Maisie in her ‘safe’ corner
Here is two-year old Dogue de Bordeaux, Maisie, in her favourite safe place, under a chair in the corner of the kitchen.
Maisie is frightened of a lot of things. She is particularly scared of the puppy.
Scared of the puppy
Little Molly is also a Dogue de Bordeaux and she is just eight weeks old. She’s not a wild sort of puppy – not yet anyway – but even so, Maisie is very unhappy with her.
The big dog has no bolt hole – nowhere she can escape this new intruder who grabs her tail.
It’s impossible to say why Maisie is such a scared dog. She lives with a lovely and caring family. Possibly because she is a sensitive soul things may be a bit too noisy for her? Over the course of her two years she has gradually got worse.
Cowered
When I arrived she cowered away from the door. She did venture near me eventually but that was interrupted by Molly’s sudden appearance.
She caught me looking at her and licked her lips. She is a walking demonstration of anxiety signals.
Puppy Molly has been the final straw.
A different dog outside in the garden
Out in the garden Maisy is entirely different with the puppy. They play! She play bows and invites Molly and they chase one another. She lets Molly leap all over her.
Molly
But out on walks and on lead Maisie is her fearful self, particularly when approached by someone. Off lead she is a different dog.
This is all about Maisie not feeling safe. For some reason she feels trapped in the house or on lead, particularly when other people are about. She can’t escape from Molly.
A safe zone
They have already ordered a puppy pen for the sitting room along with a gate for the kitchen door. This way the two dogs can interact and Maisie can relax. I’m sure it won’t be long before they are snuggling up together.
The family will be doing all they can to give Maisie confidence in them to keep her safe. They love her to bits and are prepared to follow the plan to the letter. She will always have access to a bolt hole.
On walks they will be changing the equipment so that Maisie feels less restricted. They will also acknowledge she is fearful of being approached by people and help her out. She will necessarily be on a tight lead near traffic and is terrified of walking by a busy road. This will need to be gradually addressed.
Holding a dog tightly on lead when a person approaches makes us feel we are ‘in control’. The dog can feel we are preventing escape.
It is so much better to walk in an arc around anything scary, increase distance or stand back if we want to chat.
We need to be our dog’s advocate and protect her from unwanted attention.
The man has dreams of walking with two beautiful and confident mastiffs through the fields, one each side of him.
With patience and a bit of understanding of the ‘dog mind’ I’m sure that dream will be realised.
