Sharing Spaces

Sorry Kaiser -- I had one picture that you looked good and Secret looked awful, but this is her blog so her good picture wins. ;o)

Because this what happens when I try to use Photoshop -- hahahahahaha --

At any rate....

Secret has never been much for sharing. In fact, while I wouldn't go so far as to call her a resource guarder, she does happen to think that the world and everything in it belongs to her (if she wants it, that is). If Kaiser takes a toy or chewy that she thinks she would like to have, she barks until he gives it back. If Luke gets to a ball before she does, she barks. If she wants to lay somewhere, she lays on top of Kaiser (for real....). You get the idea.

She also has never been fond of sharing space with strangers. She's not fond of strangers, period. This is not for lack of socialization when she was younger, but I feel a good deal of it comes from *me* not generally being comfortable around strangers and she feeds off this.

For all of this and more, I'm very proud that Secret was able to go to the river and totally not freak out when we found other people on the little beach last night! We've been very spoiled on our trips lately and have had it all to ourselves. There was a trio of younger adults (I feel so old to say something like that) that were hanging out when we arrived. When I asked if they were okay with the dogs they claimed they were leaving, but then were interested in the dogs and hung out for a bit.

And Secret was actually okay with it! Well.... She kept giving them a wary eye, but she managed to engage with me and her toy and move past that. In Secret's world, that's great! This, coupled with how well she did outside the ring at the trial on Saturday, makes me very happy. I don't know that I mentioned it, but she was actively seeking out individuals to say hello and was also interested in several dogs. I don't think her tail ever touched her belly the whole day. :o) I'm happy to see a more confident dog emerging.

Another bonus of the day yesterday -- Secret managed not to lose the brand new $9 Water Wubba that I bought. lol I'm always hesitant to take brand new toys to the river, but Secret seemed to have such a love affair with the old busted up Wubba that was destroyed on our last trip that I thought this one would be safe. And it was. We love the Wubba, I guess!