A Rory Story

My dog, Rory, and I were walking down Hertel Ave in Buffalo at around 6:30 AM this past weekend. Two people were walking towards us, clearly still out from the night before (the last call here is 4 AM), and I heard one of them ask, "Can I pet your dog?"

It is a question that you tend to get asked with a dog as cute as mine. I mean, look at him!

I gave my standard response, "You can try...he's a bit of a chicken." She reached down to pet him, and he ran behind me (as he does). She even sat on the sidewalk (did I mention they were still out from the night before?). I gave her a treat to see if that would work, but it did not. He ran back and forth behind me, pretending he wanted to get close and then bolting at the last second. "How do you train him like that?" she asked. I assume she wanted to know how I would get him to stop being a chicken. It is something I don't have an answer for.

That aspect of his personality is why I rarely have encounters like this. During the week, we are out walking at 5:30 AM, so the likelihood of us seeing anyone is slim. It's just us and the occasional deer and rabbits...so, so many rabbits. On the weekends, we are out of the house between 6-6:30 just to minimize contact with other dogs. He has improved, but when I first got him, there was a lot of growling and lunging at other dogs we passed on our walks. These reactions are why I time our walks for the safest time in our area.

Last weekend, we were on the final leg of our walk, and a man and his off-leash dog were coming down the sidewalk near us. His dog ran up to us, and Rory was a champ. He didn't growl and responded great. The man apologized, saying his dog was off leash because you don't usually see other dogs at this time of morning. I said it was the same reason we were out this early: just after 7AM. Had this been two years ago, that interaction would have been a disaster.

The first summer I got him, my neighbors did this little get-together I was invited to. He and I went for a bit and spent the entire time hiding behind me. What I have come to realize is that I am his safe place. It is why he hides behind me when someone tries to pet him, or we are in a group he has never met, which I take as a point of pride. It is something I earned.

The rescue organization I got him from allows you to keep the dog for a few hours to see how things go. When I was left alone with Virgil (his name at the time), it took him a long time to warm up to me. I followed him around the house, and he avoided me and spent a lot of time just sniffing and getting used to what was going to become his home. Eventually, he decided I was safe and curled up in my lap on the floor. Once you get to know him, he is one of the most affectionate dogs. I have hundreds of pictures of him lying on the couch with me.

When he lunges or growls at someone and their dog, I wish I could tell them everything I have just written about above. Instead, it just makes my anxiety rise, and I look like the owner of a mean dog.

He is not an aggressive dog, he is not a mean dog, he's not even a reactive dog. I have read many articles and first-hand accounts of reactive dogs, and he doesn't fit the criteria. He's just Rory. It's not bad enough that I need to hire a trainer, and he has shown fantastic progress with not jumping at runners, walkers, and people on bicycles. He has gotten much better at not jumping on visitors to our house. He still growls and barks at dogs and small children (he’s a weird one) who walk by our front window, but even that has shown some improvement. It has been a lot of work on my end, but it is infinitely more manageable than it used to be.

I like to say this: he's not mean, just picky with who he likes.