Don't even try to get past the watcher

She's sharp, she's on the ball and she doesn't miss a thing, so don't even try.  Elsa is always watching and aware.  The other day we were walking along a strip mall area that we frequent.  It is a great place to walk for seeing folks, grocery carts, screaming kids etc etc.  We undoubtedly will run into someone who wants to touch or talk to Elsa which she ADORES.  Elsa LOVES people, I mean crazy googly loves people.  So when someone stops to talk to her; they get the full-on Elsa treatment which is good for anyone's ego.  

So we were wandering along, Elsa was sniffing everything that there was to sniff between working on some obedience, when a truck slowed beside us.  We were on the sidewalk area which is right beside where cars can drive.  It also makes a great place to work on "car chasing" issues or creating non issues. I took Elsa to the same place when she was young so she has no car chasing issues.  But, this truck had slowed and the guy inside was looking at Elsa.  

She looked and then took a double take.  "Why was he staring at her?" was her reaction.  She could not function, he was staring at her, she was staring at him.  She got a bit confused; she knows what a slowing vehicle means but didn't know the guy inside.  Elsa loves people but not when they do weird things.  She absolutely had to figure it out before she could continue.  

The guy continued staring.  I could see that he was interested in Elsa and what we were doing.  I'd been working on her "right," behavior which is like a finish in obedience but on the right side.  She was doing great until this guy showed up.  Funny how people don't "get" dog behavior.  If he did "get" it he would have seen that he was disturbing her.  

After looking at him a couple of times myself, he got the message and moved along.  It was a good distraction for her but one that she had a hard time with.  Elsa knows that when cars slow down beside us that we are usually going to talk to someone in the car.  This was confusing to her as he just slowed down enough to stare but was still driving along side us.   

Sometimes one thing can really give you a clear visual on your dog and who they are.  This one incident summed Elsa up to a T.  Elsa is the ever intense watcher.  She does not miss a thing and because of this; she can be hard to move.  Once she locks onto something that she needs to figure out; she needs to figure it out.   Of course now that she has experienced a slow driving gawker, she will be able to deal with the next one.  I guess we've never dealt with a slow driving gawker who just stared before.  :)   Most other slow driving gawkers have actually stopped to talk which Elsa is accustom to.  She did not like the non talking one.  

Elsa is a great reader of body language; perhaps she didn't like that she couldn't read his in his slow moving truck.  As much as she ADORES people; she has a clear understanding of who we give affection to.  We do not give the people who walk by not saying anything, the time of day.  If someone says "hi" to only me we keep moving.  Even if we stop to talk but the human only talks to me, then Elsa minds her own business.  But if they say hi to Elsa or reach a hand out, it's full-on Elsa time.  

Don't even try, you won't get past the watcher.