Little White Dog

Barbara is a dog trainer. She teaches people how to train their dogs and works with dogs who have problems. Sometimes I help her in her work especially with dogs who are afraid of other dogs. Barbara has been working with a little white dog named Hattie. Her people are very concerned about her because she is afraid of other dogs and barks ferociously at them even when they are much bigger than she. Since Hattie is only 7 lbs most dog out weigh her.

Barbara gave them special exercises to work on and felt that Hattie was ready to meet me. I like most other dog and always behave nicely around them. I'll play with any dog that will play with me. Barbara can always trust me to be nice to other dogs and my body language is happy and non threatening. So we drove over to Hattie's neighborhood and waited for her.

I like to visit new neighborhoods because there are different odors to sniff and new squirrels to point at. Then Hattie came out with her person. What a cute little white fluffy dog!! So tiny. Her person had a stick with peanut butter on it and every time Hattie looked over at me she got to lick the stick. I thought that this was an excellent idea and cannot understand why Barbara does not have a stick like that for me. Hattie and I practiced going past each other with Hattie getting lots of licks of pb. I got string cheese which is very good but I was most interested in that stick. Hattie did not bark at me and her person was very pleased.

Then we walked together down the block. Hattie kept looking at me out of the corner of her eye and would get to lick the stick. She has started to make the association that good things (peanut butter) happen to her when she sees another dog. Eventually Hattie got brave enought to sniff me and let me sniff her. Barbara was very pleased with Hattie's progress but of course she needs more work. It is so hard for a dog when they are afraid of all the dogs that they meet. I am glad that I can help Barbara help these dogs have good experiences. I saw some of the dogs in Hattie's neighborhood and they are little wild-no wonder she is afraid of them.