Today’s Challenge: Don’t always trust nature or time to figure things out.

Most of the time we have to step in and take control of our destiny.

About Marek, (possibly) our new German Shepherd and Shorty, our Pug… Back Home But Missing the German Shepherd The German Shepherd is almost 3 and still wants to play. Our Pug is almost 9 and doesn’t want to play… or at least not as rough as an 85 pound young dog.

Most of my dog-loving, dog-owning family and friends keep telling me to “leave them alone, let them play. They’ll figure it out.” But because my Pug has been attacked in the past, I’m over protective. I don’t want Shorty to EVER get attacked again. So, yes, I was a little annoyed that people were so annoyed with me over my constant watch over both of the dogs. After a few days of all of us being together, we (the humans) started to believe what others were telling us “leave them alone, let them play. They’ll figure it out” and so we did. The playing got rougher and Shorty started to go after Marek to put him in his place. I didn’t like what was happening at all… it felt like the tension was escalating. I felt like I wasn’t protecting my baby from the bully.

My man is good friends with an amazing professional dog trainer, so we took Marek to his place so we could do some work with him. We spent a couple of hours, and I asked a lot of questions. He told me that we shouldn’t let Marek touch Shorty. “You don’t let dogs figure it out, we figure it out for them. We make the rules, they don’t.” He also told us that Marek was trying to show dominance over Shorty and that was not good. Just as I had suspected, Marek was being a bully.

We quickly put an end to the “playing.” Marek can’t put his paw on her back or try to nibble on her feet. Marek is not allowed to touch Shorty.

Oh, what a difference! I feel good about this! Shorty is protected. Marek is learning boundaries. And we now live in a much happier home… together. 🙂