Sammy Story 16: People!
October 8, 2020 | Sammy Stories | 1 Comment
Sammy meets his first visitors.
This dog will never cease to amaze me. Our good friends, Tom and Deb came over for a visit. They sat at the high table on our deck with us, along with Sammy. This scared, cringing little canine who flinches at every unknown sound, actually came up to Tom and sniffed him, letting him reach down and pet him the very first time he met him! He even went up on his hind legs to do it, since they were sitting on counter stools. Perhaps the scent of their own dog, Jax, made him overcome his inhibitions, but he sure seemed to like Tom—even more than Deb. A man! Think of it!
Theo leaned over to pet him too. Oh no! Now that was taking it too far.
Flinch.
Dirty look.
Oh well, baby steps, baby steps.
A few weeks later, we were having a party. Lots of friends would be coming over, and horrors! Some of them would be men! We didn’t know how Sammy would react. He was getting used to us, in that he didn’t run and hide now, even if Theo walked within six feet of him, but would he flee and hide up in our bedroom when the guests arrived?
What a surprising little fellow! He stayed with us in the living room the whole time, watching the proceedings from his basket. About fifteen people gathered in the open space of our kitchen, dining and living room. They were eating, talking, laughing, moving around, and our little doggy was fine with it all. I wondered who had come and stollen our scared little Sammy and replaced him with this imposter!
Of course, people wanted to pet him or hold him, but they knew he was a rescue dog and they would have to approach slowly, even if he did let them get near. Again, it was a shock to me to see him accept their pats to his head without bolting. Of course, getting the odd snack or two slipped to him didn’t hurt anything.
It was after this, that I realized our little dog actually liked and needed to be with people. He was both scared and social. What a combination! It would be up to us to give him space and nurture to bring out the social side and heal the scared side.
