They are both very sweet, very loving, and very charming when they want to be. They are also totally and completely mental.
Case in point- when we go on walks and encounter other dogs, they both go kind of deaf, dumb and blind to anything else- including the human attached to the other end of the leash.
Odie gets over it pretty quickly when we restrict him from getting to the other dog. Just keep walking, and drag him along behind and in a couple of minutes he stops struggling, and moves onto the next thing. One of the joys of having a dog who weighs 15 lbs- there's not much he can do if you don't want him to. Piper on the other hand.... Once that girl focuses on something, breaking her of it is a test for anyone. She locks on and will NOT be distracted for anything.
This has made walking a true challenge. We got our phenominal trainer out to help us, and she gave us exercises to use to help Piper learn that other dogs weren't something that needed to be attacked, just things to be walked past. It's going to be an ongoing process for the next few... YEARS.... sigh.... but she is getting better. Tiny, miniscule bit by bit.
Things we still deal with on our walks are the neighborhood dogs that Piper knows about. She anticipates them, and starts to do a routine I like to call "suiting up" for her encounter. Which is ridiculous 'cause she never actually comes in contact with any of them, but whatever.
She starts walking taller, ears forward, shoulders tense, and breathing like she's about to jump into a cold lake. She starts this about 4 houses away from whichever dog house she's about to come up on. Then as we get even closer, we start the distraction techniques we've worked with the trainer on. That usually gets us through the pass by section relatively well. After that, she will still breathe heavily and occasionally get a good foaming at the mouth going.
We'll go through this several times over the course of a walk some days. Meanwhile, little Odie is attached to my hip, and he just keeps motoring like none of this is interesting anymore. He's been through it so many times that he is now completely unimpressed and unmoved by the excitment. I think part of him is over Piper's outbursts too. If he could talk he'd probably just be telling her to cut it out so he could get to the rest of his walk already.
The worst of all the encounters we have to face is this one particular house. They have 2 small, and yet overweight, chihuahuas in a chain link fenced in yard. They live on a corner, so we get to face them in the side and the front of the house. I call them the Monsters.
The Monsters are not only not discouraged from bum rushing the fence and challenging all comers, but are even let out of the front door specifically to do it. They charge, bark, shriek, challenge, growl, bare teeth, you name it, they do it, and they will continue to do it until you're about 3 houses away. Needlessto say this makes Piper totally lose her mind. It presses all of her buttons several times over. There have been days where The Monsters get so aggressive, and Piper reacts so strongly, that Odie gets going and growling too, and they are both wrapped around my legs that I get really unsettled that someone is gonna get hurt, and there's a very good chance it'll be me.
I've learned to prepare myself better as we approach this house, and to always be hopeful the Monsters will be locked away and not even know we're passing by. I try not to anticipate the madness too much, because I know Piper can feel that tension. I try to project Odie's calm, "whatever, we're walking its all good" demeanor into every step.
Doesn't always work.
I have to admit I've come to hate those Little Monsters a lot.
Not overly fond of the owners who let them out to terrorize any and all passerby either.
I mean, I've been out running by myself and those Monsters do the same thing to me through the fence. It's just insanity.
I will say, every time we make it past that house without incident I am thrilled. Every time we have to pass by the Monsters temper tantrums I send them mental wishes of going mute or suddenly losing the ability to comprehend us. Some days I avoid the house altogether because I'm just too damn tired to deal with it. In my book that is a completely valid way to deal.
All told, the walks get a little better all the time, but they are still something that tries my patience and some days fill me with dread. It reminds me of how socially stunted my big criminal is, no matter HOW sweet she is when she wants us to love her. She was damaged by a family of people who had no idea what to do with her, and now we're trying to tell a stubborn, opinionated teenager to do things our way......
It's a miracle we're all still standing... and walking.
