Day 7: No Longer Enemies

Tater and I often walk around the short trail in the small park next to our house in the morning. To the right there are two fields one with horses and one with llamas. To the left there is a "compound" with a rottweiler and a bulldog.


When we walk by the dogs Tater goes ballistic, pulling at his leash, barking and yelping. I hate it because he usually ends up choking himself. I've tried bribing him to sit calmly in front of the dogs with treats, but he would just get anxious as soon as we started to move again. I've tried letting him meet the dogs but he just tried to fight them through the fence. I've tried walking with a squeaky toy to distract him, but he ignored it.

So this morning I decided to try something new. I prayed that God would let there be peace between the dogs. Testing the effect of my prayer, I let Tater approach the two dogs who stood waiting anxiously behind the fence.

At first their hackles were raised and they were growling and barking, but then dogs started running back and forth along the fence. After a few moments of this, I let Tater off the leash and the dogs played and ran back and forth for at least a half an hour. I haven't seen Tater have that much fun in a long time. He actually wore the rottweiler out, but he still didn't want to leave.

Now all I have to figure out is how to get Tater to walk by the dogs without wanting to play all the time!