Sunday

 

After our early morning walk with Toby, we put him in his crate for vital alone time and headed out to walk in the surrounding neighborhoods. We try to avoid the causeway and trail on the weekends when the weather's nice, as it was today (due to Covid and crowds). The high temperature was 73 degrees this afternoon, but only 60 when we started out on the neighborhood walk. 

We walked to the community center and to Highlander Park directly behind it. We walked briefly on the Pinellas Trail to get back to Palm Boulevard to get back into our neighborhood.

Toby met a good old Labrador on his early morning walk.  The Lab saw Toby coming up behind him, so he sat and waited to say hi.

He met a couple of other dogs on our afternoon walk. Even the iffy ones who snarl don't seem to bother him. However, there was one dog behind a fence that spooked him. He turned and headed home, pronto. No ifs, ands, or buts. It reminds me of how a horse can get spooked. 

I did some research and learned that getting spooked is a normal developmental period as puppies approach one year old, leaving puppyhood and entering adolescence (called "juvenile onset shyness"). It is temporary and completely normal. New things (and even not-so-new things) will seem scary when they didn't used to. Here's what to do when your dog is spooked:

• talk normally in a relaxed and cheerful way
• pet your dog if he wants to be near you to provide comfort and build trust
  
• stay relaxed and don't panic
• go in another direction to minimize his exposure to what frightened him
• show your dog something he loves whenever he's nervous

Within a few months, the dog will be just as social and happy as he was when he was a puppy.

I fixed an Indian dish tonight: chickpea potato curry over rice. 

Miles walked: 9.1
Miles biked: 0