Adventures in Dogwalking: Alladin and Nelly

This morning there were only two dogs to walk that were up for adoption: poor Lilo, who's now missing her friend Jenny, and a cute, fluffly English Sheepdog cross named Milo. When I arrived, both were already out on their walks, but that didn't mean I had to miss out on any dogwalking fun: there were at least eight strays out in the back that were waiting for their walk too.

Stray dogs are obviously dogs that were found wandering out in the streets somewhere; when they come into the SPCA they are assessed for temperment and "held" for about a week or so. If their assessment is positive i.e no people aggression, and they haven't been claimed after the week, they officially become the property of the SPCA and can be put up for adoption.

Since some of the strays were still being assessed, they weren't allowed to be walked outside with the other dogs; instead, we had to take them out to the individual fenced areas in the back.

The first dog I had out was a lovely German Shepherd/Husky mix. My two favorite dog breeds in one! When I had my time with her she didn't have a name yet, so I had to resort to getting her attention with various sounds and names (the staff later named her Nelly). At first she was really excitable; she kept lunging towards the next pen where another lovely looking dog was having her time out. Nelly's working dog genes meant that she was really strong, and I had enough of a challenge trying to control her! After I saw her nibbling at some grass I busted out the treats, which she took so gently from my hand. Then she calmed down a lot and followed me around the yard without any problems. With regards to the other dog, it turned out they only wanted to be friends, and after sniffing each others noses both tails were wagging and both of them wanted to keep each other in sight, until we walkers pulled them away to get some more exercise.

The next stray I walked was a tiny little Pomeranian cross who has since been named Alladin. Poor little guy, he was so scared! Apparently when they picked him up they had to use the catchpole on him because he was freaking out and thrashing all over the place. We got to walk on the regular trail, and he walked so well (sometimes almost too well, as he would stay very close to me and I'd be afraid of accidently trodding on him), except the strange thing was on the trail he didn't seem to know how to get over some of the fallen logs; I'd step over them like normal and when I looked back, there he was just standing there as if he wasn't sure what to do. Then he'd try to crawl under it, which was cute and sad all at the same time, like no one's ever taken him to any place with trees on the ground. I encouraged him to take an easy shortcut (which was leading him to higher ground and then going over the log) which worked well for him.

Whenever I would offer my hand to him to sniff, he would do so and give me a little lick afterwards. Sounds promising, but when I slowly and gently started to pet him, his ears would flatten and his tail would stop wagging. He didn't do anything else, but obviously the touch made him anxious and afraid...perhaps someone has hurt this little guy in the past. Towards the end of our time together when I'd give him some little pets his ears would twitch, but they would stay perked up a little more (one of the other volunteers asked if Alladin tried to bite me when I tried to pet him, which is what happened when they initially brought him in). He is a good dog, but very scared. Who can blame him?