Saturday was a full day for Tinsel, David and I . First we went to my son's house for a birthday lunch. There were 10 adults and 3 kids - 2 boys ages 13 and 10 and a 15 year old girl. Here was a good test of his new knowledge that people are interesting.
I kept him on lead the whole time so that he wouldn't go eat all the food on the coffee table or get tripped on by those there that don't live with animals. I asked everyone to take a small treat and keep it with them so that if Tinsel initiated contact they could reward him. I also asked everyone to pretend he wasn't there unless he came over and took the treat. It couldn't have gone better. He said hello to everyone, got fruit, cheese, small amount of pretzel and some pumpernickel bread and thought this was a great game. Except for the fact he decided he could try to help himself to food on occasion he was well behaved too. He went outside on lead and relieved himself and didn't care that the security bell on the door went off occasionally as the kids went outside again and again to jump on the trampoline in the gusty wind. People started coming over to him and giving him a pat on the head and then going on to what ever they were doing. He didn't like it when the "fire" cake came out and we all started singing, but recovered right away. Do you think it was the cake or the singing????? After 2 1/2 hours we proceeded on to our class with Mirkka. There were 2 new dogs. These were 5 1/2 month old shar pei cross pups that had come from another puppymill but had left their mill as babies. They live across the street from each other and hate to be separated. The noise they make is horrid - a cross between a wail and a screech. Tinsel didn't seem to mind and wanted to befriend them. I wanted a tube of CRAZY GLUE! After 1/2 the class I knew that Tin had had enough so we just sat on the chairs with Tin between us on his resting mat and listened. He slept like the dead all the way home.
I asked Mirkka about the use of a muzzle for grooming sessions and she said that it was my decision but if I were to use one to get a basket muzzle and to train him to have it on first and also to be able to reward him for letting me groom. I don't want to use one but I can't trust that his snapping is not going to lead to a bite and I wonder if I am giving off vibes now every time I try to reintroduce grooming. It's quite the dilemma. As I have said before, he doesn't appear to really want to bite and it seems that he does have some inhibition about doing so but this would end up a deal breaker for me if he were to ever go for me or anyone else unless he was injured or extremely ill. He has to be groomed and there is always going to be a chance of a hair getting pulled so he has to learn to live with it without snapping. Wish me luck in getting this resolved. He has come so far and we love the little guy sooooo much but the rule in this house has always been No Teeth On Human Skin. I am going to remain positive and believe we will succeed. Fortunately his first response is flight when he can achieve it which is much better than fight so I have every reason to hope.
I think that is what made the difference for Gypsy she can't see what is about to happen. Wishing you the best you have come so far with Tinsel and I continue to enjoy his journey.