Truffle's first date

[ihatewetsocks]

Hi all,

I'm so excited ...

Truffle has been working really hard on her manners and has her first date coming up on Saturday 27th May. She was too anxious to ask him out herself so she asked me to do it for her. Bless her heart.

The lucky gentleman is my Brothers Gordon Setter Max. While they will probably not actually meet they'll be walking side by side (appropriate distance apart) for the afternoon and will hopefully be crossing each others paths.

Truffle has obviously met other dogs and has been places around other dogs (school, walks etc) but this is the first time out with the sole intention of meeting one specific dog.

A bit about Max ... He's ... an idiot. Very tall, lanky purebred Gordon. Lovely dog but very clumbsy. He was very hyperactive as a pup but at 5 years old now he's calmed down a lot. He lives with his friend Shelby a 7 year old female kelpie cross rescue. She's very grumpy and beats him in line occasionally. Max is very sweet and very submissive. Max actually just lost a toe from cancer (doesn't appear to have spread anywhere) but has just got back on with life as if nothing ever happened. He is calm around other dogs now so hopefully this works out well.

If the first date doesn't end in tears they'll be meeting every Saturday at 11am at the Hackham footy club.

I'll try to get some photos of the dogs next weekend.

Wish us luck!
Pete.

[RileyJ]

Heaps and Heaps of Good Luck Wishes for Truffle's first real 'play date' !



Lucky girl ! Gordon setters are gorgeous !

Walking pups on lead on neutral territory is the best way to do introductions.

I really hope everything goes well and this is the start of a wonderful friendship between these 2 !

[ThistleTheDog]

oh good luck! a nice calm gentleman....he sounds a perfect first date!

[ihatewetsocks]

Thanks guys.

Hopefully it works out. Would be good to get them used to each other. The other one (Shelby) and Truffle will never meet - that is almost guaranteed to end in tears unfortunately.

I've no doubt that Max will be a nice calm gentleman; Truffle on the other hand is not the typical "Lady"

[Hyacinth]

Hope it works. You will probably be dodging junior footy or senior warm up at that hour...

What has worked for me - is one dog and handler pair follows the other at a distance everyone is comfortable (able to pay attention to the handler and eat treats) and after a bit - turn around and go the other way... ie the lead dog is now the follower and the follower the lead dog, then do the parallel walking for a bit, and then maybe allow a 1 up to 3 second sniff greeting and move in before anyone changes their mind and repeat.

Last time with evil hound and my brother's dog - that went well and we even braved his back yard but it did go to hell after dinner when evil hound had been in her crate - to keep her from stealing my brother's dog's food or getting the scolding treatment for invading his dog's bedroom area... his dog got too close to my dog's bedroom area - ie her crate and there was a lot of scolding from inside the crate - which bro's dog ignored. Which made evil hound even more upset. Sigh. And bro scolded me. Thanks a lot. There really wasn't room in that space for two dogs who didn't know each other very well and one was not good at reading other dogs... definitely going to end in tears. Sigh.

[ihatewetsocks]

Yeah I think the footy will be on but there is a gravel road all around the oval I'll run Truffle on first to tire her out a bit then there's a few quiet roads we can walk around in the area with both dogs. I'm still trying to plan how this will work. Maybe if we can find a big empty carpark or maybe a school ground?

[ihatewetsocks]

Just got her a new outfit for the date ... Nothing over the top; just a neat new coat - to show she is sporty and yet relaxed

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This dress is a little too formal for a first date

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[Hyacinth]

That pink outfit was probably perfect for the Million Paws walk - which I didn't go to either.

[ihatewetsocks]

That pink outfit was probably perfect for the Million Paws walk - which I didn't go to either.

Hahaha I have a feeling the outfit would be blood red very quickly if she was around that many other dogs at this point in time

[RileyJ]

Heaps and Heaps of Good Luck Wishes for Truffle’s very serious and important ‘Play Date’ tomorrow !

A real shame she is not going to wear the ‘Pink’ outfit ! I thought she looked gorgeous in it ! But I am sure the GS doesn’t need stuff like that to look handsome !
Ops – Foot in mouth again ! Truffle is cute enough without needing any embellishments !

Long lines/leads for both of them and ‘mix it up’ - the way you 2 are walking these pups. The beauty of long line/leads is that you can make it shorter when you need to. Put a few knots in the lead and it makes it easier for you.

Suggestions for walking - such as - Forwards together; crossing paths; opposite directions in passing; one pup sitting while the other does a circle around and then vice versa. If you are both into running – then some of that also.

If you get brave enough for a nose sniff between them - then make it a very short one and move on. Bottom sniffing can happen at another time !

Again - Heaps and Heaps of Good Luck Wishes for tomorrow !