Donna and Doudou met for the first time last week before the National Geographic Free Pet Shop event. We wanted to make sure they are comfortable with each other before we attempt to drive both dogs to East Coast Park.
picture taken by our cousin’s boyfriend
It never really registered in our minds how small a mongrel Donna is until we saw her beside Doudou, who is still a puppy! Donna is already 4 years old. Donna appears stockier in the chest, while Doudou appears more streamlined. She is a pretty dog.
The meeting went well. The two dogs sniffed but did not take to each other like a house on fire. They were happy doing their own things but we walked together with no trouble. So we thought driving together should be fine. In fact, given that they were neutral and not overly interested in each other, we thought that the drive should be relatively peaceful.
But on the day itself, Donna growled a little at Doudou when they got on the back seat next to her. I reactively grabbed her so that she doesn’t do anything physically threatening to the other dog and she dropped the growling pretty fast although our cousin said she growled a second time. The rest of the trip went pretty smooth. The two dogs didn’t interact as Doudou had her head on our cousin’s lap the whole way. Donna sniffed Doudou a few times but that was it. Donna was restive but that is normal for her on a drive even without a second dog. I petted Donna a lot more than usual in the car since I wasn’t sure what prompted her to growl in the first place.
Once off the car, both dogs did get opportunities to mix in the same space but there was no further growling and interaction between the two dogs was minimal even when they were in the same space.
Two things straight off my mind,
- if we were to drive another dog the next time, I would put the two humans in the back seat in between the dogs so that they are not sitting side by side.
- it bugged me that our normally quiet if at times fearful dog continues to be labelled as the dog that does not get along well with other female dogs (it’s a preconception people involved in the shelter have during her shelter days). Would it not have been the way we went about getting both dogs in the car that triggered the incident rather than blame it on the dog? Given that’s the case, what would have been the best way to have managed that introduction? Perhaps we should have alighted the car with Donna first. Perhaps we should have walked the two dogs before getting them on the car. Would that have helped?
