Brutie and I made a trip to petsmart today for a new collar. That wasn't an easy task by the way,they only had one to fit him, and he will be outgrowing it soon. Anyway, the store was swamped with people and dogs. Brutus was lunged at, snarled at, and bit at by other dogs. I might add he behaved beautifully. Only one time did I see him start raising his tail and it started swinging. We were standing in line to check out and this stupid person had the most unruly dog, it kept lunging and snarling at Brutus over and over. I made him sit by me and wait, until we moved.
People there don't even bother to ask you if they can pet your dog. We were swamped by an aisle full of people. Becuase he is different everyone assumes he can be hugged, petted and whatever, mainly kids, this cute little girl broke and run over to him and started getting in his face. I was very nervous, I told him to be easy, he licked the little girl and sat down. Whew, I am so glad he loves kids because she wasnt the only one that did it. Each time a child would run up to him he would sit down. At one time we had ten people around him, bless his heart he took it in stride but I could tell he was starting to get stressed. People were swamping him. He started shedding profusley, and I had the end of his leash so tight I now have 4 bruised fingers. A man was standing there while this was going on and was watching. After the crowd disapated he came over and commented on what a well behaved Fila I had. As it turned out he is a trainer for mans best friend and he teaches protection training for dogs. He was very impressed how well Brutus handled the crowd and the children. I was tooooooooo. As well behaved as Roxie is, I know she would not have made it through those moments without getting grumpy. That was a lot of stress for him to handle. The man asked if he could give Brutus a cookie. I said he could try...well he tried, and Brutus spit it out. He was so impressed, he said he spends months with dogs trying to train them not to take food of any kind from strangers or with a strange scent on it. Oh, he said he did work at petsmart as a trainer two days out of the week and hoped I would bring Brutus in often so he could see him. He also said he had two Filas that were taking his protection training classes and he said they were awesome dogs. I love my Fila puppy.
He got lots of cookies and hugs when we got out of the he**zone.
I'm not sure if I should put him thru that much stress again. Should I continue taking him there or not?
People there don't even bother to ask you if they can pet your dog. We were swamped by an aisle full of people. Becuase he is different everyone assumes he can be hugged, petted and whatever, mainly kids, this cute little girl broke and run over to him and started getting in his face. I was very nervous, I told him to be easy, he licked the little girl and sat down. Whew, I am so glad he loves kids because she wasnt the only one that did it. Each time a child would run up to him he would sit down. At one time we had ten people around him, bless his heart he took it in stride but I could tell he was starting to get stressed. People were swamping him. He started shedding profusley, and I had the end of his leash so tight I now have 4 bruised fingers. A man was standing there while this was going on and was watching. After the crowd disapated he came over and commented on what a well behaved Fila I had. As it turned out he is a trainer for mans best friend and he teaches protection training for dogs. He was very impressed how well Brutus handled the crowd and the children. I was tooooooooo. As well behaved as Roxie is, I know she would not have made it through those moments without getting grumpy. That was a lot of stress for him to handle. The man asked if he could give Brutus a cookie. I said he could try...well he tried, and Brutus spit it out. He was so impressed, he said he spends months with dogs trying to train them not to take food of any kind from strangers or with a strange scent on it. Oh, he said he did work at petsmart as a trainer two days out of the week and hoped I would bring Brutus in often so he could see him. He also said he had two Filas that were taking his protection training classes and he said they were awesome dogs. I love my Fila puppy.
He got lots of cookies and hugs when we got out of the he**zone. I'm not sure if I should put him thru that much stress again. Should I continue taking him there or not?
