Havanese: Reading Dog Language

Sassy says - oh no - here that lady goes again talking about socialization and all I want to do is play, play, play. If you don't recognize me, I am Sassy Lassy - the one that can't seem to get enough of my siblings. This was a fave stance of Sassy Lassy when she was with all her littermates and it didn't matter which one it was or if it was all of them together, she always managed to find that fun play.

Sebastian seems to have this balance thing going on too with larger pups that is a 'good thing' and so does Sassy. The larger dogs don't seem to rile them up.

When we walked a visiting dog that was unsure of the lay of the land, I walked him with Rita's (Sonrisas) Opal and Opal is a bouncy gal without a care in the world. It didn't calm this particular dog down but then I walked him with Mojo who is also a Sonrisas dog and a very calm, assertive dog. This totally calmed this dog down. What does that tell you? Well, a dog that is unsure of himself and has not learned how to read other dogs well enough yet will feed off of another dog's emotion and take direction from the other. They also feed off yours as well. Surrounding them with grounded dogs really helps yours.

As you can see, Sebastian is engaging in a play bow, stance to get the classmate in play and Abigail, who was not sure what to think about the larger classmates now has her tail up, a confident stance and tried to play as well. Often, when you have another dog that was exposed to larger dogs already and therefore has learned to communicate, it helps others that haven't yet had the exposure to the strange larger ones. There is confidence in numbers but it also rubs off. Just be sure it's all positive.

Here you can see a proper 'meet and greet' by Sassy and the classmate. She's confident, tail up and not concerned in the least. That Sebastian is still full of play and bypassed that hello - let's just play - or is that - let's just rock and roll. That also tells the other dog the intent. Both work. Remember, Sebastian lives with two Labs and was raised with two Goldens. He's not at all concerned with larger dogs.

There are excellent books out that help us humans read dog language and if you read one (I have one any of my puppy owners can borrow) it will help you 'get' what other dogs are saying so you can appropriately handle all situations and therefore help your dog do the same. Let me know if you want to borrow it. It will tell you more than you thought you knew and you will be amazed when you also 'get' what other dogs are saying with their body language.

Well, we do not have class next week as it's the new Family Day holiday. So, we have 2 weeks to practice, stay, finish, come and heel. That doesn't mean we wait till a week from now but a little each day and we will all be stars.

Abigail and Fiona are starting to play. Fiona climbs couches and sleeps on the back of them. Such a 'ruff' life!