A Boy and His Dog

He's in BIG trouble. This time it's not Connor though. Instead, it's his "daw-y" (as Connor calls him). He's always been such a social, loving dog, who absolutely LOVES going on walks and hanging out at the dog park, but tonight he showed a totally different side to himself. When you learn why, it's almost kind of sweet. Almost.

It was such a pleasant evening out, we decided to go for a walk. Again, we loaded Connor up in his wagon and hitched a leash on Gunner. All was fine and dandy, until . . . we approached another man walking his dog. As they walked past us, out of the blue Gunner started snarling and barking at the other dog. We had no idea what had gotten into him. Very out of character. He can be hyper (that's the puppy in him), but is also so gentle - wouldn't hurt a flea. So Daddy had a little "chat" with him, demonstrating to him exactly how his choke collar works. We thought everything was okay again, until . . . we let him into the dog park. There was only one other dog in the park, a yellow lab. He came trotting over to greet us. Again, Gunner is a very social dog. He's usually the one wagging his tail at the gate, greeting every other dog coming and going. But this time, as the dog approached, he started snarling and actually went full throttle at the dog, who did the same thing right back. I immediately turned around and hightailed Connor out of the gate. It took Daddy and the other dog's owner both to separate the two dogs. I've never seen Gunner as the aggressor. It was a bit unsettling. The other dog and his owner left the park, so Connor and I went back through the gate to join Daddy and Gunner. Of course Gunner was getting another sound reprimand from Daddy. Before long, a herd of dogs headed towards the dog park (with their owners in tow). As they entered, Gunner greeted him like he usually does. But . . . then they came over to where I was standing with Connor, and he was right there ready to pounce on them. That's when it dawned on me . . . if a dog got too close to Connor, he became aggressive with them. Gunner was merely protecting his pup. I shared my thoughts with Daddy and decided to take Connor over to the playground so Gunner wouldn't have to "protect" Connor anymore. And so we wouldn't keep getting the glaring looks from all the other dog owners. But as Connor and I left the dog park, Gunner went nuts. Whimpering and whining like he was being tortured. He had no interest in playing with the other dogs. Daddy finally left the dog park and joined us at the playground.

Although there was quite a bit of stress with our "relaxing" walk, the evening did end on a good note. Connor had another few firsts - it was the first time at a playground, and he sat in a swing for the first time (but was more interested in watching the girl swinging next to him than the fact that he, himself, was swinging as well). He also went down a slide for the first time. He wasn't quite sure what to think of it at first, but squealed with joy when he realized how fun it was. (Sorry about the video. I forgot I couldn't turn the camera when videotaping, so you're going to have to view it with your head cocked to the side.)

Once we got home, Gunner was banished to his dog run and at least for the time being, his walking and dog park park privileges have been revoked.