Welcome Back!
Charlie has been a part of our family for 7 months now and she has come a long way! (Though she still has A LOT of puppy in her!)
When Charlie came to us, she didn’t know how to walk on a leash. She would walk maybe 10 feet and lay down. EVERYTHING scared her…garbage cans, trees, other people. It wasn’t fun to go on a walk. I’ve worked hard to get her to be comfortable to go on a walk, even when on a leash.
So Friday, we went for our first walk in a neighborhood and she ROCKED it!! YAY Charlie!! Shake that booty, girl!
Unfortunately, her celebration walk started off HORRIBLE!! We got out of the car and started to walk down the sidewalk. A gal was running on sidewalk towards us, with her dog. She passed us about 30 seconds into our walk and her dog lunged out at Charlie (who was walking nicely beside me) and bit Charlie’s face and would not let go!! Charlie was yelping and yelping and her dog was growling (a small dog) and held on tight! The gal finally yanked her dog hard enough so it let go of Charlie’s face. Charlie continued to whimper and immediately laid down on the sidewalk. (NO!!!)
I immediately got down beside her expecting a bloody mess, but thank goodness, it was only wet where Cujo and latched on. The gal kept asking, “Is he ok? Is he ok?” I looked at her and said, “SHE’S not bleeding!” I kept looking at Charlie and heard the gal say, “That’s not a way to say hello to other dogs!”
Thankfully, Charlie was not hurt and I think it scared her more (as it did me) then anything. The gal kept asking if she was ok and I told her it appears that she is fine. She kept saying how sorry she was, too. I told her it was ok, things look fine and so she went on to continue her run.
Thinking back, what else was the girl to say or do? She didn’t want to get close because her dog might bite again, so I think she said and did what she could. (Though, right afterwards, I did have a lot of bad thoughts in my head go towards her and her dog.)
Well, Charlie got up and we continued on our walk and it turned out great!! She walked past scary garbage cans with no interest, she went over two bridges without freaking out, watched someone fish and wasn’t scared or skittish even once (after our second start!)
We watched families of geese get into the water with their little ones!
Here’s the first group…
The group behind them…
And I think these are all the single ladies…
Charlie sat and watched and didn’t even flinch or try to run after them. (phew) It was wonderful and Charlie has come along way! (or maybe she was in shock) Looking forward to many more UNEVENTFUL walks around the neighborhood with Charlie!