My dogs are both very sweet and very playful, with a lot of energy. The similarities end there…Someone already mentioned on this blog that you don’t get the dog you want; you get the dog you need, and that is true! Sass turned out to be the opposite from the type of dogs I grew up with: he was very timid as a pup and took time to warm up. He also did not show much affection, so I was convinced after a while that he did not like me much. I was thinking that he would be a great therapy dog as he got older, because he looks like a stuffed animal, and kids love him. Once he turned a year old, his energy level increased dramatically, and it became obvious that therapy work was not his forte. I can picture the IV’s flying….. Agility is his favorite thing!If he gets scared of something, he runs in the opposite direction. Hence the term “flight”.As crazy as he can be, he is also the opposite. I have travelled with him and left him alone in the hotel room, and he just sleeps calmly in his bed. He can be tied outside a cafe or store and shows no signs of anxiety. I have learned a lot from him, and I now understand his small gestures and how he does show affection. Every morning he comes outside to sit next to me when I drink my coffee. He leans toward my leg and we sit there together for a while. That’s his way of saying “I like you”.It has become clear that he is much more poodle than labrador, which is very funny to me, since I expected the opposite. I’m as far away as you can get from being a poodle person, and I don’t have ANY previous experience with that breed.
Then came Princess. She, on the other hand, looks a lot more confident, but that is not the case. She gets nervous and anxious if exposed to situations she is not used to. She shows TONS of affection, and her favorite moment is when I lie down next to her on her dog bed for some cuddle time!
The second week of having her, we took a trip to the dog beach. That was a nightmare and the very first time I saw her behave like a lunatic. Sass loves the water and was happily running around off leash. Princess, on leash, was attacking the water. I was flying after her, trying to calm her down, and was completely confused about this outburst of hers.
A few weeks later, we went to the Sequioas. She did the exact same thing when we reached the river on our hike: she attacked the water, trying to bite it. So I was thinking that it was moving water that would set her off, but I quickly learned that I was wrong. The third incident was the vacuum cleaner, which is when I had my “Ah-ha!” moment. When she attacked the vacuum cleaner, I got it. That is what SHE does when she gets scared of something. No “flight” for Princess! Now one year later, I can pretty much bump into her with the vacuum cleaner. And she calmly walks in to the river to enjoy a foot bath on our hikes, which shows me that all her fears can be resolved with work and repetitive exposure.
She will also mirror other dogs. If they are sweet, so is she; if they react, so does she. I have never seen any sign of aggression in her. Lori said the perfect thing one day when she was telling me about another dog in her kennel. She described the dog’s posture and reaction to other dogs as, “I can do SOMETHING! (Even if I don’t exactly knowing what to do…)” That is exactly what Princess looks like when she “puffs up” around a reactive dog. Sass on the other hand, runs the opposite direction and makes himself in to prey.
Taking the two of them to the Vet to get shots was a heart warming experience. As Sass was up on the table to get his shot, he yelped, and it made Princess so worried that she tried to jump up on the table to get to him. Then the vet took Princess to a back room for a skin scraping, and Sass would not settle down. When Princess came back to us a few minutes later, he licked her entire face. When Princess and I did the CGC test, Sass was with us. Princess got anxious in the new environment and as soon as we completed the test and we started walking towards Sass, she could not wait to get over there and be close to him.
They are an odd couple, but they love each other like brother & sister.
My dogs, being so different, are teaching me a lot about different canine behavior, and I could not love them more!