The Danes need socialization and they need something that will make Indigo sleep through the night. She has been getting us up two or three times during the night by barking from her crate in the office. Even after being up several times during the night Indy always starts the morning between 5:00 and 5:30 a.m. I actually changed the pre-set on my coffee maker to go off at 5:00 a.m. instead of 6:00 a.m. so I would at least have coffee when I was dragging myself and the other dogs out of bed before the sun was up.
I took them, and Maya of course, on a three mile hike at Pleasant Grove Friday afternoon. It was hot, humid, and windless. They were all glad to be back in the van when it was over. But when Clay got home we loaded up the Danes again and went to town.
I'm perfectly comfortable walking both Danes by myself at Pleasant Grove, even adding Maya to the mix, but I would not have tried taking Hunter and Indigo downtown on my own. Clay walked Hunter and I held Indy's leash. We parked in the garage and rode the elevator. They were ok with that. We walked up a side street to the mall and then just stood there for a while. Indy didn't want to go any further. We just stood and watched the crowd for a while, then we walked across the mall to the opposite corner. We did the stand, wait, and watch thing again. Finally we waded out into the pedestrian traffic, which was fairly heavy on Friday evening, and walked a block down the mall to an outdoor seating area outside Draft Taproom where Clay works.
We sat, the dogs settled down somewhat and just watched the world go by. Throughout this process several people came up and wanted to pet the dogs. Two Great Danes attract some attention and these two are really striking. Hunter was the most amenable to petting by strangers. As we sat there in the middle of the mall people continued to come up to us so the dogs had several interactions with new people. I was happy that the people all understood that the dogs were nervous and they approached slowly and respectful of the dogs' situation.
I didn't want to push our luck by staying too long and I was needing a beer so we walked over to Champion Brewery and sat outside. There were people around but it was not as active as the mall. Indy just laid down and watched. Hunter stood nearby watching all around. Several more people approached and the dogs handled it. Eventually Hunter began exploring to the length of his six foot leash and both dogs seemed more relaxed. Clay went back to the parking garage to get the van and picked us up. Both dogs hopped into the van happy to be heading home.
It was a pretty good first public experience, but they need a lot more of them. Indy still started the day about 5:00 a.m., but she didn't get us up at all in the middle of the night. I consider that a win.
Downtown Mall, Charlottesville
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| The dogs looked very calm but were actually very nervous. Indy lays down, Hunter stands guard. |
Folks who are interested in Indigo have a cat so we needed a cat test. Clay's mother lives in Charlottesville and she has a cat. Portia is a young cat and I don't know how good her instincts are about dogs. She seems to like them all, or at least she's willing to give them all the benefit of the doubt. I took both Danes because they like to go together and it would be another new experience for them both anyway.
I started with Hunter because he was the first one I pulled out of the van. Hunter is really beginning to warm up to life. He's not nearly as shy and scared as he was. He's curious and willing and wanting to explore new things. When we've been hiking he has really alerted when he saw a squirrel or small rodent running through the grass, so I wasn't sure what he would think about the cat. This cat didn't run, of course, and Hunter just checked him out and went on his way to explore the rest of Berta's kitchen.
After giving Hunter plenty of opportunity to check out the cat, I took him back to the van and brought in Indigo. Indy is coming around too, but not quite as quickly as Hunter. She's pretty good with me now, finally, but new things and new people are still quite suspect. It took a little while for her to realize that the black object on the kitchen counter was actually alive, but she didn't react with any fear or any sign of prey drive. If these dogs were kept by a hoarder for breeding and sale, they probably didn't know any more about cats than they seemed to know about humans. I expect that if Indy is in a new home, a cat will be just one of many things that she would need to learn about and get used to.
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