My Mom’s got a lot of old school practical advice for problems, her favorite being, “breathe deep” for whatever fiasco you’re facing. If some sort of farm combine machine took off my arm, she’d tell me to “breathe deep.” And while I’m sure that might help somewhat in that situation, I tend to think “bigger picture” when it comes to problem solving. So sometimes, I kind of blow off her simple advice.
She was visiting recently, and she loves spending time with her furry grandchild. She gets all goofy and talks to her just like a baby. And Hershey adores her. So she’s sitting there petting her, and Hershey’s all sweet and docile, like she hardly ever is with the rest of us.
“Look, I’m talking to her softly and petting her and she’s calming down,” my Mom said. “I think it really helps. She’s a sweet, sweet dog. You should try it.”
Sweet is not the word I’ve been using to describe Hershey these days. My Mom just caught her at a good moment. But I nodded and smiled to humor my Mom, and thought, right, just a little dog whispering is going to solve all my puppy problems. But I noticed that Hershey was a little pile of mush at her feet. Perhaps she was just trying to gain an ally.
But the next morning when the kids came downstairs for breakfast and Hershey was ready to spring out of the crate and head straight for the kids, I stopped her and did what my Mother did. I petted her slowly, and talked to her softly. And she did not go all spring-break-wild like she normally does.
She calmed down quite a bit, and sat still, allowing me to pet her and praise her gently and quietly. And while she did go over to greet the kids, (because who knows what kind of crumbs could be stuck to their hands and face that she could lick off) she didn’t jump on them or send them running for the safety of the couch.
I’ve tried this on several occasions and it’s worked. I’ve noticed that sometimes we are very excited in our praise for Hershey, which just gets her more excited. I’m not sure if it’s the gentle tone of my voice, or the volume of my voice or the petting, but hey, go me. Finally, I’m doing something right and productive with this pup. And it turns out to be just the sort of simple advice my Mother likes to dole out.
So now during the day, even when Hershey’s not excitable, I do the soft-talking petting thing with her. It seems to be calming her down overall, morphing her more often into the sweet, loveable dog we were hoping for.
If only I could teach her to “breathe deep” who knows how good she could be.
Of course the bad news in all of this, is that I’m going to have to call my Mother and tell her she’s right. And then she’ll use her second most uttered phrase, the runner up to “breath deep.”
And that is, “See? Your mother was right.”
They usually are, aren’t they.
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Have you missed any of the articles in this series?
If so, you can find them at:
The Bringing Up Puppy Series page.
Related posts:
- Bringing Up Puppy Series – The Worst Lab
- Bringing Up Puppy Series – Hello Stranger
- Bringing Up Puppy Series – Fairy Dog Mother – Part 2
- Bringing Up Puppy Series – The Fairy Dog Mother
- Bringing Up Puppy Series – Hersheys New Trick
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