Kids and Dogs...and Husbands!

We all know and have heard horror stories of kids who are bitten by dogs because no one saw the warning signs of an uncomfortable or trapped dog. (This is NOT that story!)

This is a "How Well Do YOU Know Your Dog!" story. My grandson, Forrest, in this picture is 1 yr old than Azul. They've grown up together and have a certain relationship with each other that neither has with another sole. Forrest is wild and crazy but calms down around Azul & Azul is calm and chill but will get crazy with Forrest to entertain him.

Not quite 1 yr old Forrest taught puppy Azul to do a finger nose boop as a silly game long before I taught any formal hand targets. ( I think I may have just started basic hand targets at the time.) Fast forward a few months and Forrest and Azul tired each other out playing the choo-choo game running circles around the dining room table and kitchen island. 

Just for fun, check out this video of Forrest and Azul playing the Haunted House Game to desensitize to Christmas decorations in 2021.

There is a Part 2 available on the Yooper Paws Channel!

Basically from the time Azul was 2 months old, he's been nose to nose having a staring contest with Forrest on a regular basis. This whole time, both child and dog had the ability to get up and walk away from the situation at any moment. This whole time, I've supervised this very closely!

This last trip, my husband was along and I was busy doing something else with someone else. Like always, Azul is no more than 10 ft away from me chilling on the floor and I can see him. Forrest lays down beside Azul, bodies parallel to each other and begins his staring contest. Then he offers the finger for a nose boop, then he starts very softly petting Azul's ears.

This is when I hear my husband say, "Oh Poor Boy Azul, is he bothering you! Penny, Forrest is bugging Azul!" 

Of course I glance at them again because I haven't looked in a few seconds and they are interacting just fine in their typical fashion. Azul does a light twitch when Forrest's shirt sleeve bumped Azul's whiskers. Azul stretches and offers his oh so famous belly for rubbing.

My husband comments, "There ya go, Forrest, rub his belly!" Then later he complains that I'm not watching the kid and dog interactions closely enough and I couldn't see that Azul was uncomfortable.

This is where the "How well do you know YOUR dog?" comes in! And I'm totally open to your opinion being placed in the comments or emailed to me! 

Is it possible that you can know your dog so well that you know when they are 100% comfortable with the situation they are in? We obviously know that sometimes other family members do not know our dog the way we do, especially so with SD teams.

Is it possible that I missed subtle signs of Azul's discomfort? Of course it's possible, but not very likely!

Is it possible that I'm being too relaxed and potentially leading both Azul and Forrest to be venerable for a future accident either between them or with another being? I would worry that Forrest would potentially do this to another dog that may not be comfortable with it and then suffer a bite. But Forrest is terrified of all other dogs except Azul. He's not willing to go within even 10 feet of another dog. Forrest has just started doing some very mild "kid safe" training with puppy Finn in an attempt to improve their relationship and they have been living together for over 3 months! Forrest is still fearful of Finn and will only go near him if Issac or I am right there with hands on Finn helping him be calm.

For fun, here is a video of the Proximity Game being played with Finn and Forrest's older sister to show you the type of training Forrest has recently started with Finn.

And of course both Issac, Forrest's Mom, and myself are constantly talking to Forrest about manners around dogs. This includes explaining that some dogs don't like to be stared at and some dogs don't like anything on their head messed with. Forrest is only 3 1/2 so not sure how much is sinking in yet. But these animal education talks will likely never stop because Grandma is an Animal Behavior Consultant and talks dog non-stop.

To me, Azul is a total Rockstar in his relationship with Forrest! While he loves kids in general, Azul really loves Forrest because all the fun happens around the wild child who loves to run on the farm, drives the fancy kids Jeep, and makes Grandma spend more time outside no matter how rainy or cold it is.

I promise, that I won't do every Rockstar Azul post being frustrated with how horrible my husband understands my dog!