Rambling Post from SuperSickShibaPerson

Well, Nanaimo finally got some snow and I’m sick.  I’d like to say “sick as a dog”, but Tierce has been disgustingly healthy.  Well, that was before he barfed up some bile in the car, when my boyfriend decided to take him to the dog park to run around.  Tierce and the dog park are not always compatible, as my boyfriend found out when Tierce decided to take offense at a Shepherd/Rottweiler mix who promptly pinned him down and gave him a smacking.  Not to be deterred, Tierce decided to launch a full offensive, only to be separated from his bemused antagonist by Boyfriend and the other dog’s owner.

cloak-005Sometimes Tierce gets on alright with other dogs; sometimes not.  However, in the dog park, there are 2 acres that he could be deciding to fight another dog in and that just doesn’t do it for me.  I might try him out after he’s neutered, but I’m still leery of it.  Neutering doesn’t always “fix” all the aggression and dominance issues some Shibas have.  Tierce is much better one-on-one with other dogs, or with females (surprise, surprise).

And my boyfriend isn’t planning on taking Tierce back to the dog park.  Amazingly enough, the owner of the other dog was frantically apologizing, probably the result of having a large, strong dog with obvious guarding breed ancestry.  Boyfriend, bless his heart, said, “Why are you apologizing?  My dog was being an asshole and deserved whatever he got!”

Tierce was fine, by the way, which was a good thing, as that dog could have seriously taken a chunk out of him had he wanted to, from Boyfriend’s description.  I’m wondering if there really is some kind of “small dog syndrome”.  I’ve heard owners of Rottweilers and APBT talk about it – small dogs going for their dogs for no apparent reason (often while their owners wring their hands and accuse the owner of the attacked dog for having a vicious monster).

Either way, Tierce is not going back into the dog park for a long, long time.  Now my boyfriend knows why I generally don’t let him in there unless there are no other dogs (although that’s tricky, because someone could come in with their dog at any moment).  All’s well that ends well, but things can be better when they don’t happen in the first place.

And, no, that picture above has nothing to do with the subject of today’s treatise; it’s just a cute picture of Tierce on the SCA garb my brother scored off of Craigslist for me.

2 Comments

  1. When my Shiba(Cody) was younger I tried out the dog park a few times. He never was interested in running around and would instead jump up onto the picnic table I was sitting at. He’d just sit there, watching the other dogs run around.

  2. Wish all small dog owners were like you and your boyfriend 🙂

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