We went to stay with friends of ours in Spain this weekend. Last time we went down, it was a bit disastrous, but this time everything was fabulous. The dogs loved swimming in the sea again and they are so funny to watch jumping over the waves. Their sister, Annie, was there, too. They generally get on really well together, which is great. Annie looked so dejected when we left without her! We had our dogs sleeping in the bedroom with us (their bed hogging is gradually lessening) but Annie has her bed in the hallway. Still, every morning at around 6am, she decided to come and wake us up. She has worked out how to jump up and use the door handle to open the door, and then she'd leap onto the bed with the waggiest tail in the world, so we were just covered in a huge amount of Labrador! Luckily, after our rude awakening, she would settle back down on the vet bed on the floor, while our two stayed on the bed, and we'd all get another hour or so before walkies time. Shadow has been having a hard time recently being nice with other male dogs. He went through a stage where they would have a go at him, then that settled down, but in recent weeks it's been more him starting with other male dogs. I find it stressful when I don't know the other owner and other dog; if it's a person I know will be OK with it, and I know nothing will come of it except noise, then it's fine, but it's very awkward with people and dogs you don't know. So I've been managing it by clipping him on to a lead unless I can clearly see the other dog is a girl and rewarding him for keeping his attention on me as we pass. This has been good, but I've also been hoping that it's a phase that will pass as his testosterone levels sort themselves out. It seems that we may be on the slope out of it, because he met quite a few male dogs on the beach. We kept him interested in us by throwing a ball into the sea, but there was no aggravation at all, even with a big Husky that we met on Monday. So, fingers crossed that we're past the worst and can start to relax around the boys a bit again. Last night, we went to Girona for the night. It was our anniversary and we booked a lovely restaurant to celebrate at. The Hotel Gran Ultonia is somewhere we have stayed before and is surprisingly dog friendly, with no extra charge for the monsters. We had a lovely walk around the city, which was quite quiet as it was a Monday. We even got to see a little bit of Game of Thrones that was being filmed there. We really tired the dogs out, so we were happy leaving them alone in the room for a couple of hours while we ate. A bonus of the hotel is that there is really good sound insulation, so it's not as if they were upset by every last noise from the surrounding rooms. The only "eek" moment was this morning when we all slept in until 8am. We got up and I got dressed to take them out, but didn't make it quite before Shadow had to empty himself! Luckily, it was in the bathroom, so not too bad to clean up - whoops!!! While I was busy sorting that out, J took them out and Willow decided to stop for a wee right in the middle of a zebra crossing. The people wanting to get to work just had to wait for her All in all, a fabulous weekend. I didn't get as many pictures as I wanted, because keeping an eye on three Labradors is far more work than just two, but I'm hoping to have a little video from my Muvi I took out one afternoon. I'll have a look later to see if it worked.
Sounds like a perfect weekend! When Benson had really high testosterone levels, he did get a bit more "challenging" with other male dogs, nothing really serious and quite easy to distract him. When his levels reduced his behaviour become more polite when greeting other dogs, as well as his urge to go "see" every dog we met on a walk!
Shadow is definitely getting better all the time. We went to a BBQ a couple of weekends ago and there were two entire boys there. One was a cocker spaniel who used to be quite nasty to other dogs, but is about a hundred now. He and Shadow had a bit of a growl, but Angel couldn't really be bothered, so it petered out really quickly and they put up with each other for the rest of the afternoon. The other was a young (maybe three or four years old) chihuahua x pug that we know but rarely see - my dogs hadn't met him before. They had "handbags at dawn" but within about 20 seconds, Shadow became really submissive, licking his face. Quite embarrassing really, considering the difference in size. But, ultimately good for him, because it seemed to help him realise he could be around unfamiliar entire males without having to assert himself. I'm sure one of the biggest challenges is that, as soon as behaviour like that starts, it makes me more tense whenever I see another male dog, and obviously Shadow can pick up on my nervousness. Faking happiness and relaxation can only do so much, but as things are starting to get better, it's getting easier. I would hate to be someone who had to worry about their dog getting agro every time another dog was around.
Sounds like a wonderful weekend away Fingers crossed that Shadow is becoming more relaxed with other males
