When Dog Meets Dog
So, Glindy and I ran into a problem
tonight at Starbucks. Some woman was sitting outside with several
dogs off-leash, one of whom came running up to us to check Glindy
out. The woman shouted "Oh, she's friendly!" which was totally
beside the point.
The point, of course, is that the dog was not under control, and I
had no idea how Glindy would react. While normally a very friendly
and outgoing dog--she's wildly popular with the other dogs at day
care--she's certainly been known to be assertive when other dogs
invade her space.
This is the dilemma: if I pull Glindy away from the other dog, the
pull may act as a correction, and thereby trigger leash aggression
because it seems to her like the correction comes from the presence
of the other dog. On the other hand, if I don't pull her
away, I run the risk that one or the other of them will start
something, even though both are (theoretically) friendly dogs--and
mine is the only one wearing a leash.
I'm not really sure which is the greater risk: acting or not
acting. What I did tonight was to pull Glindy away, and then stood
off the other dog by claiming the space around me. My split-second
decision was based primarily on wanting Glindy to trust me to
resolve the issue instead of taking matters into her own paws, but
I'm not at all confident that I did the right thing. When Glindy
was straining on the leash to reach the other dog--most likely for
a good sniff--I pulled her back and got a surprisingly negative
reaction out of her, presumably because the tug was associated with
the oncoming dog.
Life is full of complicated choices. I'm trying hard not to
second-guess myself about this evening, but I definitely need a
better plan for the future.