Yesterday I took Teddy and Torque to the veterinarian for their annual heartworm test. I don’t like to give the preventative year round, so they have to be tested every spring.
Our vet doesn’t have much staff – it’s more like a clinic where you come in, sign in, and wait your turn. I could see, walking up the path to the door, that there was a dog in doorway. It was a medium-sized dog, but it was planted squarely in the entry. And the elderly woman on the other end of the leash had absolutely no control. It started barking the moment it saw my two, and the woman wasn’t strong enough to get it away from the doorway. Fortunately, the vet came to see what the fuss was about and took control, moving the other dog away and into the office, closing the door behind it.
I’m not saying that my two were angels of discipline. When the other dog started barking and and lunging at them, they didn’t react well. But I knew not to approach, got my dogs’ attention, and get them to focus on something else.
If you’re ever in a similar situation, turn your dog away from the cause of the upset. If the dog still won’t pay attention, increase the distance between the distraction and your dog. Keep increasing the distance until your dog “gets its head together.”
It’s not that the dog isn’t allowed to look. They can look. They just can’t bark, lunge, or misbehave. Teddy and Torque, given some distance, were able to glance at the dog and look back at me. And got rewarded with praise and treats for doing the right thing.
Take your cues from your dog. We can’t force them to calm down – it’s contradictory. We can help them regain their composure and adjust to situations. Next time, maybe we can be a little closer and calmer.
