Thursday, April 22, 2010

The First Step is Admitting You Have a Problem

Almost a month has passed since Logan came home to live with us. In this time we have become very attached to each other. He follows me all over the house, he only takes orders from me and not my husband (which I must admit I rather enjoyed watching my husband get so frustrated, because you could not tell him that he wasn't the Dog Whisperer). Logan claimed the sofa as his own from day one, now he was sleeping in the bed with us. I confess the bed thing was my fault, I invited him and from that point he felt he had an open invitation. Logan had the run of the house. But all of this was fine, because he was still a very sweet dog who loved to give affection. But then we had to go outside.

Logan aka Leonidas

At the moment he stepped over the threshold from our house to the outside world, a transformation took place. He was no longer Logan, lovable lap dog. He became Leonidas (you know-from the movie 300), conqueror of all, destroyer of any dog who dare cross his path. He would smell the scent of a dog in the air and begin to pant and whine. (But please understand, at this time I am not paying attention to this behavior. I thought everything was okay. My ignorance was pure bliss). Logan proceeds to drag me down four flights of stairs to make it to the door that leads outside. Then he proceeds to drag me through the door and up two more flights of concrete stairs to reach the doggy poop pad. Now the excitement begins.

Oh look, another dog for Logan to play with, what fun! So the barking, whining, pulling, and lunging ensues. And I yell to the other owner, "Don't worry, he just gets really excited!" The entire time the other dog, a full grown Boxer, is looking at Logan like he has lost his mind while trying to get behind his owner. But dumb me, I'm still thinking he just wants to play. After about 20 other instances of the same behavior, I began to wonder did he really want to play? He came from a rescue home with about 10 other dogs and he got along well with all of them. So he just missed his doggy friends and wants to play. I mean, it was the only possible explanation. Right? So I began to research dog behavior. Words like aggression and reactive kept popping up. But this can't apply to my dog. He is so sweet. And I have been telling everybody how sweet and non-aggressive he is. Besides, I know how to handle my dog. I watch the Dog Whisperer and It's Me or the Dog. I know what to do! I CANNOT be WRONG!! But the reaction to other dogs began to get worse and worse. So we decided to call a trainer who specializes in dog aggressive dogs. And this is where our journey begins.

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