This past weekend we took him to my sister-in-law's house and had him meet her border collies. Sam, the female border collie, was quick to accept Enzo in her back yard but Elvis, the male border collie, wanted to Enzo know who was in charge. After a few moments of slow cicling and sniffing, Elvis decided to fire a shot across Enzo's bow. Enzo and Elvis got along OK after that with Enzo never trying to push Elvis around. Yay, Enzo has taken his first steps into polite doggie behavior.
Last night our seemingly nightly game of stop-trying-to-mouth-daddy's-hand was getting tiring to me. I was sit ting in my chair with Enzo on the ground in front of me. I slowly "fell" forward onto my hands and knees on the carpet - all the while growling a deep slow growl. Enzo sat down, looked up calmly at me, and in excellent submissive puppy behavior licked my lips. He was very careful to only open his mouth just enough to get his tongue out as he sat calmly and licked me.
This may seem like a non-event to most people, but combined with the recall and fetch training I've given him over the past couple of days, I feel like he's finally learning a little respect. Yeah, I know, the next couple of months are going to get harder as he enters adolescense, but hopefully by the time he's a year old we'll have a kind, faithful, gentle, and loving dog!
John Engstrom Plano, TX
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