In continuation from my previous post about my first day of helping out at PAWS, I so enjoyed my experience on the first day that I went back the next day to help out again. I also mentioned in my last post about this pretty looking dog that looks like a cocker spaniel mixed with a golden retriever, which has nice golden fur that I've kinda nicknamed it Goldilocks (and I'm pretty sure it's a female though there's so much fur down south, I couldn't really tell for sure). This same pretty looking dog was also very aggressive the first time I saw it, barking away like crazy when I got near it, and not in an excited manner, but more like, "you come closer and I'll eat your head off" kinda manner. Enough to scare most people off, including me the first time I saw it.
On the second day, I went with a friend and we started off feeding the doggies with some dog biscuits I bought from Giant, which were pink and kinda weird looking but Giant didn't have much choice and I was rushing. Then we both took a couple of the mongrels out for a walk, my friend got a more curious dog that took time to sniff everything, so his walk was more relaxed. Whereas my dog would sniff a bit, then suddenly bolt off running, so I'm glad I had sneakers on coz' I had some pretty good exercise with that dog. It was like being in one of those comic scenes from those dog movies, where the dog is off like a rocket with hapless owner in tow, running back and forth across the screen.
After we were done with those two and brought them back, I then remembered the aggressive Goldilocks sitting at the back of the shelter alone in it's cage and separate from all the other dogs. I decided to check up on her again.
As expected, when I got closer, the seemingly quiet dog, jumped again and got into it's maniacally crazy mood. This time instead of backing off, I went right up to it. She was still barking crazily. I moved in really close to look right at her in the face, and asked "What the heck is wrong with you?". The response was, of course, more angry barking. The dog seemed aggressive, but I wasn't scared of it this time. Instead, I did what most normal people wouldn't do around a seemingly maniacal angrily barking dog. I reached out to touch it.
Amazingly, when I reached out to touch the top of her snout which was poking out of the cage (slowly, of course. I didn't want to lose my digits), she got quiet. So I stroked the snout, and she stayed completely still. She was enjoying it! So I tested the waters further and put my hand in the cage to stroke her left ear. She just sat there quietly, the only reaction was her heavy panting as a result of her earlier incessant barking. "Ok" I thought, "So far so good!". Then I used my other hand to stroke her left ear and also patted her head. And at one point, I really tested the water by putting my face close to the dog's face, so the tip of my cap was touching the dog's snout and my nose was all of two inches away from her jaws and if she suddenly acted up, my nose could have become her midday snack. No reaction. She was too busy enjoying me rubbing her ears.
When I stopped, she immediately jumped up against the cage, all excited. And I reached in to rub her neck.... also with a good response. I was like "Dang! This dog isn't angry, she just wants some loving!"
I decided then and there I wanted to take her out for a walk. I looked around for a shelter worker to help take her out. I didn't immediately see one, but went up to another volunteer there and said I wanted to walk this dog, and asked if I could just take it out. The lady saw the dog I was talking about and her eyes kinda widened and she said to be careful of it coz' it was a crazy dog that has bitten people before.
Didn't perturb me at all.
Then I saw a worker and who helped me to take the dog out. As soon as he unbolted the cage, the giant cocker spaniel lookalike just bolted out of the cage, like she couldn't wait to get out. Then she started barking at this elderly guy who was there visiting the shelter. It wasn't aggressive barking, but more like excited barking this time, but I was still worried that she would bite the man. In hindsight, I guess she must have been stuck in that cage for quite a while, and was just really excited to be out. Luckily the worker got it on a leash quickly and handed it to me. So I took it out, and on the way passed by another worker (the one who I helped to do the dog feeding the day before) and he also warned me to be careful of the dog. And so when I was walking out and passing some visitors, I in turned warned them not to touch her, just in case. Even my friend who followed me, but without another dog in tow, was a bit afraid to take over the leash. Haha!
But this dog with a reputation for being aggressive behaved nothing of the sort on her walk. She was happily walking around, not running too fast, but at a pace where I just had to walk quickly. I gave her occasional pats on her body and head without any adverse reaction. She seemed just like any other happy dog out for a walk, as can be seen from my pics below.
We walked along this small path outside paws which is a motorcycle lane. During our walk, a guy walked pass, but she didn't react to him (I still held on the leash tight, just in case). A bus stopped on the road next to us, and she was staring at it for a while, probably wondering what the heck was that huge chunk of moving metal, before we continued on. After reaching near to the end of the road, on her own accord, she turned back to the direction of the shelter, and we went back with no incident.
Once back in the shelter, I brought her easily to her cage, and to my surprise, she hopped right into her cage by herself, and promptly flopped down. And this same dog that just 20 minutes earlier was so aggressive and angry, had this look of pure contention and happiness on her face. After locking the cage, I reached in again and gave her another good rub on the ears, cooing at it for while, telling her she was a good dog. She just enjoyed all of it, happily panting away.
Looking at the pic, I think it's really hard to imagine that this sweet looking fella is known for being aggressive and bites people. But I suppose when you're stuck in a small space all day with no exercise and no love, you'd get a little cranky too, right?
To me, it just proves that any aggressive dog can be tamed if you know how to handle it right and you can figure out what it wants. I have no idea what Goldilock's history was... probably she was neglected by her previous owner who didn't bother to take her out for walks and left her caged all day? And that's why she became aggressive, which in turn would have left the silly owner to dump her at PAWS coz he/she didn't know how to handle her. It's a guess, of course. But it's the most likely one I can think of on why she became aggressive when actually it was so easy to make her calm and good natured. And it makes me wish pet owners would try to make a bit more effort to figure out their dogs instead of just brainlessly dumping their animals once they start acting up.
Well, to know that I helped turn an aggressive animal into a happy little bunny with something as simple as a rub on the ears and short 15 minute walk, it's just awesome. I can definitely say that this experience just really made my whole day. And maybe the rest of my week until I go back again to load up on that feel-good feeling. :-)
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