A Shot of Courage

I now am the proud owner of four dogs. Crazy, huh? What can I say. I love dogs. My dear husband is such an enabler. I think he wanted the new dog just as much as I did. Her name is Tag and she's a working line German Shepherd Dog a few days shy of 1 year old. She comes with some issues. She is on the timid side and is on the bottom of the pack order, but that's okay. I can help her.

Tag and Maddie, our rescued Rottweiler, were outside catching balls I tossed for them. Maddie wears an e-collar because she doesn't always come when called and likes to go visiting. I got tired of chasing after her. She's a character and has a strong personality. She can get dogs to give in to her with just a "look". Call it the evil eye. People love her, dogs respect her.

I was throwing the balls and the dogs would chase after them. Maddie decided to chase Tag and steal her ball instead of going after her own. She would bump into her and make her spit it out.

I had a "lightbulb" moment. I gave Maddie a shot with the e-collar just as she was about to bump Tag in hopes of stealing her ball. The poke caused Maddie to back off. Tag got her courage up after that. She noticed Maddie had softened up on stealing her ball, so she decided to go after Maddie and steal her ball. Turn about is fair play.

We played for almost an hour with both dogs taking turns and playing fair. We'll see how it goes today. If I'm lucky, I won't have to give Maddie a shot so Tag can find her courage.