Plato was always antagonistic and nippy toward strangers and other dogs. He was never that way toward us or Tim, and once he's around a new person for a day or so he'll be fine. If he knew you, he was great--snuggly and affectionate. In recent years, he'll be fine with our parents after a few minutes reacquainting with them (I think he still doesn't like my dad, but the feeling is mutual), but with unknown people, especially men, we don't trust him. We tried to take him to a Pug Play (people can bring their Pugs' "sibling" dogs even if they're not Pugs themselves...there's another couple at the Pug Play with a Pug and a Boston too, and one of the Pug owners even brought their Labradoodle) but he was just too grrrr and acted too antagonistic. When we went to pick up our dogs at the boarding kennel yesterday, I was a little surprised at what they said...Lucifer Sam was the shy one and Plato was more outgoing. Lucifer Sam did eventually become less shy as the days went on, but they never had any problems with Plato. So we thought that since he had been exposed to other dogs at "Camp" and he did fine and had no problems, that we'd take him to Pug Play that very day...maybe he'd think it was just an extension of camp. He was a little hesitant at first and did have a few nippy episodes that were easily stopped with a verbal correction, but for the most part he was great! He played with the Pugs and ran around with them, and he kept the entire group very active. He had no problems with any of the humans either, even the men. I am impressed with this new dog we have, and we'll have to take him to more play dates in the future.

Labels: Animals