Don’t Worry, He’s Friendly!

“Don’t worry, He’s friendly!” 

Oh how I recoil every time someone cheerfully wants me to know about their dog with absolutely no consideration for my two creatures who are just chomping at the bit, poised to create an ugly scene.

I’m often so flabbergasted that someone looking at my two dogs thinks  I want to hear how many Facebook friends Fluffy has!

I used to respond that my dogs were working service-dogs and not allowed to interact, but that was an obvious stretch. 

The problem is there is a much bigger issue for the dogs whose owners think their dogs deserve the Nobel Peace Prize, and that is their lack of understanding of what it’s like for friendly Fluffy when they encounter dogs that are not so friendly

And now I will digress…

When I adopted Fanny, my big bully mix years ago, she seemed to get along with other animals, especially my cats, and she had no issue walking past unfamiliar dogs on the street, however, it was her roommate, Fonzie, the small but mighty terrier mix, who could easily start a fight with other dogs, and even squirrels, when he felt the urge. The issue wasn’t his bravado, but rather my concern that Fanny, after lots of exposure to Fonzie’s outbursts, would jump into the fray.

Emotions are contagious, so to speak, so even a friendly dog like Fanny, having been exposed to Fonzie’s agitation, would likely, over time, react to other dogs in the same way and or redirect and bite Fonzie, which is exactly what happened. 

While it would seem logical to work with Fonzie to change his emotional response, I made a decision to begin working with Fanny since the consequences of a redirected bite from this chunky monkey was more concerning than a bite from the almost toothless Fonzie.

And yes, the behavior plan worked incredibly well such that anytime Fonzie would bark at another dog, Fanny got the royal treatment, emphasis on “treat”. Over time, instead of having a negative response to her pugnacious little roommate, she began to look forward to his outbursts, which became less frequent, as I suspect the mighty Fonzie was keenly aware that food was “raining from the sky” and he wanted in on that game too.

Unfortunately, for friendly dogs like Fluffy, the guardian, does not pay attention to how these encounters with less than friendly dogs impact their own dog’s  emotional wellbeing, jeopardizing not only their relationship, but also, how long Fluffy will remain friendly, given these negative encounters.

Sadly, these are the clients who call me because their dog, seemingly out of the blue, is now anxious on walks, tries to avoid other dogs or expresses their discomfort with barking and lunging behavior.  

Instead of making it a goal to meet every dog on the street, I advise them to set a goal to give Fluffy the “royal treatment” whenever they see other dogs!  This is one of the best ways to make sure Fluffy remains friendly, even though there are some of us who will still cringe when we hear, “Don’t worry, he’s friendly!”

HAPPY TRAINING & ENRICHMENT

© Fran Berry CPDT-KA, UW-AAB all rights reserved 2025