Socialization 101

Goose's breeders warned us, that it is so important to socialize him at a young age because he is going to be quite large, and...when taken out in public, everyone will want to approach him. I took them seriously when they said this and I have been making a huge effort to expose Goose to as many people and situations as possible. When I run errands, I'll take Goose with me. On Friday, I had to run to the store, so I figured I'd take Goose along. After going to the store, I figured I'd go to Jumba Juice and sit outside with Goose. As we were sitting there, a lady approached us asking, "Is that an Old English?" After talking a little about my sheepie and her sheepie she had years ago, the lady went on to pet Goose. Goose loves when people pet him, so of course he started wagging his butt (he has no tail). Remember he is a puppy though so he does get a little anxious, so he wagged his way behind her. At this point, the lady started having a panic attack (literally) yelling, "OH NO OH NO NO NO...I JUST HAD KNEE SURGERY! OH NO NO NO!" The louder and more anxious she got, the more excited Goose got. Oh boy. Goose doesn't jump (thankfully) but he was wagging all around her at this point (keep in mind his leash was on, so he was wrapping the leash around her). Before I knew it, I was hugging this lady's legs getting ahold of Goose to release his leash. He did "stay" when I told him to, so he only did one circle around her. Goose thought it was a game, the lady thought it was the end of her knees, and I thought I was going to have a heart attack. The leash did release, and we were able to get the lady safely out of the grip of the leash. (phew)

Other than this one incident, socializing him has been going well....and it is true, everyone wants to approach him and pet him...especially kids...because they think he looks like a big stuffed animal. The first few kids that approached him, I was very cautious (armed with treats in my pocket), but he did very well. He just wags his butt and takes in the attention.

Here are a couple of pictures of a walk Craig and I took with Goose on Sunday. This is one of our favorite walks as it has a bridge that goes over the ocean. We hadn't taken this walk since last summer and we both forgot how long it was (~4 miles)....and we both wore flip flops....we were in pain towards the end! Ouch! The good news...it wore Goose out too, and when we got home, he passed out and didn't move until morning.