Penny Meets Her Match

Heading to the beach with Eko is easy. He knows the joint like the back of his paw, he romps for a bit, and he has good recall so leaving is a cinch. Heading to the beach with Penny is another story. My little wrecking ball tears up and down the beach with unbridled puppy joy. For the most part I just have to keep up, but occasionally I have to shepard Penny away from other dogs who don’t share her playful exuberance. Penny still must learn to move on when a dog declines her invitation to play. I always supervise Penny, but this particular lesson is one best taught through socialization and experience with other pups. Luckily, we stumbled up the perfect teaching partner the other day.

As usual, Penny rose out of the water with all the subtlety of Godzilla 

And, as usual, Penny set off a frenzied dash from the other pup

At first I thought this would be another time I needed to step in and settle Penny 

But a light bulb seemed to go off in the other pup’s head

“Hey, you know what? I’m a crazy puppy too!”

At that moment, a very nice woman quickly said, “She’s a five month old pup and a bit crazy, so please let me know if she plays too rough.” “Perfect!” I said.

On cue, the pup turned the tables on Penny and chased her down the beach.

The pup was completely friendly, but I could see Penny wanted to disengage

“Hey, I’m supposed to be the annoying one!”

I kept a close watch on the two, and I saw Penny use body language and a little “back off” bark to send the other pup on her way. Penny was clearly flummoxed by the role reversal.

Oh, and where was Eko during all of this you ask? Comfortably watching the whole thing unfold with an evil grin on his face.

 “Excellent” (Mr. Burns voice)

Could Eko or I have intervened? Sure. But was Penny ever in any danger? Nope. Well, unless you count being in danger of learning a thing or two. As Penny grows, here’s hoping this lesson will stick with her!