A Little Help from a Friend

There are many times that I dream about getting a little brother for Chili. To be clear, I’m meaning the four legged kind. She loves being around other dogs and will play, play, play until there’s no play left. I imagine them cuddled up together and hanging out. I imagine Chili teaching him everything she knows...... and that’s where the dream comes to a screeching halt. I love my girl and she has a lot of very endearing qualities, but she’s a brat. She’s a smiley, wiggly, enthusiastic, stubborn, independent, queen of the mountain brat. I have to be ‘on’ at every moment with her. If I slack off for one moment, she doesn’t miss it and takes the ground. She’s a lot of work and the idea of her teaching another dog her tricks is exhausting. One day, when she calms down a bit I may seriously consider the idea, but for now, she can be the only dog in the house. Maybe that’s her plan.

This doesn’t mean that she doesn’t get to teach other dogs her tricks in the meantime. She can do that at daycare and they can deal with it. Although, when she’s in the pack, she falls right into her place in the middle. She doesn’t care to be the leader. I guess you have more fun in the middle, nothing to worry about. That sounds about right for Chili.

In the summer I did get a few opportunities to watch Chili teaching her friend Oakley and Oakley, in turn, teaching Chili. Oakley is a perfect match for Chili since he’s solid and doesn’t mind playing rough. Chili loves body checking other dogs and she loves to be body checked too. Oakley needed a confidence boost and that’s something Chili has miles of. Chili is also excellent when it comes to sharing toys and balls. At first, Oakley would shy away and let Chili catch the toy. Then, Chili started to slow down and let Oakley get there first. You could see him having more and more fun as they played. She would catch it, then he would catch it, then they would both have an end. They shared perfectly.

Then Oakley had the opportunity to return the favour. Being a Lab, he’s a great swimmer and boy does he love the water. Chili loves the water too, but isn’t confident about being in over her head. You can see her bobbing up and down as she bounces on her back feet. She swims, but only if she can put her feet down and touch the bottom.

We threw the floating toy out into the water and neither dog hesitated, until Chili got to the point that she had to bob up and down, then she slowed. Not Oakley, he swan full on to the toy and swam back ready to go again. It took about 3 throws for Chili to start forgetting her fears and submit to just having fun. She started getting braver and braver following Oakley into the water. She would bob, then swim, bob then swim, each time swimming a little more. Then came the point that she was getting to the toy before Oakley and swimming the whole way back with it. They were having a ball and I was loving watching her learn to swim.

There was one point where I was held my breath though. I thought it might be the end of swimming for Chili. Oakley had caught the toy and made it to shore first. Chili stayed out in the water. When we threw the toy back into the water, Oakley took a running leap out into the lake. He landed right on top of Chili and kept swimming for the toy. For a few seconds, all we could see in the water was Oakley. No Chili. We waited and waited. The couple of seconds felt like minutes. I knew I had to stay cool for Chili’s sake. Then, her head popped up. I happily said her name and when she turned around, you could see panic all over her face. I pretended as if it didn’t happen and told her to get the toy. She swam directly to shore and to my side. Once Oakley returned, we kept throwing and she went right back into play mode. Disaster averted. Thankfully she wasn’t scared too much by her dunking and kept on playing.

Even for dogs, it’s great to get a little help from a friend. They can teach each other good and bad habits in a way that we could only wish. Chili gained some confidence in her swimming that day and although she could use a few more lessons, Oakley brought her further along than any other day of playing in the water with us. It’s days like that, that make we wonder if she should have a little brother. Then I remember; I named the blog ‘The Bratty Dog’ for a reason. Perhaps I’ll wait on that thought.