The First Day of School

On the first day of class at Prestigious Pup, Prince and I were the first ones to arrive.  The only individual at the outbuilding that was used for classes was one of the two instructors, and after I had identified who we were, he suggested I show him some of the things Prince already knew.  I told Prince to sit, and he stared at me as if he had never heard the command in his life.

"Well, he does it at home," I said, somewhat humiliated.

The instructor merely stared at me skeptically.

I soon found out why.  Moments later, his fellow instructor came into the building, with four dogs walking in a perfect line behind her.  When she paused and pointed, all four of them marched into their dog kennels,turned around once and lied down.

Prince appeared as fascinated by this phenomenon as I was.  He was not, however, fascinated enough to be quiet.  A spate of hysterical barking began, which increased in intensity and volume as the other dogs and their owners began to enter the building.

"Prince, no," I ordered...to no avail.  Blushing furiously, I pulled him to the back of the room, where a couple with two beautiful Gordon Setters was seated.  Prince barked at them, too,but the dogs didn't seem to mind.  They both just wagged their tails.

"I'm so sorry," I whispered to the owners.

"Never mind," the woman told me, reassuringly.  "He's gorgeous."

I feebly thanked her and pulled him away.  Little did I know that I was only at the beginning of what was going to be one of the most humiliating nights of our lives.

Prince Enrolls in Obedience School

After befriending Max and Jack, Prince was positive that every dog he happened to encounter was a potential friend in the making.  Each time an unsuspecting dog walker would pass by, Prince would gallop over to greet them, barking joyously, and race back and forth to try to reach the dog as it passed by.  Unfortunately, most people were somewhat taken aback by the sight of a 100 plus pound German Shepherd racing toward them, spraying dirt onto them liberally, and would hurry on their way instead of pausing to make his acquaintance...in spite of the fact that their dogs, no matter how small they were, never appeared to be intimidated by him in the least.  Some of them even tried to nip at him through the fence.

With the aim of socializing Prince further and calming his overly exuberant reaction to other dogs, I subsequently decided that obedience school might be a good option for him.  I had taken my old dog, Trevor, to obedience school years ago, and while it never really addressed any of his behavioral issues (or made him like other dogs), it was a good opportunity for socialization for him.  With that in mind, I signed Prince up for the "Prestigious Pup School."

"My brother knows the people who run that," my boyfriend told me.  "You should ask him about them."  So I did, even though I had already decided to take Prince.

My boyfriend's brother was somewhat less than enthused.  "Their dogs are like robots," he said.

"Well, I'm really just taking him for socialization," I said.  "Not to really train him."

"Oh.  Okay.  Well, that might work," he said, somewhat doubtfully.  I didn't pursue it further...but in retrospect, I really wish I had.

Max and Jack Part 2

When Prince was around 1 year of age, Jack disappeared.  He snapped his leash and ran into the park near our house, and although his young owner looked for him everywhere, even checking with the local humane societies, he never could find him.  I hope that he was picked up by somebody who loved him so much that they didn't want to return him.

After that, Max became the top dog of his household, and his attitude quickly changed.  Many times when Prince and I would pass by on our daily walk, he would try to attack Prince, which Prince mostly ignored.  One day, though, Max actually hurled himself at him... at which time Prince responded with such a threatening growl that Max quickly backed off.  He never attacked Prince again, but would often bark at him and snarl when we passed by.

Other times, oddly enough, Max would seem happy to see Prince and occasionally even followed him and licked him.  I think a lot of it might have depended on how things were going for Max that day.  His young owner left him with his father, and Max wasn't nearly as happy as he had been before.  A lot of times he was left to roam loose and would often go past our house (causing Prince to erupt in hysterical joy).  Other times, we wouldn't see him for days or even weeks.

Eventually, Max was gone, too...his new owner moved away, and Max was supposed to be going with him.  I hope he's still with him.  Every time I pass the house where he lived, I think about him...and so does Prince.  Even now, after Max has been gone for a year, he still strains at the leash when we get near "Max's house" and always pauses to look around and sniff for him.  I always say, "Max is gone, Prince," but obviously he doesn't understand, because he still looks for him every single time that we walk past.

Max and Jack - Part 1

When I took Prince to the vet for the first time, she told me the most important thing I could do to make sure he turned out to be a well-adjusted dog was to socialize him.  According to her, and to various articles that I read, this meant introducing him, at a young age, to as many unfamiliar people, places and animals as possible.  Since the last large male dog I had owned had absolutely hated other dogs (except for those that he lived with) I considered it crucially important that Prince meet as many other dogs as possible.  I also wanted him to have other dogs to play with, and since my other dogs were too small...and too afraid of him...I solicited the help of a neighbor.

The young man who lived three houses away from me had two large, young dogs...a Westie/Labrador mix named Max, and a Siberian Husky named Jack.  One day when I was talking to him, I asked him if he would like to bring them by to play with Prince, and he immediately agreed.

Unfortunately, Max and Jack's idea of playing was not the same as Prince's.  He thought they were there to run around the yard, chase the ball, sniff each other and maybe wrestle a bit.  Max thought he was there to dominate Prince by constantly mounting him, and Jack thought he was there to help Max get Prince.  After a couple of rounds of this, I decided Prince would be better off inside...but I continued to walk Prince by the yard where they were on a fairly regular basis, and allow them all to sniff each other.

Max and Jack's owner would tie them to the front of his bike and let them pull him through the park while he pedaled ( he said it took about 15 minutes to go a mile) and each time they would go by, Prince would go into hysterics and try to follow them.  I think he almost saw them as his pack and wanted to join in the fun.  Nothing excited him as much as seeing Max and Jack, at any time, in spite of their almost off-handed acknowledgement of him.  Unfortunately, they didn't feel quite the same way.