Prince and the Neighborhood Dogs

After recovering from my disappointment over Liesel's less than enthusiastic reaction to her brother, I decided Prince would have to be socialized via exposure to other dogs.  I therefore returned to the park where I had originally walked him as a pup, but this time I made sure he got plenty of exposure to the dogs that lived along the edge of it.

Of the five people who lived next to the park, four had dogs.  One was an older retriever mix who simply ignored Prince whenever he barked at her.  Next door to her was a female German Shepherd, mostly tan, whom I nicknamed "Blondie."  She would bark at Prince furiously whenever we passed by (although not nearly as excitedly as Prince barked at other dogs).  Sometimes Prince would bark back at her, but mostly he just stared at her in fascination.  I figured he had a crush on her.

At the next house was a small white fuzzy dog that actually got along with Prince famously.  While "Blondie" shrank away if Prince got too close to her yard, "Little White Dog" would come right up to the fence, sniff and lick him, and even wag his tail at me.  I was so taken by him, I thought of going to his owners and asking if I could take him home with me.

At the top of the hill, there were several small dogs...and one very large Old English Sheepdog.  As soon as it saw us coming, it would begin tearing up and down the fence line, and as we got closer to it, would begin to bark furiously.  This was the dog that excited Prince the most.  As soon as we saw it, he would begin dashing up the hill, barking back at it, dragging me behind him.  The only positive thing about it was that I was able to get up the hill much more easily than I would have otherwise.

In spite of his excitement, Prince actually was somewhat familiar with these dogs, and eventually calmed down...somewhat...when he saw them.  The dogs we encountered in the park were a completely different matter, probably because he had never seen them before and they took him by surprise.  As soon as he saw them, he would begin barking hysterically, and then would try to take off across the road in an attempt to meet them (to their owners' dismay).

Our most memorable encounter was with a very large and handsome Great Dane whose owner happened to come walking the opposite way toward us one Sunday morning.  As soon as she saw us, she stopped uncertainly and called out to me.

"He doesn't do well with other dogs!" she said.  "Maybe I should just turn around and go back."

"It's all right," I said (foolishly).  "I've got him.  Let's try to pass each other quickly."

 She began walking toward us at a brisk pace, her Great Dane glowering at Prince.  In response, Prince began barking loudly and straining toward him, pulling so hard that I had to grab onto a sapling to keep from being pulled across the road.  Meanwhile, the Great Dane passed by us in an almost condescending manner.

"Don't feel bad!" she called, when they were safely out of range.  "It's just the puppy in him!"

It was a comment I was to hear over and over again.  Meanwhile, poor Prince was still without a friend...but that was about to change.