So, you'd think I'd be a dog park expert and love all the other dogs, right? Well, not exactly. It is a little complicated. Other dogs make me get all tingly and make my body feel funny and bark bark bark. It would be pretty easy after a few FAILED attempts to take me in public around other dogs that my mom would just have me look for a home where I'd be an ONLY animal. But, my mom saw how much I loved my siblings and she said we were going to work on it. I am not sure either of us knew what "it" was but she kissed me and said we'd try.
So, my mom and her friend did some desensitization excersizes. De-sense-a-what? All I know is this meant that when dogs walked by I got peanut butter from a tube. Works for me. My mom and her trainer friend said that if I was scared of dogs this would help me associate dogs with good yummy things. The good news is THIS WORKED. Very quickly, almost too quickly, I could care less if a dog was nearby as long as I get peanut butter. Even when the PB was gone, the expectation was enough to make me not care a dog was nearby. So, my mom and her friend let me play with the other dogs. Sometimes it worked, other times it didn't.
Why? Because my mom and her friend said I SUCK at playing. I don't care how the other dog wants to play, I don't know how to ask to play, I just play in their face like a dipshit. This is probably because I didn't play with dogs or have a mom my first months of life and because my foster siblings are so easy-going after years of hosting other foster dipshits like me.
So, instead of my mom thinking I am afraid of other dogs they now think that maybe I have what they call an AROUSAL problem. That tingly feeling might not be fear but arousal or excitement I don't know how to control. So, my mom continues to work on desensitization.
This weekend is a good example. My mom met a rescue transport and then helped bring new saved doggies to their foster home. There was one dog who didn't have a foster home so my mom said he could stay with us. She said he might be a good training buddy since my mom called him a DOOFUS. I think that is because he is happy, and silly, and doesn't get aroused with other dogs. (I wish I was like him).
So, my mom helped me hang out near to him without me getting all bothered by it. We still haven't played yet but I like to hang near his crate and sniff each other and I don't even get all tingly. See these pictures? The doofus is in his crate and I am nearby and don't even care.
My mom says if I "cool-my-jets" then maybe I can try playing with him later. He does seem like such a doofus that maybe it'll be fun? My mom also says that while I'd make a great only animal that maybe my forever home could have another dog who is super chill like my siblings Minnie and Ellery? Maybe.
PS: The Doofus' name is Odie is he is available for adoption, too. Check him out at www.dogsxlrescue.org. He is a really pretty and nice doofus.
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