godsdaughter97
New member
@healthchristian Mine has a whole crew at his daycare. It's basically Disneyland for him....we are the boring ones now. 
Does your pup have their own life you don’t know much about?
- Thread starter healthchristian
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- discussion dog training
healthchristian
New member
@godsdaughter97 Our pup has always hated daycare. We've tried to get him used to it with short visits and regular days but we generally find he's been begging to hang out with the office staff the entire time. And he's very clear that he doesn't want to be dropped off there.
In contrast, he's apparently really happy to have a regular walk with a pack of friends he's now yearning to play with. We've always known the best way to introduce him to another dog is to do a walk around the block so he could ignore them there before letting them into the house/yard where he'd continue to ignore them. But this is something else entirely.
I guess it speaks to always trying new things with them and then paying attention to what they like. From our prior experience we'd have guess he'd tolerate but not really enjoy group walks. Turns out he loves them.
In contrast, he's apparently really happy to have a regular walk with a pack of friends he's now yearning to play with. We've always known the best way to introduce him to another dog is to do a walk around the block so he could ignore them there before letting them into the house/yard where he'd continue to ignore them. But this is something else entirely.
I guess it speaks to always trying new things with them and then paying attention to what they like. From our prior experience we'd have guess he'd tolerate but not really enjoy group walks. Turns out he loves them.
godsdaughter97
New member
@healthchristian Completely understand. All daycares are not alike. All environments are not alike. Let the dog tell what works and what doesn't. 
@healthchristian Sometimes I’m walking my dog charlie and people who I’ve never met will just be like hey Charlie! While ignoring me haha.
imagebeastmarkbeast
New member
@healthchristian My childhood Lhasa Apso would walk next door to where my aunt and grandmother lives and hang out. My grandmother was always sitting outside under a tree reading. If my dog saw she was outside she'd walk over and sit under her chair.
ravenhunter32
New member
@healthchristian 100% he does. Once a week we send him with an amazing dog walker. He goes with 4-5 other dogs for a run and hike. When he sees the dog walker coming he freaks the eff out, trying to claw his way through the door to get to him. He gets to run full tilt, smell weird stuff and see his buddies and I don’t know exactly where they go but he’s gone for an hour and a half.
yeshuaisonlyhope
New member
@healthchristian We walk our dog and she dictates the route (within reason). She gets tons of sniffing and has lots of doggie friends that she greets and exchanges doggie pleasantries with. We have gotten to know a bunch of neighbors this way. She also has a few dogs that she absolutely wants nothing to do with. Recently a friend who house sits for us came to stay while I was also home. She was glued to him. His pets were more like puppy massages. She was so smitten with him it was ridiculous. She is quite the social butterfly.
@healthchristian The eye-opener for me was when I got a camera so I could watch my dog when I'm not home. The crazy stuff she does.
imagebeastmarkbeast
New member
@healthchristian You should just find some time to do this with your dog yourself!
swissmon87
New member
@healthchristian Yes! My dog goes with his dog walker a couple times a week. Occasionally we will run into his walking friends at the dog park -- he is SUPER excited to see them.
imagebeastmarkbeast
New member
@healthchristian That is soooo cute 
@healthchristian This is super cute.
@healthchristian That is so cute!
bethany123itsmeeeee
New member
@healthchristian My husband and daughter take our dog to the dog park a few times a week (while I do some PT for a hand injury) and he has a whole group of friends there I haven't met. I've been once and I met a few of the dogs he likes to play with but obviously not all of them. There's a whole dog social ecosystem there, my daughter and husband analyze it a lot, I had no idea.
craftyturtle
New member
@healthchristian Not really for my dog, but more so for her friend.
At the beginning of the summer, we went up to my in-laws cottage for the first time this year. It’s on a narrow island about 1km long, with a smattering of other cottages along it. It’s the one place we’re comfortable letting our dog roam free, since she can’t get far and won’t get lost.
So we arrive & dock the boat, and Zoe takes off to sniff around while we unload our weekend gear & groceries. She wanders back 20 minutes later— with a golden retriever we’ve never seen before trailing happily behind. The two of them proceed to play chase & then nap together on our beach for a few hours, until a teenage kid in a boat comes driving along the shoreline, clearly looking for something. “Hey, have you seen Bailey?” he shouts. Turns out the golden’s family’s cottage is just four houses down; they just got him 6 months before and it was his first time up at the lake.
Now every time we go the cottage, the first thing Zoe does is run over to Bailey’s house to invite him over to play, and he comes over to hang out for a few hours until his dad comes to get him.
At the beginning of the summer, we went up to my in-laws cottage for the first time this year. It’s on a narrow island about 1km long, with a smattering of other cottages along it. It’s the one place we’re comfortable letting our dog roam free, since she can’t get far and won’t get lost.
So we arrive & dock the boat, and Zoe takes off to sniff around while we unload our weekend gear & groceries. She wanders back 20 minutes later— with a golden retriever we’ve never seen before trailing happily behind. The two of them proceed to play chase & then nap together on our beach for a few hours, until a teenage kid in a boat comes driving along the shoreline, clearly looking for something. “Hey, have you seen Bailey?” he shouts. Turns out the golden’s family’s cottage is just four houses down; they just got him 6 months before and it was his first time up at the lake.
Now every time we go the cottage, the first thing Zoe does is run over to Bailey’s house to invite him over to play, and he comes over to hang out for a few hours until his dad comes to get him.
@healthchristian Yep, my dog Harley. She's a roughly 2 year old red heeler/terrier mix, and we found her when she trotted up to my brother from out of the woods, skinny and flea ridden, but totally comfortable with people. Also we discovered a month later she was also pregnant, though unfortunately the puppy was a Singleton, and didn't survive. Harley is crate trained and is very good with people and can read our body language very well. This makes us think she got tossed my someone who couldn't handle her energy, or she ran away from someone, and found us. Feels nice that she hasn't run away from us, because I've had her for just over a year and I'm glad to report she adores me almost as much as I do her.