Blondie's story

My name is Blondie and I don't like other dogs. Trainers, behaviorists and owners always get to do all the talking on dealing with dog aggression, I think it's only fair that since I have had to live with it on a personal level, that I give my thoughts on the issue.

My puppyhood and young adult years are prior to my "new life" and what my old life was, I don't like to revisit. I will say that I have physical scars from dog bites and my ears were poorly cropped in home crop job. I also have had puppies.

I entered my new family's life dog reactive and dog aggressive. I lived at a veterinary hospital for over 2 years, I was not allowed to be with the other dogs, but seeing and hearing them on a daily basis slowly helped to reduce my reactivity towards them.

A change in my family's career meant I had to leave the veterinary hospital and come home to live. My house is a nice house, but it is small and has a very open floor plan, and there are TWO other dogs that live there. We worked out a separate room and rotate plan that works for us. When my family is at work, the other two dogs have run of the house. I spend work days in my room.

Don't feel sorry for me, I have many beds, toys, a nice sunny window, a fish tank to watch and TV or radio to keep me company. When my people are home I come out of my room and the other dogs stay in the master bedroom. We rotate back and forth during our family's awake time at home, and at night I sleep in my room (door closed for my privacy!) and the other 2 dogs have run of the house (although I KNOW they get to sleep with the people in the master bedroom).

I also get to go on a couple of walks a day to the people park, where sometimes I see other dogs and some of them aren't on leashes and sometimes we have to leave the park because of them! My family and I have worked out some words that they say to me to keep me calm and safe in these situations.

My dog aggression doesn't keep me housebound. I am able to travel to places with my family, we go hill climb racing, to the mountains, I go to work and to visit family. I am lucky that our people friends and family are aware of my issue and understand that dog aggression doesn't have anything to do with people aggression.

In fact I LOVE people, especially kids. On our trips, our friends come to see me before they come to see my people and they always bring their kids by just to see ME! I even am able to volunteer with our auto hill climbing club (OK, I sit in the timing vehicle and eat snacks, but that counts!). Just as my family always is, our people friends are always on "other dog" watch and help me to avoid these situations. In fact at times they are more reactive to dogs than I am! I wish I wasn't dog aggressive, but I understand it's not my fault and I am happy with me and with my life.
~ Blondie