Well our neighbours who owned the lovely Zelda (RIP) have moved. New people have moved in, and they have a dog. Yay, I thought! Maybe Simba has not lost a next-door playmate after all!! It is some kind of mixed breed, hard to say exactly what but perhaps some Border collie, some lab, some who knows what. They have had a few fence encounters, with Simba rushing up to greet the newcomer (we have a chain link, so the dogs can see eachother) to he greeted by a very aggressive response from the dog. Although a little disheartened, I know that sometimes fences make bad neighbours when it comes to dogs so yesterday when I saw one of the people out on the deck (with the dog) I went over with Simba, but same response, the dog (a female) was really quite aggressive though the deck barrier. The girl I spoke to is the owners girlfriend, and she didn't know much about the dog but I suggested maybe sometime we could introduce the dogs across the street in the park to get away from territorial issues. I also suggested maybe the dog was a bit unsettled from the move, they have only been there since the beginning of July. Today I left the house for our after lunch walk, with Simba on lead, and of course right at that exact same time they also opened their door and their dog got ou and came running over and with no warning that I could see suddenly attacked Simba. I dropped the lead to give Simba some room to manoeuvre but I wasn't about to get in the middle of it, too chicken! Thankfully the owner was right behind the dog and basically tackled it and got her off poor Simba. He is fine, and didn't seem too phased by it....wouldn't you know it but as we continued on our walk we came across an off lead dog (which very rarely happens here) and they had a companionable sniff and separated with no fuss. So he doesn't seem to have lost confidence around other dogs, anyway. Neighbours were very apologetic, and once they were separated their dog calmed down and he wanted to bring her closer to Simba again while he held her collar but I declined as restrained dogs tend to be more aggressive and I didn't want her to go after Simba again. Yeesh. Just can't get a break for poor Simba in the nice neighbourly dogs department....
Oh Lisa,I'm glad you've let us know,I saw you mention that there had been an incident over on Monty's thread.Bet it gave you a fright ,even though you'd seen the signs through the fence ,you still stay optimistic that it can be alright in a different set of circumstances ...it doesn't seem like it will be though does it? It would be lovely for Simba to have a doggie pal but you know what, I know that he is perfectly happy with his life,he doesn't know any different and when he does get the chance to have a meet and greet with another dog,he always deals with it really well.I' m glad an opportunity to do just that arose straight away. Safe to say ,that although he will never meet them Simba has got lots of friends around the world x I hope your neighbour has learned to be more careful opening the door now though and letting the dog just charge out ...... X
Oh no, poor Simba - what a shame too but it sounds like the new neighbour dog is to be avoided unfortunately. On the up side though, for all Simba doesn't have a huge amount of play mates, he does seem very well adjusted himself around other dogs, so overall something's gone right for him.
Poor Simba he just can't catch a break on the doggy friend front......maybe his new doggie neighbour will mellow! Fingers crossed!
A nasty experience for both you and Simba, hopefully things will improve once the new dog becomes more used to her new territory and having Simba living next door. Good to know that Simba was unphased by the incident though - he's such a good boy. Juno would love to be friends with him - she loves all the boys
Thinking the same thing. Really hopes the dog next door can settle in, not sure it sounds like they can be buddies though...
Yes, well, we will try to be optimistic. Perhaps once she settles in more she will mellow. Who knows? I am very pleased by how Simba seems to be basically unphased by these types of things. He continues to be his own happy self around other dogs, which is a good thing. I hope to get to the dog park tonight, maybe one of his buds will be there so he can have a nice play.
I wouldn't give up Lisa, time could be the key, this dog has just moved house so might just be unsettled. Why don't you see in a few weeks if you can go for a very short walk with the owners and the dog and build it up over time. Do you have any contact with the owners on the Clicker Workshop you attended? if so maybe you could arrange some doggie meetups for Simba, it's worked wonders for Charlie xx
We went to the dog park tonight and Simba got a good play session in with a few dogs, so it was nice! That is probably the best bet for playmates, it seems.
Ah he will have really enjoyed that ,you will have enjoyed seeing him have a romp too,he's such a good boy x
