Lennox

Our poor puppy dog.

Many people have been asking us what we are planning to do with Lennox when we move. After months of prayer and searching, Nathan's mom made a connection for us. Lennox is going to be spending the greater part of two years with a wonderful couple from near here. They are self-proclaimed "crazy dog people" and are willing to give it a shot (whoo-hoo!).

We thought it would be smart to let the dogs meet a couple times before the official "hand-off" in August, so a couple weeks ago, we took Lennox over to their place. Well, it was a less than ideal first meeting between the two. If you'd like a mental picture. Lennox is...well, Lennox. Black. 60 lbs. Timid at first, but loves to play with other dogs. Their dog is... Black. 60+ lbs. Trained for guarding. Quite...dominant and protective (so it seemed). Together? One mass of black fur, top dog growling and bottom dog trying frantically to get away and screaming on the top of his lungs.

Bottom dog was Lennox. : )

Now, I fully believe the gracious owners of other dog when they say that their dog isn't a mean dog. I completely understand that the first instinct would be to guard his yard and protect his owners. And that is GOOD. And I also believe that if Lennox would just "man-up" (at least as much as he can after what we did to him a couple years ago) and bare some teeth, perhaps growl and bark once or twice, that things would be absolutely lovely with other dog. But Lennox preferred to sit under my chair and hide for the remainder of the "meeting."

*sigh*

Lennox has since met a couple other dogs, one new one and Nathan's parents' dog, who he knows. He has gotten along with these dogs just fine! He's a bit more timid than normal and is more often on the submissive side than he used to be while playing with them. I don't like that, but I figured that, with time, he would go back to his normal, playful, sometimes-dominant-sometimes submissive self. Not so. The more time he's had with Sheila (Nathan's parents' dog), the more he's taken the submissive role, and Sheila has noticed. We've noticed that she can control him with a growl and some bared teeth. At any sign of agression, Lennox goes running. It's frustrating, because he could beat Sheila so easily! SHE is not a dominant dog! And if he could understand that he's not the wimpy dog that he thinks he is right now, and put Sheila back in her place, perhaps he could put other dog (the one he's going to be with for two years) in it's place too.

Well, last night, we thought it would be fun for Lennox to meet a new dog (my friends', Ben and Marsha's, dog, Jakson). We were driving to PA anyway for a LONG overdue visit so we took Lennox along for some puppy play time. Well, at first Lennox wouldn't go anywhere near Jakson and was just hiding behind Nathan's and my legs. We kept moving so he would have to be social at least a little bit. But Lennox soon got tired of Jakson's "puppy energy" and learned that Sheila's trick of baring teeth and growling worked for him too. And not only that, if Jakson wouldn't back up immediately, Lennox would actually snap at him! I've NEVER seen this mean side of Lennox and I'm not sure what to think of it! At first, when there was just growling and baring teeth (showing dominance) I approved and encouraged it, hoping that this might transfer to the other, two year dog. But when he started snapping, and learned that it worked, I started to tell him "no." It's one thing to give the dog a little growl as warning...it's another thing to start actually using that agression! I don't want to have the dog that doesn't get along with every dog he meets!

What happened to my sweet, innocent puppy who would play with anyone?! I'm hoping that this strange behavior is due mostly to so much change in his life recently (moving, new dogs, new places, etc) and that he'll slip back to his old, easy-going self when he develops more of a routine this fall. If not, we'll have some training to do...when it is and is not appropriate to show agression. Part of me IS hoping that he will show some of this newfound agression to the other dog so that they can co-exist peacefully (each knowing their own, healthy boundaries with each other). But I DO NOT want this to become his default for whenever he meets things that he's uncomfortable with (like hopefully our babies one day - right now he's PERFECT with kids...or at least he was a couple weeks ago). I'm just not sure what to do! Oh, the fun of having a dog. Some days it's almost as mind-boggling as parenting...