update on sun

Well it has been busy with an addition of Sunshine. Going up to three dogs again has been work...fun work but still work. My husband has decided to help with training and took on the chore of Gus (our rottie). He is now going full time to dog training classes which has always been my thing.

Anyway, a little brag about my little pup...THis is our second week of pet therapy and she is a star! Everyone loves her and she even gets kisses from the busy nurses. I am so happy with my sun. Today she settled right in and cuddled with a few of the residents. And though she is young she seems to know which people need her to be quiet and who need her to be wiggly happy.

We attempted the kid park last week but was mobbed by all the young kids. I want her to be socialized with all people but honestly I was a little worried. One child kept picking her up and almost dropped her on her head even though I told her not to hold her!

Glad to hear that Sun is settling in so well and doing great at her pet therapy classes too!! As for the kids, Hmm, I have drummed it into my kids to NOT touch another dog without asking the owner first, as our cuddle are pretty much bomb/kidproof they assume that all other dogs are the same, parents should be careful before allowing their children to approach a dog and if the owner says "No" for them to realise it is for a reason and not because they are being mean!

go sun, she sounds like a very special girl!

Way to go sun!

She sounds just lovely! What fun to be doing those visits to patients.

On the kids side -- I would probably avoid taking her to where she will be swamped by kids (instead, look for areas where there might be just a few), and when there are children, I always have some cheerful rules they need to follow before they all come running over. These days, I always explain they can only stroke the dog one at a time -- and that they must kneel down or sit because to the dog they are 'giants' (they like this idea and are always happy to crouch or sit, especially if in return they can have the dog on their lap! ). And never, ever, ever let kids pick up and hold a puppy while the child is standing -- they can indeed very easily drop and seriously injure a squirming pup or adult dog as the dog can move in unexpected ways.

I've learned all this the hard way -- Because the city kids in my area often ran for my dogs and swamped them in the way you describe when Jaspar was small and Leo was fairly unsocialised as an older kennel dog, both are VERY afraid of children -- Leo growls and barks at them -- so it is SOOOOO important to socialise the right way, not simply to expose them to kids. Kids while well intentioned do not generally know how to behave around animals these days, they run and grab at them a lot of the time, they chase them because they think it is funny to see them run, and you will need to be the one totally controlling the interactions, for Sunshine's sake. You don;t want to end up like I am with my two boys, having to give them remedial time with kids to try and address a fear they wouldn't have had, if I had understood better how to manage those interactions *very firmly* from the start, with certin kinds of kids.

Funny, I was just talking to my husband about the kids in our area last night. I appreciate our puppy is irresistible to them, but sometimes I get really worried. Kids come over and pick up my puppy without asking or they call him over when they are all the way accross the street. He loves attention, so he would cross the road without looking if I didn't stop him Yesterday there was a little girl on a bike trying to join us on our walk. I had to tell her to leave us alone cause she was all over the place and so was Jordi, I was seriously concerned that he'd end up under her wheels. Plus I don't really want him to think running towards bikes is a good thing. All he could see is that by following the bike he got attention from the little girl. I wish parents were a bit more vigilant and strict with their kids. I know they don't mean any harm, but it's scary all the same...