"Play nicely girls!"

For any one following this blog the girls pictured above are known to you. Lady in the brown and Trixie in the black.  These are our beloved rat terriers.


As much as we love them they do have a few MINOR flaws.  They are spoiled rotten. . . my fault I admit it!  Also they are not very sociable to other dogs.  Now this is some thing we have been working on.


Usually when Charles takes them to our public parks he has to scoop them up whenever they encounter other dogs.  A little cumbersome to say the least!


Then our new neighbors moved in with 2 puppies, one 4 month old black lab female and one 6 month old dalmatian mix male.  Both twice the size of our terriers. 


I decided it was time to start training them a little.  Our puppy neighbors were very accommodating as they were very adept at getting out of their yard!  When this first happened our little darlings became demon dogs.


All the hair on their bodies stood on end.  Their teeth were bared in a terrifying display and the savage barking was non stop! Not the civil greeting of butt sniffing we were hoping for.


Thankfully our little dears are safely confined in the back yard and can't act on their threats.  So when I hear the hounds of the Baskervilles howl I know the puppies are out again.  


At those times I make it a point to go out to the fence and greet the puppies.  This did not go down well at all at first.  I greeted the puppies and scolded the girls for their antisocial behavior.  Soon the girls began to notice I was much happier when they were nice to the enemy.  No dummies our girls!


Lady was not through with these interlopers just yet.  She would sneak away from the group and growl under her breath.  If she was caught at this and scolded she would scoot back to the group.  Tail wagging she would look lovingly up at me and say 'Who me?'.


This went on  for quite a while.  I was beginning to think Lady was a lost cause.  Then it happened. 

I passed the window and saw it.  All four dogs cuddled up together against the fence.  No barking.  No growling.  No aggression at all!  Just a peaceful nap in the sun.  


GOOD GIRLS!!!  GOOD GIRLS!!  


Charles has them out at the park right now.  I hope they are better behaved there too.  Will let you know.