Well, I never thought I'd write this, but Maggie, my "recovering reactive" dog went to a park today and she *played* with 5 dogs! I want to cry I am so happy for her.
A friend of mine, Iris, is a vet I work with and she has a fabulous (and Lazy!) Yellow Lab named Jack. We have used Jack once in a Click To Calm practice session from Emma Parsons book and Maggie had absolutely no reaction to him. I asked my friend if we could meet up a park that we both like and the dogs have been to before, although not recently. She was happy to let Jack play with Maggie and my other dog Etta.
We got to the park and Jack was so excited to see us that he was yelping! Not
like him at all! Etta and he are "boyfriend/girlfriend" so she started yelping
back and Maggie was just like "What the heck is going on here?". Iris told
me that there were two Weimeraners jogging with their owner in the park and they
looked pretty intent on doing that. We let the dogs all meet briefly and then
went into the park. Jack is very appropriate and curved, sniffed, etc, but was
mostly busy already greeting Etta. This took the pressure off Maggie and she just went with it.
We went into the park and began playing ball (Maggie and Jack's favorite
activity). Etta ran around doing her own thing. The Weims came bounding over
and I held my breath, but they circled and went back to their owner. I let out
my breath and Maggie continued playing!
A little Black Lab came bounding up to us and ran straight at Maggie. I held my
breath again. She stuck her nose right in Maggie's face and Maggie lip curled. When the other dog did not notice Maggie then snarked at her (no contact, very little noise). The Lab yelped and ran. Maggie looked at me like "I didn't know what to do", meanwhile Etta decided that the dog must have done something wrong and ran after her. Sigh. Luckily the other dog was quite submissive and went belly up right away. Etta decided that was really boring and went back to sniffing the park (hound noses!).
The little Black Lab came right back to join us and now greeted curved, no more
problems! The Weims would pop in and out of the group from time to time and
then return to their owner.
Another little dog came over, looked like a little Golden Doodle maybe 30
pounds, but looked like an adult. Maggie greeted her, it got a little head on
and I saw Maggie go rigid. I called to her in a happy voice and told her that
she was fine and what a nice doggie. She curved herself (!!!) and then after a
great deal of physical effort she pulled herself away!!! Jackpot to Maggie!
The dogs played for about a half hour and then we decided that they looked like
they were about to pass out so we went to the car for water and head out. I
leashed Maggie because she is not used to walking to that parking lot. They all
ambled along nicely. All of a sudden the Weims were back and we were still
walking along nicely and Maggie was on leash! Who is this dog?! MY dog has never been able to walk calmly on leash with other dogs around, especially when they are loose! I'm on cloud nine! 
So a few aha moments for me, even though I already knew some of it, it
reaffirmed it;
~ Maggie can not handle head on approaches or greetings in any way (yet?). It will lead to a snark. I am thinking now that she will even lip lift at Etta if she sticks her face straight in hers. I have no concern about her aggressing at Etta (I think I'd have seen it by now after five years of them being together!), but it is something she just doesn't like.
~ A curved greeting going straight to sniffing does not bring Maggie to any form
of reaction. This was a huge aha for me seeing her be appropriate when the other dog was appropriate.
~ Maggie does not initiate greetings. If the dog comes to her she will try to find a way to "deal" with it, and not always appropriately, but it seems like I can trust her not to "start something". I like this, it helps me feel like she has come farther than I thought.
~ Maggie can be on leash around other dogs while parallel walking!
It was so amazing to see my dog act like a "normal" dog. This was so good for
her! Jack wants to meet up to play again next Monday morning and I can't
wait!!!
If you made it this far, thanks for celebrating with us! :) There is always
hope! And Emma Parsons, if you are reading this, thank you again for all fo your work and all fo the help you have offered to me and to Maggie! Your beloved Ben lives on in every success!!!
--
Jessica Janowski
www.puppyplease.com
"I don't whisper, I translate!"
So very interesting!
So very interesting!