Donna has learnt to “parallel park” herself by the side of the wall and stay quietly in her little corner while travelling up and down on the lift. She would still pop her head out to stare at neighbours. Please don’t mind her. She’s just being a dog, a curious one.
Our flat is more than 20 storeys high so taking the lift is an everyday experience for Donna. With approximately 138 households sharing two lifts that take us down and up to and from home and the outside world, there are plenty of opportunities to bump into any one of our neighbours (which logically would number at least 300 people).
We sometimes take the stairs going down, but I don’t think any of the three of us can make it going up. We are obliged to wait for the next lift, should a neighbour be afraid of dogs or be averse to ride in the same lift with a dog for religious reasons. But with at least 300 people sharing two small lifts, which if I may add are particularly prone to breakdowns and lift faults, it sometimes feels like it takes forever just to get on a lift to get home.
So we thought, hey let’s make our scary-looking dog (to some people) look less scary so people are not so averse to sharing the lift with Donna. Obviously, Donna is too heavy for us to carry around like owners with small dogs do when they take the lift. So we practiced with her standing quietly behind us while waiting for the lift, regardless of whether there are people waiting with us for the lift or not. We agree with all the dog-training advice out there that consistency is really the key to making it work.
There were times I tied a piece of frilly fabric around her so she looks more silly than scary. That worked well. I’ve met neighbourhood aunties who went “Oh, is it a girl dog?”
That’s Donna taking up 1/4 of the available floor space in the tiny lift. Doesn’t the frilly thing around her back look silly :P
Lately, I realised that Donna particularly likes to sit right in the middle of the lift. Or when she’s tired, she’ll just spread out like the lift belongs to her grandfather. And she always stares at neighbours with her open mouth grin. I imagine it may be unnerving for some neighbours to have an unfamiliar dog staring unblinkingly at you and grinning at the same time. God knows, sometimes even I think my dog looks like a maniac the way she stares at me (probably thinking about food).
So we started to consistently guide her to “parallel park” by the wall and “stay”. She has started to do that pretty well, though she does need reminders now and then. And we still plant our two legs right in front of her after she has parked herself, not because she is dangerous but just to reassure any neighbours, particularly ladies and families with kids and babies, that they are super safe with our dog.
It’s early days, but most people are kind and do not mind her.
But you know what, if the lift is half-packed with people, sometimes it is just more relaxing to wait for an empty lift. :P
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