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[Advertisement] As dog owners, there is always this one big issue in our lives that people without dogs oftentimes cannot understand: Leaving your dog home alone. They have a hard time comprehending that sometimes we chose to stay with our dogs rather than engage in social activities; the concerns a lot of us have when from time to time we do have to shut the door in their hopeful faces, leaving them behind for hours at a time. Though if you have a very fearful dog like me, better don’t have them in a room with you, as the loud beeping sound the Furbo makes when attempting to connect to your phone can be scary! Even though those are features I cannot use with a skittish dog such as Bayda, I feel they might be very useful for other dog owners.

Next to her is my friend’s underweight boxer that makes Bayda look closer to a barrel than an actual dog. You would think that a shelter dog would arrive scrawny and malnourished; that somehow, five years of living behind bars would carve a physical impression of weakness and pity into the body. Over time, people (especially those who know her from her fat days) approach me, asking me how I managed to slim Bayda down in such a short amount of time. I really believed that being fat did not affect Bayda much, but now that she is a healthy weight, I can clearly see how depressed and lethargic she used to be.

Having heard from my sister that Bayda has shown the full extent of her reactivity only after a couple of weeks, I am now convinced that Shula’s aggression towards people will, in time, get as severe as Bayda’s aggression towards dogs. For the first time since Shula has moved in, we are having a guest in our home and despite the subtly progress she has made thus far, I am slightly nervous. This is not what I had expected out of my dog and I am starting to think that I – a first time dog owner – am not the right person for her. It took me a while to realize that, unlike Bayda, Shula is no fearful dog and thus does not have to be treated like one.

I learn of Bayda’s dog aggression the very day At some point I am forced to face the reality that is every dog parent’s nightmare: I have a reactive dog. A trainer helps guiding us during this period, setting up controlled dog encounters and teaching me about dog to dog interaction as well as dog body language. In today’s society, aggression is so frowned upon and such a taboo that subconsciously I tried to force Bayda to be the dog that the general public expects to see.