Oh God, I remember the first time I read this, way back in 1999, when this was a listserv. I printed it off, so I could show it to people. I have it saved and still laugh uncontrollably when I read it! Thank god there are no elk in Iowa. It's hard enough to wrestle a piece of pizza away from my two, let alone a carcass.
Reggie defends Tiggy - then Tiggy defends Reggie at the dog park
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When we first got there it was empty and I was glad because it's been awhile since Reggie has been to a dog park, and he has grouchy old man syndrome for male dogs that are his size or bigger, basically if they are bouncing off the walls or just rude he won't tolerate it and feels he needs to put them in their place if they start something first. And thankfully he is the temperament that he won't start it.
Well a lady comes in with a big shepard mix that was probably about a yr old, still full of puppy energy, Reggie is okay and I tell him leave it and he wanders off. Tiggy runs up and is checking to dog out, all hackles (which I don't know if its a basenji thing but its a Tiggy thing, he puts his hackles up at everything, even playing with food), but I know Tiggy is a little unsure because he's got the stiff legged walk.
So the lady lets this dog off the leash and it runs off barking at god knows what. Tiggy was actually ignoring the dog until it came flying up and literally runs him over, poor little guy had legs flying. But what does Tiggy do, he jumps up into a snarling bundle of pissed of Basenji, and the dog turns around and growls and almost lunges at Tiggy, I say almost because Reggie come up and barrels into this dog knocking it down and then they get into the growling spitting match, not actual fighting, just the loud noise and "boxing".
Now before I continue I might add the lady asked if it was okay to bring her dog in, of which I asked if it was fixed, and dominate and or unruly. She said her dog can be dominate and he's a big pup. I told her I'm not sure it's a good idea because Reggie has no patients for dominant dogs and ones that are big puppies (unruly), of which she still brought her dog in.
So while Reggie and her dog are having their argument, she's standing there dumb as a board, and I just reach in and grab her dog and block Reggie, who just backs off with me blocking him and telling him to stay out of it. So this lady runs up and is apologizing and blah blah blah, as I'm thinking I f'in told you so. Then I notice as she's hauling her dog away Tiggy is biting this dogs ankles and back legs, and my husband told me that Tiggy was doing the same thing for the brief moment Reggie was in it with this other dog.
In the end I can sit back and laugh at what Tiggy was doing, and be proud that Reggie is trained to stay out of it, now granted we're still working on the when another dog starts it, but since being in Germany we are leashed and have gotten that part of ignoring the other dog down. I like dog parks and think they are good things with properly socialized dogs, but then we have situations like Reggie and Tiggy had that can make it unpleasant.
I was however not going to let my guys have their day ruined and we went to another area of the dog park and they had a blast running like fools. And they played with other nice dogs very well.
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Basenji's don't have much patience for unruly dogs or overactive puppies.
Good thing, everything ended well.
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I think it's great Tiggy has a big white knight looking over and protecting him…...what a pair!:D
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Some people just really don't know how to read their dogs & think that their dog would never cause trouble. Then when they do the human doesn't know how to respond, thus making it worse usually. I'm glad everything was okay & your boys still had a great day at the park
I also am a big supporter of dog parks but it's smart to be cautious when taking your pup because you really just cannot predict how other people's dogs are going to react.
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Some people just really don't know how to read their dogs & think that their dog would never cause trouble. Then when they do the human doesn't know how to respond, thus making it worse usually. I'm glad everything was okay & your boys still had a great day at the park
I also am a big supporter of dog parks but it's smart to be cautious when taking your pup because you really just cannot predict how other people's dogs are going to react.
Thats also why I usually only take them when I know its going to be quieter with less dogs, you add more dogs then you can add possibility of more issues. I have worked with Reggie everyday since i brought him home, and I can tell just by the look in his eyes, or his body language to how he's going to react to a situation
