possible slaughter at the dog park: my drama screamer
Posted: October 10, 2013 Filed under: animal behavior, dogs | Tags: dog park dog behavior, dogs, funny dogs 8 CommentsA few weeks ago, We Live in a Flat wrote about Donna–one of the best-photographed dogs on the planet–being an embarrassment, and I thought “GASP-not DONNA!” She’s only delightful.
When the dogs aren’t ours, and we’re perfectly happy to observe these dogs we feel we’ve come to know from afar, they’re all angels, right? But when they are ours…
My dog screams (yes, screams) if another dog looks at her at the dog park. It is the sound you might hear if she was being slaughtered, only she’s just been looked at. Of course, it only attracts more unwanted attention, so then other dog parents rush over to see if their dog is attacking mine (“he couldn’t be!”) Nope, he’s not. It’s just my drama queen dog.
Sometimes she’ll even do it at home if I introduce her to a new friend. We let canine friends come stay at our house for sleepovers on occasion. N.A.S.H.A. Loves to play with friends, but not when they are strangers, so I have to be careful about how I introduce them. Naturally, the new friend is most curious about N.A.S.H.A., so that new friend will follow her around. But if new friend gets too close…she screams. She hasn’t even been sniffed, much less touched. The new friend then either backs away in fear of being accused of gory murder (mission accomplished) or becomes so alarmed that he wants to be helpful and pursues the matter further. That’s not good, because then the slaughtering sounds get louder. On rare occasion, this actually provokes an attack. The new friend is trying to put her out of her misery, I assume.
And then I wish someone would put me out of mine.
So I’m that pet sitter that can’t really take her dog out in public. Well, heck. I never said I was a trainer!
Please don’t make me feel alone. Have your pets embarrassed you?
well minded word 
You definitely are not alone. When there is a thunderstorm, my little Chihuahua goes absolutely insane. She shakes uncontrollably, she prances all through the house, jumping up and down on furniture and in spite of everything I attempt, she just crys like a baby. I have had people on the phone wanting to know whose baby I have here. Well mine of course. She has found a safe place now. I was cleaning a bookcase and hadn’t finished the one shelf, leaving a space that fit her body. An unexpected storm came up and she crawled in it. The crying stopped and silence was golden. Maybe different with the next storm. You are not alone.
Awwww! Poor baby! Glad she found a safe place. See, she’s not mine, so it’s cute.
Oh dear, you’re not alone. One of my two will bark incessantly at anyone who comes over. How have we solved this? We haven’t. We just don’t have people over. That’s right. Ever. Like you, I’m not a trainer… I don’t know how to train her out of it. Should we call a trainer? Probably. But I’m so embarrassed by it that I don’t even want a trainer coming over.
A fellow blogger that lives in my city (Flea, who blogs for Jones Natural Chews) is supposed to be coming over next Saturday to meet me and the dogs, and to be truthful, I’m dreading it. She says that she understands and insists that she’ll be okay with it, and the fact that she’ll have treats with her will help… but still, it’s so difficult. I wanted to say no and just avoid the whole situation, but … well… I’m just not very good at saying no. I wish I didn’t feel the need to say no. I wish my dogs were well-socialized and friendly and people coming over wasn’t any kind of an issue. But it is.
It’s extremely awkward when your dog won’t stop barking at a guest and you can’t do anything to make them understand that they don’t need to fear this stranger… it’s embarrassing. I can apologize a million times, but it doesn’t make me feel any better. Some people would say, “Oh, just put her in another room.” Uh, sorry, but that’s not going to help. She’s just going to go crazy in there and still be barking. It’s not going to do anything but make her more upset. She’s already upset that there are strangers in the house… and now there are strangers in the house and she can hear them, but not see them? Not good.
Anyway, you’re not alone in having a dramatic dog. At least yours only screams at other dogs.
Oh, my. Aren’t there so many reasons to not have people over? Everyone has one. Thank you for your amazing comment…so funny and honest.
If you want to see melodrama, meet William. I’ve commented before on my blog that if you accidentally bump him, he’ll scream as if he’s being skinned alive. Perhaps you now feel my pain of having a drama queen, one that occasionally sounds off in public, causing everyone in a 5 mile radius to give you the stink eye 🙂
Yep! I hear ya! Pun intended.
One of the many reasons we don’t go to the dog park anymore is because Rodrigo embarrasses me – he gets over excited and that combined with any alpha dogs in the park is just a bad combination. I’ve done the walk of shame many times on the way to the parking lot.
Sydney embarrassed me once when I was trying to get Rodrigo to cross a busy road (he was smelling the flowers at a neighbors house) and Sydney was dancing in the road. I had to hold up traffic while I coaxed Rigo across and tried to get Sydney to return to our property (she kept running up to me and hitting me with her two front paws and then dancing away). She was having the time of her life, I was mortified as I sat their being judged by the occupants of 3 cars and a motorcycle.
Oh, my! Love those stories! I am no stranger to crazy unpredictable dog antics at the least-appreciated time. Thanks for sharing that!