Today we went on a long walk. Kody barked at a dog across the street but calmed down fairly quickly after walking away and turning back a couple of times. I would have preferred to be able to use treats at that time, but we're still not using them after he was sick. I'll probably start today.
At one point, Kody saw a gardener and barked pretty loudly. I turned back, and then back again and Kody was quiet. He was fascinated by the gardener and just wanted to watch him. When were were about ten feet away he laid down to watch him, it was so cute and I was laughing. The gardener motioned that he'd like to pet Kody, so I thought I'd see how it went.
Kody moved all the way up to the gardener and then let him pet Kody on the head and face! Kody seemed oddly calm, he was amazing though. He didn't lay down to be submissive to the gardener, which is great. He also didn't duck away like the gardener was going to hit him in the head. He has done this before and then the people look at me like, "What are you doing to this dog!" His tail wasn't wagging, but he wasn't scared. I suppose for a first time "good" greeting you can't expect him to be totally thrilled. Being comfortable is just fine. And Kody would have stayed there all day.
It was another overwhelming experience. I feel like all this good stuff is happening because of a few methods I learned. The good things keep happening by surprise. It's not like I worked with Kody on human greetings, just all of a sudden he became good at them. It is kind of like a miracle.
I think we all must dream of being able to share our dog with people, for our benefit and the dog's. I love that someone was able to meet Kody and say what a cute dog he is. That interaction is good for all of us and should be a benefit that everyone gets to experience with their dog.
When you wrote, “It’s not like I worked with Kody on human greetings, just all of a sudden he became good at them,”, it sparked something that I consider on occasion. We are quite proud of the positive behaviors that we’ve instilled in Oskar, and we even believe that he has a pretty good human vocabulary. But sometimes I wonder if he doesn’t have us trained. Specifically, he uses various vocalizations in many different circumstances to communicate. Not just that sharp bark, mind you, but seemingly deliberate whines, yips, grunts, sighs, grumbles, etc. that are applied as a means to an end. He knows we will react in a certain way when he ‘tells us’ what he wants. Even my husband will get up and cover him when Oskar ‘sighs and whines’ that he can’t get under the blankets just right. A reminder ‘yip’ or two means that it is walk time. ‘Grunting’ while marching on the potty pad leads us to question him about going outside, even when he doesn’t need to potty. There are several other examples that not only make us laugh, but force us to consider what is going on in that little head and how he learned to communicate with us. Who taught whom?
Does Kody talk to you?
Kody definitely has his ways of communicating, although I don’t understand many of them. His most prominent communication is, “that is mine.” When he thinks something is his, he’ll go stand under it (it’s usually on a shelf or table) and wait for me to pay attention and give me looks.
Sometimes it is his, for instance the new dog mat we just bought but haven’t even used yet. I don’t know how he figured out that was his, but he did. Sometimes it looks like something of his, like it’s a stuffed animal, but not one made for him. And sometimes it’s reminiscent of something of his, for instance it has tags on it. He thinks things with tags on them are toys for him. He was very upset that I kept taking my laptop case out of the house after I first got it.
Today I was thinking about what if dogs just had a totally different way of thinking that we do, which is very likely. I think sometimes the way Kody behaves indicates something totally foreign to me is going on in his head.
Sometimes it seems obvious, like he wants to play, but then he stops being interested if I play the wrong game. Like he’s saying, “No, you’re not doing it right, we’re supposed to be playing [doggie language name of game].” And I have no idea what he means or how to play.