Summer of Shyla

I haven't talked much about Shyla's training and socialization lately. The main reason is that she's doing pretty well.

We scale back our in-town training in the summer because it's just so hot down there. Our only in-town excursions are when she goes with me to Physical Therapy and occasionally we make a stop at a dog-friendly hardware store.

When people ask to meet her, I reply that "she's sometimes fearful so I always let Shyla decide whether she feels like meeting someone that day". In the past couple of months, I can think of only one person who Shyla chose not to meet (by hanging back away from him). He was very respectful that shy dogs need to have their space, and he didn't try to force things. I think that part of our recent success is that I've learned how to smoothly handle people who want to meet Shyla - and they follow my instructions.

Aside from that one individual, Shyla has done incredibly well with new people recently. When we meet individual people on the trails, Shyla initiates interaction, usually ending up giving them kisses! I tend to stand back and watch with incredible happiness about how well-adjusted Shyla has become. I think this sweet outgoing dog was hiding inside Shyla all along but she was too scared to act upon her innate people-loving instincts.

Larger groups still scare her. But she musters her courage to pass by them. One weekend, we came upon about a dozen(!) male mountain bikers (the largest group I've ever seen in our area), all standing along both the sides of the trail with their bikes next to them. The trail itself was clear and there was no way to go around them.

Shyla made herself look smaller than usual and walked very slowly through the tunnel created by the group, as if she could be invisible if she was low enough to the ground and going slowly enough. I was a little mad that the bikers laughed at her odd behavior but that didn't really matter. I was mainly proud of Shyla for finding that courage. Last year, she would have never walked through the tunnel.

This is becoming the Summer of Shyla for me. I feel like she's blossoming into the dog she was always meant to be. She'll never be as outgoing as some Labs but I love her just the way she is.

Thank you, sweet Shyla.