowess.

Of course the doodle was instantly interested in Jackie.  She politely sideways-sniffed him, but he started being over-exuberant so she offered a low growl to let him know enough was enough.  I was able to easily change the subject and by then the doodle’s walker had called him back (many of the neighborhood dogs are out with their dog-nannies, which works in my favor since these career dog-walkers have proven to be dog-savvy and understand canine body language, and the importance of controlling their wards). So it was another good outcome for Jackie, and I’m grateful she stands up for herself but has the good sense not to escalate anything beyond a growl.  Yes of course it is up to me to protect my dog and ensure constructive circumstances, but it is reassuring knowing my dog is actively trying to be helpful.

Pearls:

• Always stack the cards in your favor, but sometimes you just need a little luck in spite of everything
• A savvy, well-adjusted emotionally intelligent dog is a godsend
• It's proven very helpful to have a good number of perspicacious dog trainers in the immediate neighborhood; so far interactions with neighborhood dogs have gone very well

The trail on our less-trafficked side of the river leading to a beach we can swim by ourselves for now:

In the morning hours during weekdays, the dog crowd on the river tends to be well versed in good behavior etiquette, which I very much appreciate.  I've been impressed with the level of education most of the neighborhood dogs display: