About 3-4 years ago I wrote a post about things that our darling rainbow bridge girl Bea taught Sam as they adjusted to life in a home.
Maisy needed another dog to help teach her some things about people and living in a house, even after the wonderful job done by her foster family. Sam has issues, still, but there are some things he’s very good at. He’s very sociable with people and will walk absolutely any route for any time or distance. The walking came easier to Maisy, having another dog to follow and having their confident friend Bucky join them most days at the park helped her form the idea of pack security. She absolutely adores a walk in the park for an hour every morning, always pulls me the same route and has her spots to sniff and kick. She has progressed to now being able to walk that route on her own, as long as she’s with Joe or I (her preference is Joe!) but her confidence from learning the familiar and routine, and trusting us to look after her is wonderful to see.
With Joe and I, she’s the sassiest most demanding little big girl. She cuddles in on the sofa, barks for food, plays chase with toys and gives us very excited Maisy licks. She’s also not shy in telling us what we are doing wrong – the shrieking if she’s not being petted correctly is impressive. With other people she’s taken longer to warm up, and stays a step behind Sam. Watching to see how he reacts and when he leans in for a fuss, she will join in, still sometimes hesitantly but always gaining in confidence following him.
In other areas though, she is “lead puppy”. When she feels safe and secure and happy – she demands what she wants relentlessly and at volume. She launches herself at you for a fuss, cries to summon you for what she wants, turns up whenever you open the fridge and cries until she gets something. Maisy has trained us brilliantly to do what she wants.
And Sam is learning bits from her. It’s subtle but noticeable to us. They are becoming mirror images on a weekend morning – head-butting in the same manner for a good morning fuss, mimicking her “paw of more” for attention and learning her little cries… Sam loves people but is not the boldest dog and won’t force his way to being fussed or onto a bed or sofa. Maisy has no such hesitations over these things and so Sam, after over 4 years in a home, is learning how to express himself in new ways to get what he wants.
Their capacity to learn, to grow, to thrive never ceases to amaze me. They take traits from other dogs they know and work out how they can apply them, they mimic behaviours and patterns and work out how that works for them. For dogs that I have never had any chance of “training” to do anything useful (bed, recall, don’t climb on the worktop…) they are remarkably quick learners.
And Sam and Maisy balance each other out perfectly in their individual traits.
