Shya is not the first dog that I've "lost", as in stopped walking, For a variety of reasons I've stopped walking three other dog, a couple of whom were dogs I only walked two days a week and did not have for very long. Recently I stopped walking Hank, a French bulldog. I liked Hank, he was a fun dog with that crazy single mindeness that Frenchies have. I miss him, but it's not the same as Shya
When I first met Shya, an eight year old mixed breed, she was fairly aloof. She was well trained and accustomed to Dogtown but she didn't know me from Adam (or even Eve for that matter) and just didn't see any reason to give me much. She was also known as a problem dog. She got into scraps with other dogs in the park. The walker from whom I inherited this job had Shya in our "time out" cage pretty much every day
Trust is this thing between dogs and humans. Trust is a large component of what we call love. Puppies generally trust the first thing that feeds them. You could say the same about labs and retrievers. For many dogs that I walk, trust just seems to be part of the deal. It's not that way for all dogs of course. It was not that way for Shya.
I think that hesitancy to trust was part of the reason why she sometimes had issues with other dogs. If a dog was skittish, or unessicarily submissive, she didn't trust that behavior. And she was willing to put an end to it
She really wouldn't play with me at first. Perhaps it put in a vunerable position, especially around those other dogs. But I didn't force it. I didn't force anything. I quickly saw what her trigger points were with other dogs and I tried to get to her first, before the scrap started. I kept my voice level, got in front of her but kept my body still and I just let her know "I'm on to you, now let's stop this nonsense" She's a smart dog. Soon, she got it. And soon she got me
Over the course of a year we slowly built that trust in each other. She knew I was there for her. She knew that I understood the things that altered her state and she knew that anytime she actually did want a ball, well, I was the dude that would throw it.
It was a big moment, for me, when I got my first Shya kiss. It was one of many.
I will miss my Shya kisses. I will miss how quiet she could be. And I will miss how that quiet would suddenly explode into puppy joy when I put her favorite ball into the air. There is some possibility that Shya will return to walks in several months to a year. I don't really think that will happen. I hope it does. I'll be holding onto her favorite ball for her
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