Dog Stress

My right hand is rubbing behind her ear.

Yesterday I had the annual Dog Park People Cookie Exchange. My house is not big, but we all manage to fit into the living room and kitchen for food, conversation, and dog stories. And dogs. This year we had Yuki, a yorkie, join us with his mom, Becky, and 2 Weinheimers named Merlin and Kaiser with their mom, Joy.

So a quick recap: 5 dogs and 9 adults. No fights occurred among the humans, but Gracie and Jake got into it over God knows what. When you put that many dog owners together, it is a natural thing for everyone to use their "mom" voices and stop the fight. My poor Gracie was terrified. She immediately went into a complete down position, head resting on paws, her eyes darting around looking for me. Gracie is a social butterfly. She loves people, wants to sit on their laps (why yes, she did, thank you very much), be petted and loved, made to feel special. Jake has a few he will go to, but does feel very comfortable in this group.

After everyone left and I was done cleaning up the dishes and putting everything away, we sat on the bed to watch television. Gracie came up to my right. I took this photo with my phone. She needed to know we were cool, and that she wasn't in trouble. What you can't see is Jake to the left, laying on the pillows with his body tilted towards me, waiting for a belly rub.

I love these guys. A bunch.
Linda