Bitey McBite

Dieter admires the mod chair at the 4th of July party.

I think Dieter is much like a human in this regard. When he's with others--strangers, relatives, at the vet, at a party--he's on his best behavior. When it's just us, at home, he can be a little snot-burger! He's still being mouthy. But since he doesn't have his needle-sharp baby teeth any more, it's a whole different sensation. Visually it's a little disturbing: here comes this big mouth full of pearly white teeth at you. My arm just sort of disappears in his mouth and he chews a little. He does it to both Lloyd and me, so he's an equal-opportunity chewer.

"No. Dieter, no. NO!!" is how I typically start out. Chew, chew, chew. "Off. Dieter, off. OFF!!!" Even though the trainers at Narnia don't advocate this approach, we have taken to grabbing him (gently, being careful that we aren't making him bite his own tongue) by the snout, and sternly telling him no. He generally sniffs and snorts a bit and stops. Then we make him do a down (hoping he sees this as us being dominant and him being subservient). His snotty teenaged response to going into a down is to snap at the air. Maybe it's the dog version of playing air guitar. But I suspect it's closer to the dog version of "$@*# you!"

Dieter and Capona meet on the 4th of July.

He was on his best behavior on the 4th of July. First he met some neighbors at the Brookdale 4th of July Parade. Later that day, we took him to a party at his grandma's house where he got to meet 12 people and a dog. The dog, Capona, belongs to Lloyd's niece. Dieter kept sniffing Capona's butt, but when she snuck up behind Dieter and sniffed his, he whirled around and looked all startled. "Hey there sister, I don't think we know each other that well yet." By the end of the day he was a little tired out and acting a bit like a cranky kid. He was most interested in the people coming out of the back door who were carrying plates of food. But you can't blame the poor guy--there were hamburgers and potato salad on plates, and it all smelled so good. Later that night we were relieved to note that Dieter has no problems with fireworks. He slept right through all the racket.

Then last Sunday we went to Two Bostons for a Yappy Hour. They had ice cream for both dogs and their humans. Dieter had a little cup of sweet potato and molasses ice cream. I had vanilla with strawberry swirls. Mine was good and Dieter says so was his. In fact, it was so good that he didn't even care when he got his nails trimmed (they had a vet there, doing the nail trims for a small donation). Dieter also met scads of dogs and puppies. The most fun one, he says, was the one-year-old St. Bernard named Veer. It's a Hindi name that means brave. We told Veer's owners that Dieter means protector of the people, and all present thought the dogs' names were just perfect. Dieter is also very good with little dogs--one of his good friends at puppy kindergarten was a little Cavalier King Charles spaniel. And at the ice cream social he met a tiny little Maltese named Lola. I've heard tales from my vet tech friend about the "big dog/little dog" encounters they'd see at the vet clinic. They were never good for the little dogs. So yay Dieter--he's kind to dogs both little and big.

All things being equal, I'm glad he nips and snaps at us and not at other dogs. I don't want everyone taking their dogs and heading for the hills when they see us coming. Now if only our arms looked a little less gnawed on. Patience. Serenity. Om.....