‘Spresso the Wonder Dog

‘Spresso is a frequent visitor at my house. I wrote about him not so long ago in this post. ‘Spresso left yesterday after a stay of more than 3 weeks. It seemed more like 3 days. This time around he provided invaluable assistance with 2 other dogs staying with me. One of those dogs is Walter. I wrote about him in my most recent post. I don’t anything about Walter’s first 5 years but I suspect he had limited socialization with other dogs and not a lot of quality interaction with people.

Walter is a sweet boy but never seemed at all interested in playing like most other dogs. Sometimes that’s just the way it is with some dogs. Their personality is mellow to the max and being a couch potato is all they aspire to. But I like to give every a dog a chance to do more so I was happy to have ‘Spresso here to show other dogs how it’s done. ‘Spresso is a happy boy who likes other dogs and likes to play. He’ll tear around the yard for the pure joy of running.

‘Spresso tried to get the other dogs to play the first week but mostly gave up after that. I was a little disappointed that the other dogs didn’t join in but I also knew that ‘Spresso could still have a positive influence on the rest of the pack through what the shrinks call “modeling”. Even if the other dogs did not participate with ‘Spresso they will still learning how to be a dog by watching him play.

Walter proved the point in the last few days before ‘Spresso’s departure. He actually started chasing after a tossed ball or toy. I’d hold ‘Spresso back a little to encourage Walter with a little head start so he could get to the toy first. ‘Spresso loves to steal a toy from another dog’s mouth. But after a few days Walter was able to foil his efforts and retain his treasure — for the most part. This brought me great joy.