Daisy Goes Camping

So we had a living history reenactment this weekend, and I convinced Darling Husband that it was a good idea to take Daisy with us.  She's a baby, that's true, but if she is going to travel with us, and she's going to be at reenactments with us, I'd rather her get used to the sound of cannons now than to be terrified of them when she's an adult, and this was a small event, so we packed her along and took her with us.

She loves to ride, but only if she's in her carry-cage. She's not much for just riding in the seat, except when it's just me and her in the car on our way to kindergarten. Then, it's OK. She's content to ride along beside me in the back seat, happily gnawing on a bone she's stolen from big brother, Angel. 

We arrive at the event site, I leash her and put her on the ground and oh my it was like puppy heaven. So many SMELLS!  She was nose to the ground for a good 15 minutes.

Until her nose brought her within eyesight of two of the biggest doggies she'd ever seen. They were tall, lean, muscular, and wearing strange contraptions on their backs.  She went into full Protect Mode. The hair stood up on the back of her head. She went into that famous Pinscher stance, her tail was straight out and her ears were laid back for speed.  And then she went to barking. 

Now, unless you have heard a Min Pin bark, you will not completely appreciate the irony of her thinking that she is actually scaring away the Big Strange Saddled Doggies.  No one could keep a straight face.  And the BSSD's... they just shook their heads in disdain and turned their backs on her.  Talking about adding insult to injury. Thank heaven I had her leashed or she'd have taught those two a thing or two.

I finally managed to get her attention turned elsewhere, and she finally got used to the notion of the horses, and as long as they kept her distance from us, she was fine.  By now, she's on the trail of other scents... camp fires with bacon frying, coffee in iron pots, men who haven't bathed all weekend...  

Yep, she was in puppy heaven.  Not to mention the little tidbits of food that people kept treating her with.   She even got to go through the pumpkin patch and pick out a pumpkin to carve.  (She did get a nibble of pumpkin when it was carved btw... and decided, like her mom, pumpkin is not her favorite food.)

Two things I have learned from training her.

1.  The leash is my friend. And until she is fully trained, it will continue to be my friend.  It's for her safety even if she does dislike it sometimes.

2.  Do not make a big deal of things. The bigger deal YOU make of the Really Loud Noise, the more the puppy will make of it. They do, afterall, believe it is their job to protect you. So if they think you are afraid of the Really Loud Noise, then they too will be upset and worried.

So.. when the cannons went off, she jumped from her place on the quilt and ran to my feet, cowering, but not barking.

I patted her gently on the head and said, "wow, that was loud" and went back to crocheting. I didn't pick her up, I didn't hold her or coddle her.  I let her sit beside my leg and waited for her to deciper the fact that Momma wasn't worried. Momma hadn't even flinched, so the Really Big Noise must not be a big deal.

By the end of the event, the cannons didn't bother her.  She'd jump just a bit and look around, waiting to see what was next, but she wasn't cowering.  That's a GOOD thing.

The men in those Yankee uniforms that ran through our camp, however, were a HUGE deal.  LOL.

Running and yelling through the camp that close to her Human was COMPLETELY unacceptable and she let them know it, too.

And again, I did not restrain her, or hush her, or any of those things. I let her be who she is.  Dog. Protector. Loving, loyal companion. And then I rewarded her with a nice piece of unsalted jerky after.

 And this.........

this look.......

was my reward.

I am without a doubt the luckiest puppy-owned Human on earth.