A different behaviour question with a far more pleasant story On Friday night DH was sitting on the edge of the bed and Harls was laying on the bed next to him. I was sitting behind him and massaging his back. This is not unusual behaviour for us, we often massage each others backs. He had a muscle pulling so at one stage I made my hand into a fist and used the side to gently "hit" the spot. Very quickly Harley sat up and started pulling at my hand, pulling it down to the bed and when I left her to "hold" my hand she licked it. Every time I lifted my hand and started again she pawed at my hand. This not common behaviour for her. She appeared concerned. So I started massaging again and she pawed once or twice and watched with "that" frown. While I massaged his back I assured her that everything was okay and stroked her too. Finally she settled and lay down. Does anyone have something similar that has happened? Do you think she thought I was hurting him? He wasnt making any noise and we never hit her? Please remember she is our first dog, our cats wouldnt care if we murdered each other, as long as someone put food out and cleaned the litter box.
Yes our older dog Sky is very sensitive to moods/feelings/illness etc. She is very empathetic. That's why I thought she would make a good Pets As Therapy dog. Red is extremely affectionate - it will be interesting to see if she has the same sensitivities .
Sophie (daughter) often lies on the floor on Lilly's bed. Sometimes one of us will come and tickle Sophie, and if she laughs/yells/screams at ALL, Lilly will get in on the act and growl and bark at us as if she is protecting Sophie. Mind you, I wouldn't trust her to fight off and attacker in real life, she is likely to just lick them, though I guess we might be surprised - hope we never find out though.
Big old Scooby used to get very shirty if we hugged or were play-fighting. He would bark and push in between us. Unlike Harley, I think he may have seen some bad things in his previous home though - he belonged to a very small-time drug-dealing woman apparently.
