She lashed out and Luke did not appreciate it. We had the gang at the park today; chill'n in the shade it was a glorious day. We'd had our exercise and were now just hanging out with the pack. The girls were laying down and Luke was up watching everything that was going on. He's so nosey; nothing gets past him. A nice woman walked up and commented on how well behaved our dogs were, I thanked her and agreed. :) The woman had a Dalmatian mix with her, we chit chatted about the ages etc. Her dog was the same age as Luke; but a female. Her dog was dragging her our way; I asked loudly "friendly?" She said yes and continued our way. Luke went and greeted her; I gave her fair warning not to come close to Jessie.
Luke and this furry looking Dalmatian were saying hi when she lashed out at Luke. Not one to take a lashing lying down he lashed back. It was over in less than a second; Luke stood his ground and was obviously ticked off. I'd not seen any warning signs; she had approached Luke, not the other way around. He really hadn't cared to meet her but gave a cordial "hey, how's it goin?"
Of course we both pulled back our dogs; something had gone awry. Luke gave her a long and dirty look, checked on his pack and moved on. I shrugged; hmmmm. Then the woman told us the dog was deaf; she said this had started to happen now that she was older. But in all honesty I think that this was common behavior from this particular dog. You can tell a great deal from the owners reaction. She hadn't seemed surprised by her girls outburst, that's the first clue.
Luke's reaction growls were instant; the two dog's displays had overlapped in time. Dog's communicate so quickly, that we mere humans lack in our response time. But this lash had been just that, bluster for no apparent reason other than to let Luke know that she was indeed his superior. It was much like Jessie's bluster lashes. Luke didn't appreciate it and he let her know. Dog's talk; it could have easily been Luke who had lashed out for some reason, but today he hadn't felt the need. To take it for anymore than a communication is our human response to a canine communication, we like to humanize it. "Did you see that dog attack my dog?"
It all depends on how much or what a dog has to say. She obviously read that Luke was a very dominant dog and felt as though she had to knock him down a few notches. Girls sometimes just like to bash the boys a bit. :)
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