Where did my tail go?!
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| Me as my alter ego: The Tailless Wonder |
It has been pouring rain all day, so instead of going for a nice long walk with Mom we hung out on the front lawn for about 15 minutes. This is a BIG DEAL because just loitering around on the grass gives me plenty of opportunity to notice scary things and really freak myself out. (See photo above.)
The things that scare me most are strangers, especially men, and loud or strange noises. I don't know if new people are nice or not, so I assume the worst and think they are probably murderers or puppy-kickers. Then before I know it my tail hits my belly, my back legs are quivering, and the whole world is a terrifying place to be. All I want to do is run home, at top speed, where I know I will be safe from the murderous, dangerous puppy-kickers of the world!
Today Mom hooked 3 leashes together to make a long-line lead and attached it to a wide martingale collar. Then she let me just wander around on the lawn, checking things out as I pleased. Every once in a while she would call me over & give me a treat (without tugging or putting any pressure on the lead). Sometimes I had to sit first or jump up like a seal to get the treat. Usually I am too scared to have an appetite outside, so this is a BIG improvement in my level of confidence. Between strangers walking around and someone doing maintenance on an apt. across the lawn, there were a lot of people and noise distractions.
Sometimes when a stranger walked by or there was a loud noise nearby, Mom would call me over & give me a treat. Other times she wouldn't do anything, but if I looked at her she would toss me a treat. I only tried to bolt a couple of times, but the long lead prevented me from actually running away (or running upstairs to our front door). Mom didn't say anything or tug on the lead when this happened. But if I came over to her or looked at her I would get a treat. We were only out there for about 15 minutes and by the end I was not only taking treats & paying attention to Mom when scary stuff happened, but was even a little bit curious about some of the people I saw. Maybe they were just neighbours and maintenance men and not horrible monsters after all!
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| Look Mom, I can touch my belly button with my tail! |
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| Starting to feel slightly more relaxed (see tail for proof!). |
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| Oh no! A scary dude. ...wait... ...maybe he's not THAT scary after all. |
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| TWO scary dudes! Hmm... I think I'm a little bit curious about them... |
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| Wait! Everybody stop! I heard a weird noise!! ...okay, I guess nothing happened. Nevermind! |
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| Happy, relaxed tail! (Partially because Mom said "Upstairs!" but my tail was like this quite a few times this morning. Mom just didn't get any photos for proof, so you'll just have to take my word for it.) |
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| Whew! What a morning! Just call me Lola The Conqueror! So... can I have some more treats now?!?! |
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