I have no pictures of this, which is too bad, but this afternoon I took Sage out to the front lawn where my daughter and her friend Molly were hanging out. I brought some brushes and invited the girls to brush Seiji with me. He lay down in the shade of the maple tree and we all brushed him and fussed over him and talked about his coat. We told him how handsome he was and admired his shiny fur and his soft wooly sides and back legs. He rolled on his back for belly rubs and I told Molly she could brush his belly with the soft rubber curry. Yeaaaahh! He loved that.
After a bit I realized JC was mowing the backyard (noise!) and Alan was mowing next door (NOISE!) and Mike was mowing across the street, (Noiiiise!!) but our hero remained cool and blissed out with all the attention. Three lawmowers going! That’s darn good for Reacto-Dog.
He also succeeded when we took a walk post-storm to kindof shake our sillies out last night. He is autochecking with me on barking unseen dogs very well, visible dogs not so good yet, but since I have arranged his life around him not having to deal with things he can’t handle yet, we don’t see any. As we headed home, though, our neighbor Kathy came out and Sage immediately planted himself on her lawn. We’re not going anywhere until I visit Kathy, Mom.
She came over and Sage did a great job of keeping his paws off, but bending himself around and smiling and wagging at her. In turn Kathy was cheerful to him and we stood around talking for ten minutes, Sage lying down like a sphinx (his idea) the whole time. Me getting bitten by mosquitoes, but so happy with Sage’s calmness that I don’t want to drag him away.
When Paul came out, Sage stood up alert and unsure and I remembered that Sage can be afraid of some unfamiliar men in some circumstances, but I also remembered my Suzanne teachings, and I stepped just slightly in front of Sage before he had a chance to think much about it. It also happened that Paul moved lightly and casually and did not come near Sage. So Sage did not grumble, and I did not encourage them to get closer together and interact. Sage knew I was going first. The situation occurred at a pace where I could remember my training and enact a very human-subtle but dog-powerful piece of it, in time to cut Sage from even feeling fearful. So often things happen too fast…
I did not even LOOK at Sage for a second. I spoke with Kathy and Paul, who is softspoken and did not address Sage directly (important!) and when I felt Sage shift, I looked back and saw him sit, and he looked up at me, and I gave him a morsel from my pocket and told him good boy in a gentle voice. We chatted for a minute more and then said good bye and I took Sage home. Must end successfully! All incidents are not that successful, but it felt really nice to have that one work out so well. Money in his reaction bank.
