Well, I should have known better, but I tried, and it went as badly as I thought it would..
King's seven now, officially upper middle aged, at least, and seems to have very slightly mellowed over the last year or so, so I decided to see if maybe, just maybe, he could go to doggie day care, and not cause problems, or get into a fight. Not that he would start one, it's just that he gets so rough that one of the other dogs wouldn't take his rough way of playing, and it would get nasty.
So, I call this newer place and talk to the owner, and they tell me to bring him out for an "audition", and see how he is with their two labs and another dog or two. I set it up for two days later, and hang up the phone. So, I get off work the day of the audition, and go home and pick him up and go out to the place. It's pretty nice, and there are the owners two Labs, a Golden, and a Lab/Shepherd mix, the boss of the group. King and I get out of the truck and he instantly smootches the owner and her daughter. They are already saying, "Oh, I think he'll be fine!", but I warn them he's insanely rough when he plays and seems to get into trouble a lot. Of course, He makes me look like a neurotic "daddy" and is GREAT, no tackling other dogs, no butt chomping, no staring down, no "ambushes", no getting a toy and waiting for another dog to get near it and starting trouble. NO NOTHING! I guess he didn't feel ok, or something, I had never seen him so calm, and relaxed. I tell the owner that he's not "acting right", but by now she thinks I've just been a worrier, and tells me to bring King in for his first day, in the medium group, the next day.
We show up and there are 12 dogs in the group. Four labs, a Doberman, two Goldens, a Golden and something small mix, 3 Lab mixes, a smallish Shepherd, and the obvious leader, a Lab/Chow mix, named Jake. Two of the labs are the owner's dogs. King is the oldest dog in the group, by over 2 years. I think to myself when he goes in, "Maybe this will work, I've just been worried about nothing after all, maybe he's finally going to be sane!" He runs into the area (it's outside, with an indoor area for them to go if it rains), and greets the owners Labs nicely, and runs around for a couple of minutes, peeing on everything, as usual.
We go into the building, and watch from inside. Then suddenly he freezes and stares at the boss dog, Jake, who's watching King very closely. King runs over and jumps on him. Jake bails out, and then they sniff each other's rears. Jake suddenly decides to grab King and start humping away on him. The Dobe is nearby, he seems to be the number two in the pack. Almost all the dogs in the group outweigh King by 5 to 15 pounds, with Jake and the Dobe, Spike, being the tallest, and the owner's Labs being the heaviest, at about 80 pounds. king bails out and he and the Dobe check each other out. When he's next to one, you can sure see the Doberman in King. The Dobe wants to play! Again, I think it's going to be ok, but..
The boss Jake comes over and his hair is up a little. King and him touch noses and King whacks him across the face and starts wanting to wrestle. He's already leery, and gets all stiff, and snaps at King when King starts shoving him around, and doing his play "snarling". King freezes and stares at Jake, who stares back, then cracks and looks away and starts sniffing the ground. King runs around the area, and then stands up on his back legs and looks over at Jake, and then runs over, on two legs, and slams into Jake, knocking him down and he's not happy about it. He jumps up and his hair is all up and he tries to bite King, who turns and slams his butt into Jake, and then runs over and starts humping the Doberman, who turns his head back and forth, trying to bite King, but just bites air. King lets him go, and starts making all his crazy noises and runs over to Jake, who wants nothing to do with him. King runs around him and jake starts to calm down, and King slams into him again, knocks him down and starts doing his "RRR-RRRR-RRRR-RRRR-YIP!" thing he does when playing.
But Jake doesn't think he's playing, and wants to go at it now, and makes a charge at King, who lets him chase him around a few times, and now King is in full "obnoxious" mode, and grabs one of the tennis ball and rope toys and tosses it in front of Jake, who is panting pretty heavily at this point. King has the "evil grin" he always gets when he messes with other dogs, the tail is spinning about 100RPM, and as soon as Jake makes the slightest move towards the toy, King jumps on him, and yips at him. Jake's confused, and tries to get the toy again, and King screeches at him, and picks the toy up and shakes it, and drops it again. Then he sits down and Jake tries again, and gets jumped on again. His ears are pinning back every time King yips or jumps at him. King grabs the toy, takes it over to Spike, who wants no part of it, or King, and just walks away, and comes inside, apparently to get the owner. He comes in and just looks at her, and then got on the couch and sighed loudly. King is tormenting Jake again, and also is trying to get the Shepherd to play with him, too, without any success. Jake is getting upset again, and I say to the owner, "Well, this is what he's usually like, you want him doing this every day?"
She still isn't cracking, but Jake kind of cracked for her, when he decided that he had enough of this puny nutcase harrassing him, and flat out attacked King, who yelped, and then decided that if Jake wanted to go at it, that was fine, and they really made some terrible noises. We went out to stop it, and as soon as King saw me, he stopped fighting and ran over to me. He wasn't upset at all as far as I could see, and had only a tiny spot on one ear where he was bleeding slightly. Jake was a mess, with a big hunk of white foam on his face, a "punched" ear and he was panting his head off. King glared at Jake, and was trying to get away from me and run back over to start up again.
We took King inside, and Spike left and ran outside as fast as he could. We sat down and talked for a while, while King and the owner's hubby smootched on the couch. She shakes her head and says, "Well, I can't say you didn't warn me!" She also asked me if he was like that with bigger dogs, like Rotts, and I said, "He's even worse, he'll play all kinds of head games with them until they are tired, and then he'll start humping away!" By this time, King was lying down on the couch getting his stomach scratched and getting very sleepy. Needless to say, they didn't want him to come back, "He's so calm and relaxed with people, but so insane around other dogs!" "I don't think he'll work out, I'm sorry!" "There's no charge for today, don't worry about it!"
So I took him to the pet store to by some dog food, and he, like usual, peed all over the place and enjoyed looking at the Macaws and a puppy that came in. He's slightly less insane around small pups, but usually they get scared of him too. He was pretty nice and didn't totally terrorize the little Coonhound mix pup. I guess he was tired after his little adventure. When we got home, he had charged his batteries, and proceeded to start messing around with Molly to the point where she wanted to take his face off. Like always, he loved it!
King's seven now, officially upper middle aged, at least, and seems to have very slightly mellowed over the last year or so, so I decided to see if maybe, just maybe, he could go to doggie day care, and not cause problems, or get into a fight. Not that he would start one, it's just that he gets so rough that one of the other dogs wouldn't take his rough way of playing, and it would get nasty.
So, I call this newer place and talk to the owner, and they tell me to bring him out for an "audition", and see how he is with their two labs and another dog or two. I set it up for two days later, and hang up the phone. So, I get off work the day of the audition, and go home and pick him up and go out to the place. It's pretty nice, and there are the owners two Labs, a Golden, and a Lab/Shepherd mix, the boss of the group. King and I get out of the truck and he instantly smootches the owner and her daughter. They are already saying, "Oh, I think he'll be fine!", but I warn them he's insanely rough when he plays and seems to get into trouble a lot. Of course, He makes me look like a neurotic "daddy" and is GREAT, no tackling other dogs, no butt chomping, no staring down, no "ambushes", no getting a toy and waiting for another dog to get near it and starting trouble. NO NOTHING! I guess he didn't feel ok, or something, I had never seen him so calm, and relaxed. I tell the owner that he's not "acting right", but by now she thinks I've just been a worrier, and tells me to bring King in for his first day, in the medium group, the next day.
We show up and there are 12 dogs in the group. Four labs, a Doberman, two Goldens, a Golden and something small mix, 3 Lab mixes, a smallish Shepherd, and the obvious leader, a Lab/Chow mix, named Jake. Two of the labs are the owner's dogs. King is the oldest dog in the group, by over 2 years. I think to myself when he goes in, "Maybe this will work, I've just been worried about nothing after all, maybe he's finally going to be sane!" He runs into the area (it's outside, with an indoor area for them to go if it rains), and greets the owners Labs nicely, and runs around for a couple of minutes, peeing on everything, as usual.
We go into the building, and watch from inside. Then suddenly he freezes and stares at the boss dog, Jake, who's watching King very closely. King runs over and jumps on him. Jake bails out, and then they sniff each other's rears. Jake suddenly decides to grab King and start humping away on him. The Dobe is nearby, he seems to be the number two in the pack. Almost all the dogs in the group outweigh King by 5 to 15 pounds, with Jake and the Dobe, Spike, being the tallest, and the owner's Labs being the heaviest, at about 80 pounds. king bails out and he and the Dobe check each other out. When he's next to one, you can sure see the Doberman in King. The Dobe wants to play! Again, I think it's going to be ok, but..
The boss Jake comes over and his hair is up a little. King and him touch noses and King whacks him across the face and starts wanting to wrestle. He's already leery, and gets all stiff, and snaps at King when King starts shoving him around, and doing his play "snarling". King freezes and stares at Jake, who stares back, then cracks and looks away and starts sniffing the ground. King runs around the area, and then stands up on his back legs and looks over at Jake, and then runs over, on two legs, and slams into Jake, knocking him down and he's not happy about it. He jumps up and his hair is all up and he tries to bite King, who turns and slams his butt into Jake, and then runs over and starts humping the Doberman, who turns his head back and forth, trying to bite King, but just bites air. King lets him go, and starts making all his crazy noises and runs over to Jake, who wants nothing to do with him. King runs around him and jake starts to calm down, and King slams into him again, knocks him down and starts doing his "RRR-RRRR-RRRR-RRRR-YIP!" thing he does when playing.
But Jake doesn't think he's playing, and wants to go at it now, and makes a charge at King, who lets him chase him around a few times, and now King is in full "obnoxious" mode, and grabs one of the tennis ball and rope toys and tosses it in front of Jake, who is panting pretty heavily at this point. King has the "evil grin" he always gets when he messes with other dogs, the tail is spinning about 100RPM, and as soon as Jake makes the slightest move towards the toy, King jumps on him, and yips at him. Jake's confused, and tries to get the toy again, and King screeches at him, and picks the toy up and shakes it, and drops it again. Then he sits down and Jake tries again, and gets jumped on again. His ears are pinning back every time King yips or jumps at him. King grabs the toy, takes it over to Spike, who wants no part of it, or King, and just walks away, and comes inside, apparently to get the owner. He comes in and just looks at her, and then got on the couch and sighed loudly. King is tormenting Jake again, and also is trying to get the Shepherd to play with him, too, without any success. Jake is getting upset again, and I say to the owner, "Well, this is what he's usually like, you want him doing this every day?"
She still isn't cracking, but Jake kind of cracked for her, when he decided that he had enough of this puny nutcase harrassing him, and flat out attacked King, who yelped, and then decided that if Jake wanted to go at it, that was fine, and they really made some terrible noises. We went out to stop it, and as soon as King saw me, he stopped fighting and ran over to me. He wasn't upset at all as far as I could see, and had only a tiny spot on one ear where he was bleeding slightly. Jake was a mess, with a big hunk of white foam on his face, a "punched" ear and he was panting his head off. King glared at Jake, and was trying to get away from me and run back over to start up again.
We took King inside, and Spike left and ran outside as fast as he could. We sat down and talked for a while, while King and the owner's hubby smootched on the couch. She shakes her head and says, "Well, I can't say you didn't warn me!" She also asked me if he was like that with bigger dogs, like Rotts, and I said, "He's even worse, he'll play all kinds of head games with them until they are tired, and then he'll start humping away!" By this time, King was lying down on the couch getting his stomach scratched and getting very sleepy. Needless to say, they didn't want him to come back, "He's so calm and relaxed with people, but so insane around other dogs!" "I don't think he'll work out, I'm sorry!" "There's no charge for today, don't worry about it!"
So I took him to the pet store to by some dog food, and he, like usual, peed all over the place and enjoyed looking at the Macaws and a puppy that came in. He's slightly less insane around small pups, but usually they get scared of him too. He was pretty nice and didn't totally terrorize the little Coonhound mix pup. I guess he was tired after his little adventure. When we got home, he had charged his batteries, and proceeded to start messing around with Molly to the point where she wanted to take his face off. Like always, he loved it!
