This is part 4 of Candace's story, the dog that inspired me to found Candace's Pack Dog Rescue
Candace and I were on our way to the dog run. As we get closer, I get a little hesitant. There’s a woman inside with a good sized german shepherd mix. This is the first time I'm seeing anyone else in there. Her dog watches curiously as we approach.
What if there’s a dog fight? I've never seen Candace interact with another dog before, this could be bad. Just as quickly as these thoughts entered my mind, I let them go. I didn't want Candace to pick up on my unsure energy. "Is your dog friendly?" She asks first. "Yes!" I replied "She's afraid of everything" "ok, let them sniff through the fence, he can be weird sometimes"
They sniffed, he got into a play bow, Candace followed. "I think they're ok" his owner said with a smile.
It was love at first sniff. Romeo is his name, and as smooth as he was with Candace it seemed like a perfect fit. He's bigger than her but gentle. They played tag, tug of war, wrestled and he almost always let her win. It was so much fun to watch them play together. They got along so well that we arranged play dates.
Romeo is a confident dog. He's definitely the leader of his pack. This causes him to get aggressive with certain dogs especially when his owner is around. But he was always friendly with Candace. Since he’s a front of the pack dog, I believe the biggest thing she learned from him was confidence. She walked prouder and had overall less anxiety after her time with him.
One night I was dog sitting Romeo for the first time. His owner had to drop him off in a hurry to go to work. In the video you can hear him cry. I felt bad so I texted his owner and she said that he cries every time she leaves for work. I'm going to do a separate post on separation anxiety, but at the time I felt helpless.
I didn't know what to do, but Candace did. I watched in awe as she initiated play with him! I got my phone out to record but I missed the moment of initiation. Romeo got over his anxiety and I couldn't have been prouder.
It’s fun watching these videos today with a new perspective. I didn’t know it at the time but I got to witness masters of energy at work.
Original Instagram post with video:
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bxr4KZbHErL/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link