First outing with Greta

[reba]

I walked her down to the high school football game. This was definately a baptism by fire, because I don't think she has ever been around more than one or two people at a time, so we have lots of socializing work to do. She was fine once we made it to the bleachers and I sat down with her. She didn't mind the kids petting her, but she didn't like the little kids running past her. Most kids were very good and asked me before they tried to touch her. She was fascinated by the cheerleaders and watched them intently, watched the band, but she definately did not like walking thru that large of a crowd. We would go a few steps then I would make her sit and that would calm her down, then we would take a few steps and repeat the process. She barked at a baby stroller and I immediately gave her a sharp NO!, of course the guy walking with the lady pushing the stroller said "oh that dog eats little babies", but at 5 months she has never even SEEN a baby stroller before, so since my kids are teenagers I'm going to have to pull the old stroller we still have out of storage and introduce her to it. We got there during 2nd qtr, stayed for half time and left during third qtr, but by the time we walked back thru the crowd with our sit/walk method she was trembling, but not showing any outward fright or aggression, just too many people walking around her. She calmed right down as soon as we got into the parking lot. Unfortunately we only have four home games this year so not much opportunity for socializing in crowds. Basic obedience doesn't start until Oct so until then I need to find something else. I don't want her to be skittish in crowds!

[Birdie'sMom]

The first time I had Birdie at that park we passed a guy with a baby in a baby carrier strapped to his back. Birdie started growling and I could tell the guy thought that she was growling at the baby. I told him that she was actually growling at the baby carrier strapped to his back (she had never seen one before and she had been around babies before without growling -- that's how I knew what she was growling at) But I could tell that the guy didn't believe me. I felt bad that he thought that and I felt bad for Birdie that he would think that she was aggressive like that! People just think what they want to think - they are ignorant!

[DailyDouble]

It could be that you chose to jump from the frying pan into the fire on this one.

You must walk before you can run and jumping into a situation that presents far too much stimuli to an animal that has had little exposure to controled socialization is asking for trouble.

Back up and reassess your dog and what they are able to handle.

Start off slowly with one or two people in new enviornments and during daylight hours and progress from there.

It is not realistic to expect an animal to respond favorably when overwhelmed. Our job is to not overwhelm them.