Moose hasn’t had very good luck in the month we’ve been on the west coast. Barely our first full week in the state, and he got attacked at the dog park. Lucky for us, the nearest vet is also possibly the nicest — we’ve been seeing a lot of them.
I wanted to make sure that we went back to the dog park relatively quickly, so that Moose wouldn’t have time to develop any weird fears about it. We went on a weekday, in the very early afternoon, hoping the park would be mostly empty. It was! The few dogs who were there came over to greet us, and I noticed that though Moose was wagging as he sniffed, his hackles (the hair on his shoulders, and down on his butt) went up.
I figured it was his first time back, and watched him carefully. Eventually, the hackles went down and we did our usual park stuff — walking, sniffing, piddling, and more sniffing.
Later that week, we were invited to a friend’s house for dinner. Said friend has two lovely dogs — a black German shepherd and a gigantic Malamute — and three cats. As soon as Moose saw (and sniffed) the other dogs, his hackles went up again. And it happened again, the next time we were at the dog park. He doesn’t growl, he doesn’t change his body language — he sniffs and wags with his hackles up.
Since Moose can’t tell me what it means, I’ve had to figure it out on my own — I think it’s maybe a bit of caution, a bit of hesitation, a bit of fear of a repeat attack. He’s still mostly the same good natured Moose, just a little more wary of other dogs.
As for the more recent misadventure — that has definitely changed him. Moose used to love being outside and now he makes quick work of it. He used to mark every tree, bush, and sign we passed; now he makes one stop and heads for the door. I’ve seen him flinch away from cars driving by — regardless of how close or far we are from the street.
I hope that with time, Moose will become more confident. Having his surgery and his tail healed will (hopefully) make a difference, too.