Wild Child
The day began early and not even bright yet with Zoe, who hadn’t been by since before Christmas! Believe me, we missed her. I often call her a wild child, but she only is every now and then. Well, every day, but not all the time. She’s a lot like Lexi, or rather Lexi is a lot like her. Unfortunately, this means they can’t be put together, they target on each other and not in a playful way and it only takes half a second for things to get out of hand.
Zoe is very people affectionate, but she can be unpredictable with new dogs. Dogs you’d think would deal with her fine don’t
and dogs you’d expect her to hate she’s fine with. She has legs of steel, and can jump over our six foot fence, so now there’s a wire run around three sides, and an additional foot of board over the fence between the two yards. Fortunately she doesn’t seem interested enough in the rest of the world to try the wire-lined part.
Zoe was the first dog I bonded with, because she led me to a major growth as a daycare attendant. I call her a wild child for a reason, she likes to play, she likes to play rough, she’s an energizer bunny and she’s persistent. Not all of the attendants before me could handle her, so when I first met her she was typically put with one dog or by herself and usually in the far room, which is closed off from the other two. When she was brought in with the others, sometimes she was put into the crate, or a leash was kept on her. I was taught that she wasn’t entirely safe with the other dogs; she had to be controlled, effectively repressed.
My first day with her by myself, I had a lovely moment of curiosity and took the leash off her. When she started to tumble with Eva, I just watched and magic happened. She just wanted to play, she only sounded dangerous because she growled. It wasn’t even really g
rowling, she was talking to the other dogs, and Eva talked back. That was the first time I saw Eva open up and play with another dog, too. In the next couple of weeks she had an amazing turn around, she listened much better and I’ve only put a leash on her once since then, and it was only for a few minutes while a new dog explored the yard without her up his butt.
I couldn’t say she’s a perfect dog, she still jumps and body slams the gate, she antagonizes reactive dogs like Lexi and Abby and she’ll people-steal if another dog is getting attention. But she taught me to pay attention to what a dog wants to do, rather than what I might think they ought to do.
Quick rundown: Today is my last day doing both jobs, at least for now. Hooray! Wednesday I embark on an out of state trip to see my mother and brother for ten days. TEN whole days! I have no idea what my update schedule will be like, I intended to post every work day. My mom does have three dogs, though, so you may become familiar with them very soon!
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