New tricks

Pluto is a very loving dog, but it’s easy not to see how gentle, well-behaved and well-socialised he actually is because he can be so excitable. He greets visitors like he hasn’t seen them in a hundred years and he does have a tendency to jump (which we’re working on). But since we adopted Bess we’ve seen another side to him. He’s taught Bess to play with toys (she’s never had them before and when her fosterer tried to give her some, Bess just ignored them), he’s taught her to feel safe at night when they go to bed in the kitchen, he’s teaching her to interact with other dogs, when she’s particularly itchy (she has an aytopic rash) he gently licks her paws and if she runs off too far away from us, he barks at her and brings her back.

I’ve seen him interact with very young puppies before now and have always been amazed at how wise he is – teaching them when to be submissive, when to be dominant and what is and isn’t acceptable in play (which is exactly how dogs learn; not just through training but through appropriate socialisation with other dogs) but now he’s teaching an older dog new tricks and it’s wonderful to watch. Of course, unless you spend time with him, it’s easy to dismiss him as a crazy but very lovable dog, but when you see Bess and him playing together you realise he’s all that and much more in fact I think he’s pretty fantastic!