Most folks who have met Abby will tell you she’s a friendly little dog. Okay, she’s a really, really friendly, attention seeking, gotta be the ‘center of attention’ pain in the a@! sometimes, but that is one of the things about her breed that I was attracted to: Beagles are friendly dogs.
I unwittingly did a major “disservice” to her as a puppy as I did not do my job as alpha pack leader when it came to teaching her the social graces whileamongst other dogs. (To those who don’t have dogs, that’s proper socialization with other dogs and creatures of that ilk.) Some might say I didn’t do a very good job of socializing her with humans as well, as she can be a bit over bearing in her quest for attention. I admit it, I didn’t do much of anything to socialize her with other dogs — Hence:
- She didn’t know the joys of a Doggie Park until well into middle age
- Its hit or miss when she has had forced “play dates” meaning, we were going to someone’s house who also had a dog
- Abby gets along with neutered male dogs better than female dogs (spayed or not) but not by much
- She loves to stay in our backyard, we are not afraid of her hanging outside since the house has a fence from I love dog friendly all around
Oh the horror, and the embarrassment for the both of us. So the outcome of this lack of social skills is that as we are out for our daily constitutional and come upon another dog, Abby displays poor doggie manners.
- She becomes very excited as we approach other dogs (i.e. it’s not “cool” to show too much emotion) by jumping and straining her leash to get to the other dog
- Yips and howls at other dogs as we approach from behind. I guess this
can be construed in some doggie circles as “catcalling” and is a no-no in
upper class circles. - Goes right for the old “butt-sniff” in effect saying “Wazzzz up?”
skipping the more proper “face-sniff” first introduction - Once she has “sniffed” her hello, she has the temerity to then ignore
the “sniffee” and lavish all her cuteness and attention to the other dog’s
human. - Inappropriately sniff’s the other dog’s human for potential snacks –
remember she’s a food hound
So it should come as no surprise that after almost a year in our neighborhood,
her reputation as a poorly mannered, low class dog has become established, and
now she is being snubbed by other dogs as we go for our walks. Just this
morning a Chow “cut” her, meaning she gave her the “persona-non-grata”
look away as our paths crossed. Her owner could not have been more embarrassed
and apologized profusely. Later in the walk, a little Pomeranian walked
right by without so much as look in poor Abby’s direction. What was Abby’s
response to this lack of attention? Did she retreat to her bed when we
got back and sulk? Well, yes and no — she is Queen Abby after all, so
she did go and flop first on my bed, and then reluctantly, when yelled at, go
to her own bed. But, sulk or get depressed? Hardly – she’s
one of those dog’s that knows what ever happened, it’s not her fault or her
problem.
Guess she’s okay with being a low class dog. But I have to wonder, does all this make me a low class human?
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