Moment of truth for Covid dogs. They too have been home since last spring. They have never been alone. All day long they are curling under desks, getting lots of walks, and slipped treats. They have been trained to ignore zooms, move from room to room all day while never having to deal with strangers in the house.
Our recue Covid dog Rosie has had it good. She loves Stephie and always has her in sight. She takes turns with the boys at night, curling up close while they sleep.. Rosie has not been warming up to me. She is fine when I walk her if someone else gets her on the leash. She will let me pet her - but only if I am horizontal and Stephie is in the room. I give her lots of treats and have been so gentle around her. It is not working.
We hired a dog walker/trainer to help with the coming days when Rosie also needs adjust to school being back in person. Yesterday was the trainers first day. When when she brought Rosie back to the house she spelled out what I should do, “I.G.N.O.R.E her” I don’t like IGNORING live beings in my house.
There is some history of ignoring people in my house. My father owned a construction company an hour away when I was growing up. He ate at the same Italian restaurant every single day, as well as many of his employees. When it came time for the owner of the restaurant to remodel his place, he chose another contractor. My father was upset, but it is the way he dealt with it that I remember, He told the owner, “I will not set foot in your restaurant for 5 years. No one who works for me will either. After 5 years I will walk in like nothing ever happened.” And so it was. My father kept his deal, and I’m sure he was happy to eat there after the time elapsed.
I now think the lesson I was taught was to avoid conflict at all costs. Clever methods to avoid conflict were encouraged. Waiting it out was a strategy not an avoidance. I was not competitive in the real sense since I never thought of beating anyone except for myself. Most of the time I held the only camera in the room.
Cease and desist are not a call to action. “I can do this better than you” does not motivare me. IGNORING our dog is bad energy. Especially since she is always checking me out. I don’t like wearing blinders. We need to be friends, even if we can’t really answer that question we get asked on every walk, “What kind of dog is Rosie?”
