[nagdu] Soul Searching

[Cindy Ray]

Well, the convention is over. I went. It was fun meeting you, Mark. But there were really some serious dog problems with my dog. Sad.
I have always known he had issues with dogs, but I thought I had made some progress with it. But at convention he just came totally unglued. Nothing really bad ever happened, because I was on alert with him. It was tense though, and when he did what he does--growl and bark--people reacted as you might expect they would. He frightened them, and mostly they thought I did not have control of him, and they didn't mind saying so. I finally did seek out TSE. I couldn't figure out why I couldn't get the GL on him, after the visit with TSE, I did figure this out. But I have learned two things from this. I need to do something. I was offered a visit a long time ago; I didn't think it was necessary because I did and do know most of the things I might be able to do to help. I need to try them by way of going out more with him. But I will call for help because I believe that there are some things someone who can see notes about what your dog is doing or the other that you could miss. So I will call for help.
Second, Lukas said his eyes seemed a little dilated. He thought I might want to have the dog checked for cataracts. He is of an age now where this might be a possibility. After that, I have decided that, unless there are huge changes in the dog between now and the next convention, I won't take him again. I enjoyed the convention, but I did not enjoy the sense that folk think I am a bad handler, and though I had the largest amount of control over the dog, I do et this. I won't put myself through that ever again. I have never taken a dog to convention that had this serious of issues, and I think I've been in denial about the dog's issues with other dogs. So that's it. Yesterday when we were walking to the ticket counter at the airport, there was a dog in front of us that we were following. My dog did fine until we were just about there and then he did his bark/growl thing. It was a dog with whom he had tangled earlier in the week a couple of times. What was that? I just don't know because up until that moment he had been coexisting with that dog well.

Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. I hope all have a good weekend.

Cindy Lou
p.s. I just have to say it was fun helping at the NAGDU Table.