Wednesday, April 15, 2015

New Puppy

Theres a new puppy in the neighborhood - a teeeeny tiny, very young golden retriever. Only 8 weeks old, and he already knows how to "sit" and "stay" in two languages. And he has adorable blue-grey eyes.

I'm trying to make sure Theo is around him as much as possible. Theo is *terrified* of other dogs.  We have no clue what his past was like, but its clear he's had some bad run ins with other dogs bigger than him.  But he understands to concept of babies and so I feel like he should be able to get comfortable around a puppy, and then be less afraid of it when the puppy turns into a giant, goofy, full grown, golden retriever.

Theo's reaction is a weird combination of wiggling with happiness and excitement, and defensive barking.  Its like each half of his brain understands "puppy" and  "OMG OTHER DOG DANGER! BARK! BARK! BARK!"  and he hasn't been able to put those two thoughts together yet into a logical whole. But we're working on it.

Baby steps, Theo.  Baby steps.