Social Problems

Walter’s behavior around other dogs is getting better. He’s only barking and lunging at other dogs some of the time, instead of every time. There are some houses with dogs that we walk by regularly, and before, Walter would try to hang around and start barking. That would lead to the other dogs barking, and then Walter gets noisier. Now, he’ll whimper a little and slow down a little, but keeps moving along.

Cats still drive him nuts. There are a bunch around here, and they seem to be teasing Walter. They just stand there, knowing my dog’s tied to me, so they wait until the last second to run off. I’d try to distract Walter before he gets to that point, but sometimes the cats will be in our only path to the sidewalk.

He tries to chase birds too. Sometimes I want to let him go because I want to see what he’d do with one, but I know he’ll never catch one. I don’t know if he’s trying to catch one or simply chase them away.

One thing I’m glad to see is he’s not timid. I’d rather he wasn’t so brave, but it’s good he’s not afraid to meet dogs and people. He tries to get every dog to play with him at the park. Once in a while, one will snap at him, and he gets the message.

Here’s Walter playing with another new dog.