Halloo.
Hi there!
I’m Leroy and I have a very funny human. You see, my human is a little skittish when it comes to kids. She’s not scared (like I was at first) but she’d rather play with adults who know how to behave and won’t bother her. So when she got me she had a dilemma. She knows she needs to socialize me a lot and introduce me to lots of new doggies and people, including kids so I can be a balanced and confident pup. She didn’t have a choice — all the books and videos said to socialize often and early. Teehee.
Finding the kids were easy. There were 2 female human pups in the compound that have been curious about me. My human didn’t like these kids because they used to play in front of our apartment and their loud voices woke my human up. Funny because in her new bedroom we can hear a puppy bark and it doesn’t bother her that much. She does shush me when I respond to the bark though. She says she pities the pup, because it’s probably bored and doesn’t have as much play and stimulation as I do so he barks and barks.
The human pups on the other hand, have been told several times not to play at the corner apartments. They have a bigger space anyway in the front area. When my human was looking for a place to live in, she liked right away that the apartment was at the farthest area of the lot, away from the road and noise. Only adults lived in the apartments at the back so my human didn’t think she’d have a problem. But the human pups liked to play and write on the wall infront of our place and didn’t listen all the time to their parents. They still tried to sneak in till my human, pushed to her limits, told them to go away in her grumpiest voice. After that they learned their lesson and stayed away.
And then she adopted me.
The human pups have been curious about me for days. They’ve been watching me every time we would go out for walks. My human can be pretty strict so they stayed away even if my human didn’t really tell them to. On one occasion, one of the human pups stepped forward but backed away when my human looked up. Oh, I so get that. My human looks at me like that and I whimper and I lie down and show her my tummy.
This morning my human realized she couldn’t postpone and keep me away from socializing with kids forever. So she made me stay and then motioned for the human pups to come near us. I was scared at first and tried to hide behind her. My human asked the kids to give me a treat and I gobbled it all up. I also let the human pups pet me and tug on me a bit.
After a few minutes my human said it was time to say bye to the human pups and go to sleep. I got extra treats for being nice to the human pups although my human did say she was surprised that I didn’t want to play with them like I do with her friends. But all in all it was a good socialization moment. My human says we’ll probably see more kids when we check out the park on Saturday. Mmmkay. The park sounds good!
Note: I was really surprised that Leroy didn’t do a play bow with the kids. He loves to play and will play rough when he can especially when my friends are around. My friends spoil him a lot with treats and games like tug of war, which I have already discouraged. Games like fetch and retrieving are okay but no tug of war till Leroy’s drop it command is more reliable. As for the kids I guess he was feeding off my energy and could sense that I was reserved with kids, unlike when I am with the adults he’s known. Everybody has been telling me that labs and kids kick off and are instant playmates. Well, my Leroy isn’t and I’m fine with that for as long as he will not show aggressive behavior. I don’t think he will. I have established my alpha role quite solidly and the pup knows I’m in charge. I didn’t really believe it before but I guess this is what Cesar Millan meant that our dogs are our reflections and will mirror whatever we’re feeling. Leroy sensed right away that I was polite but didn’t want to ‘play’ with the kids and gave the same reaction. I just need to make sure he behaves around kids so I’m taking him to the park this Saturday.
