Territorialism

Maya went on her second road trip on Saturday and learned a valuable lesson in territorialism.

After puppy class we came home and I let her play outside in the yard for a while before we headed to Connecticut for a picnic at my brother’s house. She got along well with his dog, a rescued beagle, but since both were tethered to long lines they kept getting tangled.

Then we went to R&B’s place and we met their dog, an absolutely beautiful Siberian husky that is the sweetest dog you could imagine. Stasha, the husky, welcomed Maya nicely and even got out some of her toys for Maya. Then the two played on the floor while I sat on the couch chatting with my old college roomy and his wife and boy, who is in late 20s. All was well, until we went out onto the desk to look at some work they’d been doing on the place. Maya decided she could probably get through the railing and started trying. I didn’t think she could. Duh! She made half a dozen tries and then wriggled through one! I headed for the gate and managed to grab her on the other side. Then R had to go make some nonchalant comment about just letting the two dogs play in the yard.

I let her go and go she went. Through the thicket of bamboo—why a Vietnam vet with a history of PTSD would lines his yard with bamboo I haven’t figured, though it is a great natural fence, just not at the one gap Maya bee-lined into. At first I was worried because the neighbor is a disagreeable misanthrope, but as Boy headed after Maya, taking Stasha along for help, I started hearing a lot of unfamiliar barking.

I went around the bamboo and headed uphill to the high end of the neighbor’s yard toward that of another neighbor where a woman was down on her knees holding back a big and rather annoyed dog that looked to be a sort of long-haired German shepherd. Maya was blithely trotting out from another part of that dog’s yard, although the two animals were separated by a fenced garden. I thought she was heading back to me, until Maya abruptly turned and headed straight for the snarling shepherd! Boy and I both started yelling, Maya! The look on the woman’s faced was like, ‘Oh, shit! Not good.’ Maya just has not known anything but other friendly pups that only want to play

I was imaging having to try to rescue her from that dog and wondering how badly she’d be hurt when realized what was happening. Finally. She bolted and headed back, head and tail down and her hackles standing straight up. She did take a quick look back at the other dog and then scooted over to me. I leashed her, tossed apologies over to the woman and brought Maya back to the house. We went in and Maya settled down protected between the couch and chair. Maya had gotten her first lesson in territorialism.

Yesterday, she was still nervous. I took her out to go for a walk, and rather than go in the car we started up the hill to walk around the neighborhood. She wasn’t any too happy about it and balked considerable, especially as we approached the house two doors up from us, where they also have a big shepherd that likes to bark down at us from time to time. Maya was certainly more alert on this roam about the neighborhood than usual and I had to push her on a bit keep her going sometime. She wasn’t tired, since she hadn’t been out much yesterday because of the rain. I think she would have been just as happy to have stayed safely at home.