Phoebe's Tails

Today Phoebe was introduced to these little people called grandchildren. She has never been around kids before, so I was a little stressed when the brood knocked on the door.

The first thing I did was put Phoebe on a leash. I did not want her to jump and topple them over, and at the same time I wanted to be able to control the introduction of dog meets child. Let me just say, I could not have asked for a better experience. I was very proud of both Phoebe and my grandchildren.

As the kids came in I let each one approach separately. Their mom is a lover of all mammals, so the kids have an inherent respect for animals. They did not approach her like gang busters. Each one did what I consider to be perfect doggie etiquette. They put out their hands and let her sniff them first and then scratched her under her chin. When she showed a positive response, they did what all kids do – scratch her head. On the flip side, Phoebe seemed to have her own little doggie respect for the kids.

Whenever Phoebe meets someone she likes she tries to to jump on them. After the introductions, Phoebe tried to jump on the adults, but did not even try to jump on the kids. Unexplained phenomena number one: Maybe some child friendly dogs have some type of instinct that overrides the impulse to avoid toppling little people. It was kind of nice to see Phoebe being so “polite” to the kids. I was very impressed.

The little ones got the basic instructions like don’t play with her face, don’t hug her too tight (especially if she is trying to get away) and don’t surprise her by grabbing her from behind.  They minded themselves and I got to have a worry free day – a bit watchful, but worry free.

I was so surprised that little hyper Phoebe sat calmly as everyone made their rounds petting her throughout the day. Maybe there is a little bit of that therapy dog in her after all.