Everyone in our household is guilty of keeping our youngest in baby mode. I think the dogs were even more at fault than I was. When they heard a strange sound outside, and they all headed out to investigate, the older guys usually ran at Journey and sent him back inside, where he sat patiently by me until they told him everything was okay.
Being an obedient puppy, he soon learned to obey his big brothers. Sometimes he was the one outside and he alerted for the sound, and then as he came inside he went to his spot beside me, while his brothers handled what ever it was. When he was very small, this did not seem like a bad thing but as he got older I began encouraging him to go out with them. He was happy to do that and soon got over the initial alarm when we were around home. By nature he was not a fearful dog, but the strict rules his brothers enforced did make him more cautious than some puppies. The problem was that no one bothered to tell him he did not have to do that any more. We put in a lot of time at kindergarten class and socializing at Home Depot and other spots where he could meet people, dogs and watch new situations. He was always fine with me, however due to a period of time when I had some back problems, he needed to be shown by a couple of people he did not know well. That seemed to come at the wrong time for him and the different training methods others used with him did not set well. I use positive training with my guys.
Anyway, he got through it all and acquired his championship and his grand championship in UKC. He is aloof with strangers and that is okay with me. I just did not want him to be shy. So one day I happened to think about his hand-shaking as a tool. It worked like a charm. Since he loves to do it, and most people are happy to shake hands with him, it became something he had control over. He willingly offered to shake hands with strangers, either when I reminded him, or sometimes on his own. Neither Pirate or Journey particularly like being patted on the head and the hand shaking distracted people from doing that, so that was also a plus for him. Because of being shown by other people during that fear period of his little life, he was always concerned that I not hand his leash to someone else. That caused him to stay very close to me when we were greeting other people.
Anyway, Journey is over most all of that now. He is four years old. He is a star in the agility ring and he accepts praise willingly from strangers. I doubt if he will ever be gushy with others, but he does have his favorite people. It seems that once someone has visited at our house they pass a test, maybe known only to Journey.
He has never given up the hand shaking though. I believe he sees it as kind of a test of people he does not know. Some people are worthy and others are not. I don't always know his criteria for judging.
The previous information was so that you could appreciate the following incident that took place in our home yesterday. I was sitting on my bed, ready to put on shoes.... Journey came in and immediately offered his paw. I shook it and then as he often does, he offered it again. I pointed at the other front foot and suggested, "that one". He switched to the other foot. Then before he could do it again, (for the first time), I tapped a rear foot and said "that one". He looked a little puzzled, and somewhat questioning, but up came the foot and he happily let me shake his rear foot. I thanked him and chuckled a little. The next time the opportunity arose, he sidled up to me and lifted his back leg. He totally looked amused and I had to fight hard not to laugh hysterically. That's my boy! He will do anything mom wants, no matter how weird. Always has .... and always will. I love this boy.
