Rocky's day out...

Today I worked with Rocky, the St. Bernard who's afraid of people. He isn't aggressive, just shy. If you approach him or make sudden movements around him, it scares him, so he barks at you to make you go away. With a dog this size, it works... which is completely the opposite of what he needs. I arrived at Becky's house around noon, telling her I was going to kidnap him for the day and work with him, offering proof that he CAN be social. I lined up a few friends to help, and the big guy and I headed to downtown Portland to start his therapy.

I parked near the waterfront, and headed down to the grassy area, thinking that it would be a fairly easy place for directonally challenged Geoff, and puppy-wrangling Amy to find us. How can you miss a dog this big? We settled down on the grass next three people around my age hanging out drinking in the sun. Far enough away that Rocky didn't feel intimidated, but close enough that he had to deal with their presence. He hung out in the grass, enjoying the sunshine, and even started to accept them. They handed him some treats, as an ice breaker, and then he was ok with them.

Amy arrived first, wrangling Paris and Cesar. Rocky and Paris had classes together, so he had no problems with her.


It took him a bit to warm to Cesar, and for Cesar to warm to him. Cesar being just a puppy, he's a little insecure himself. He actually peed when he first got close to Rocky. Soon after though, they got along just great.


It took a few phone calls and bad directions for Geoff to locate us. When he arrived, we said our goodbyes to the people who so graciously let us invade their space on the grass, and headed over to Saturday market, to expose Rocky to more people than he'd ever been around at one time.

On the walk over, we encountered a couple with a ferret. After talking to them for a few minutes, they said they'd be more than happy to let the dogs sniff the ferret. Each one of the dogs took turns sniffing the musky creature, and showing LOTS of interest.

I was pretty surprised at how many people completely ignored Paris and Cesar, heading right for the lumbering St. Bernard who's afraid of people. Thankfully, every person who approached ASKED if they could pet him, allowing me time to tell them how to do it so he didn't freak out.

The ones that impressed the family the most, were the pictures of him with kids. They're far too afraid of him hurting someone to let him around children. I showed them that with the right approach, anyone could touch him.

People of different races, people in funny hats and sunglasses...

and we did all of this right by the fountain/food area where there were lots of distracting smells and sounds. Rocky seemed to enjoy actually watching the rodeo clown guy do his act to the beats of some nearby drummer.

Around 2:30 we decided to head out, as I had been invited to a barbeque at Justin's house, (to which I responded, "Great! I'll bring some chips, soda and a St. Bernard, cool?") and Geoff and Amy had things to do. Me walking Rocky, Amy walking Cesar and Geoff attempting to walk Paris, (more like Paris walking him) causing his pants to fall down, as he had forgotten to wear a belt.

Rocky and I headed down to Beaverton for the bbq and upon arrival, we went to Justin's back yard where I could take him off leash. He was really good. Everyone listened to me on how to deal with him, and the worst thing he did was drool alot from the smell coming off the bbq and beg for some of it when it was done. He barked at Asa once, because Asa forgot to let him sniff him before attempting to pet him, but he was never aggressive the whole day. Everyone else who wanted to pet him, did so, without issue.

I even used him as a pillow, and Justin said, "I thought you were supposed to drool on the pillow." I said, "Well, that's life.. sometimes you drool on the pillow, sometimes the pillow drools on you!"

Around 5:30 I headed back to my place to download the pictures from the day and email them to the family, so that when I arrived with their dog, they could see what we had done all day. He was so worn out, he passed out in my back seat snoring on the way back.

They were really happy, surprised, relieved and grateful. We're going to make a plan to get together and do it again, this time taking Becky along, so SHE can feel confident with him. We also discussed some issues she's been having with her other dogs, and I showed her how to work on fixing those problems. A very rewarding day.