Gal Goes to the Village.....

Yesterday I took my little Gal to Cocoa Village for the second time. I was really pleased in two areas the first time I took her earlier in the week. She loves people of all shapes and sizes which is so critical to a well balanced dog. The other thing I was really happy about was that she showed really good dog to dog body language and was more than happy to interact with any dog that she came in contact with but not overly friendly so as to be rude like some puppies I have had.

Those were the good things.....then of course we discovered her weakness which I wasn't surprised about. Well as most of you know, Gal is a country dog and is not used to city sounds so she just wanted to crawl in a hole when she heard the cars and trucks going by so close to the sidewalk. Yikes! She kept pulling on the leash and sitting on my feet trying to feel like she was safe from the big motorized monsters that seemed to be everywhere! Both times we simply kept moving forward, hoping to quickly find a place that she felt more comfy like in the outdoor cafe on Brevard Avenue. It is a good place for people who have dogs to bring their canine friends and socialize. I don't think I have ever gone to this place without meeting someone else with a friendly dog. Of course I wanted to make sure that ANY dog she met with was truly friendly and would provide a positive experience for my little friend at her tender age of 13 weeks.

It is vitally important that our pups get as much exposure in a positive way to as many types of places and meet as many types of people and other dogs as we can before they turn 16 weeks so I have really been pushing it to wait this long to take her to town. Anyone who knows me realizes that home is where my heart is and I hate to make the trips to town to socialize my dogs so I put it off as long as I could but now was the time, it HAD to be done!! Ha!

I was pleasantly surprised to meet a young couple with two friendly dogs at the outdoor cafe. So I grabbed something to eat and pushed my way into the life of two young people with their dogs. They seemed to be there for the same reason so I introduced myself and our dogs. The friendliest dog they had was the cutest package of muscle and bone! She was an English Bull Dog/Beagle Mix!! I simply loved her. She had all the cuteness of the English Bull Dog without the smashed face and malfunctioning sinus cavities. She had Beagle ears and no tail. Her owner said she was so excited to meet other dogs that she wouldn't stop pulling so he brought her to visit with my little girl.

Their other dog was an adult female Pit Bull. She seemed a little more serious than the bull dog so I was just a little more watchful when they met. For some reason her owner seemed really concerned about what she would do so I asked him what he was afraid his dog would do to my pup. He was concerned that she would mount the puppy and cause a fight. I assured him that if his dog mounted Gal, she wouldn't try to start a fight with his dog. Gal is a well socialized puppy (except for the car thing) and that would have seemed like normal behavior to her. She isn't old enough to get growly over a little mounting. Besides the Pit was so big she could have mounted her on all fours. Anyway, all went well. The Pit never mounted Gal. They got along really well. Turns out that the young man is an aspiring dog trainer! He was trying to figure out where to get started. I, having been there myself, was just the person for him to talk to so we got along really well. We sat and talked for quite some time. I gave him my card and hopefully we will meet again soon to socialize and train our dogs. Having help socializing is really important. It also makes it easier to train a dog who is maybe, overly friendly as well. Bull dogs are such muscle machines that some dog owners are too afraid to get their dogs near one. Understandable given all the horror stories you hear but what is a bull dog owner to do??

Gal sat there visiting with the Pit Bull and finally we walked to the car. I was really pleased that my Gal was very relaxed on the way back to the car. She didn't seem to notice the cars at all. That was the original purpose of my trip so MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! I think the next time we go to the village, probably today, she will be much less worried about the cars and trucks. I want to build on this as soon as possible so that she can get over this care thing. I will also play with her next to my own car at home with the motor running with her on a leash so she can't run away from the scary motor sounds.

A little background on why my dogs tend to get that way about cars. We live in a rual area on 2 and a half acres far away from the main road. The intire property is fenced around the parimiter. We drive our cars inside the gate to park in the car port. Sometimes the dogs will go under the cars to rest and get cool. When they are puppies they often won't come out when we call so we have to turn on the car to make them uncomfortable enough to leave their comfy spot. So at our place cars that are running are things to stay clear of. We always have to take them to town and sit on a bench to watch the cars go by and get them used to the sound of moving vehicles so that they can realize that cars in the street have nothing to do with them when they are on a leash in the Village. Every home situation is different so each family has it's own challenges. I am very happy to say that I think we are making jolly good progress against this fear of Gal's! Country dogs in the city!!!!