So today I was finally able to work on Cadence's frightened behavior around other dogs. A friend and I went down to our local "nature riverwalk" to walk Cadence and Rudy (miniature pinscher). We started with Rudy walking about 20 yards ahead of me&Cadence. Cadence was not pulling, not shying away, just walking great. I was offering praise (treats&verbal) and we slowwwly got them closer. Well, Cadence enjoy sniffing Rudy's bum and followed him with no problem whatsoever. They even started to walk side by side, the whole time Cadence's tail was wagging high up, ears were relaxed and she was ejoying all the sights, sounds, smells. The ONLY times she reacted, was if Rudy tried to sniff her bum. She absolutely does not like this. Her tail tucks in between her legs and she tries to lunge/sprint away. Another time, Rudy got a bit too close to her face and she made this sort of snarly face. Now, I'm going to explain this as best as I can and it may be hard as I know Cadence's facial expressions as her owner and it may be hard to get the concept for someone who hadn't seen her do this. It was not her normal snarl/baring teeth she does before she snaps or wants us to get away (such as when we try to give her medicine especially for her ears). Its a weird face she makes when she eats something she doesn't like, like when she eats bugs. She makes two different faces but both have a certain "snarly-ness" to them if that makes any sense at all
And when she made the face, she didn't leap BACKWARDS like she would when she was scared of dogs, but rather side to side. My friend had always been around dogs her whole life and worked at a shelter once, and she said she had never seen a dog make this sort of face and it didn't appear to be an aggressive "back off or I will bite you" type face. We also walked by two Boxers, Rudy exchange hello's with them while I put Cadence in a sit and "watch me", and she didn't try to lunge or skimp away from them as we were pretty close to them. Cadence also approached people and let them pet her and sat at their feet while they were stroking her
So I'm pretty sure her fear of people is almost gone.
If anyone can comment/give insight on her behavior when another dog is BEHIND her / sniffing her bum and any on the snarl type face (even though I'm sure it'll be hard to make out any conclusions from how I described it lol) that'd be much appreciated.
We are going to try and do this a few times a week as long as things go smoothly and avoid Rudy getting behind her / too close to her face again.
OH! and her Walkeez came today and fits sooooo much better. The fleece around her shoulders gets a bit loose when she walks (around her shoulders) but it still fits great
