When I first rescued Donner, it was evident that he had never played with a dog in his life, having been chained up in back yards through several owners for his first four years. Whenever a dog would come with 200 feet of him, he would react ambitiously, straining on the leash to get to them, barking and whining. I hired a dog shrink to help me understand what he was trying to tell me and to break him of this habit. After one hour of consultation ($500), she told me that he would never play with another dog and he would need to be on Prozac for the rest of his life. (I think she told me that because she was embarrassed that he knocked her to the ground as he tried to meet up with a dog he saw on our walk.) Following her advice, over the next two years, I never let him near a dog, but worked every day with him to reduce his reaction zone to zero. In January of this year, with the help of other dog owners, I started to gradually introduce him to other dogs, one by one, and then discovered that his reaction upon seeing a dog was his wanting to meet them. Now, he gets to meet every dog he sees, and what a joy it is for him. The above photo of him and Chestnut is proof that you should listen to your dog, and not those who pretend to speak for them. No one knows what is going on in a dog's mind except your dog. Anyone who pretends to be speak for them should stay away from dogs and stay on Prozac for the rest of their lives. It upsets me that I deprived Donner of two years of his greatest joy because of a pretender.
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