3/7/2025

I agreed to look after Son’s dog while he’s away. He is a small male Shiba Inu, very cute, looks exactly like Basil Brush (this is the dog, obviously, not my son!). I asked friends for advice on how to introduce dogs, and the main tip seemed to be—given Meg’s personality—to keep everything as calm as possible. Meshi must be presented as something boring. Of course, with Meg, nothing is boring.

When they were due to arrive, I took Meg into the garage for some ‘training exercises.’ This was as neutral a place as I could manage, as they were coming late for dinner, and I couldn’t be in the woods or somewhere completely neutral given the time. (Though actually, going out for a walk is super exciting in Meg’s world, so maybe the boring garage was better.) I had some meat as a treat, and we practised walking to heel, stopping, turning, waiting until called, lying down. All the things we practise regularly. Mid-way through the ‘training session’ Son and Meshi entered the garage.

Meg immediately ran up to Meshi, so I called her to heel—she half-came (automatic response) then realised that Meshi was more interesting and ran back to him. Meshi seemed uncertain but not frightened. There was a bit of running round, then I called Meg to me again. I wanted to stop the excitement from escalating (although nothing with Meg is ever calm). This time Meg came to me, sat, received a treat. She didn’t wait to be ‘released’ but ran straight back to Meshi, but that was not too bad and it broke the cycle of excitement. Meshi is older and male, and although he is much smaller, he soon asserted himself as the dominant dog. This was good, and what I had hoped. Meg is bouncy, but she is relatively submissive with other dogs. Meshi was able to ‘stop the game’ when he had had enough, and Meg backed off. She did not stop trying to re-engage with him, so we limited their interaction to a few minutes. I then told Meg to go into her crate, and she went to the garage door, and then ran to her crate. I think she wanted a break too, but didn’t know how to stop the chasing/being chased game. Meshi was very relaxed when Meg was in her crate, and happily lay on the floor nearby. Meg wanted a rest, so ate her food and went to sleep. So far so good.

We let them interact a few more times during the evening, but for very short bursts and in a very controlled setting. I have read that dogs need a ‘top dog’ and we decided this would be Meshi, even though Meg is bigger and stronger. Therefore when Meshi ‘stopped the game’ by showing his teeth (not biting or being aggressive, just showing he wanted her to back-off) we enforced this by calling Meg away.

We left Meg in her cage for the evening, and let Meshi have the run of the house. They both slept, all was peaceful.

This morning I took the dogs into the garden separately to toilet. Then I attempted to have them both with me (Meshi on a lead) while I cleared up their mess. Meg was super-excited and kept trying to entice Meshi into a game, and he was keen but wary, so it was not a relaxing start to the day. Meshi peed on absolutely everything in the garden—no idea how he produces so much pee!

While I had coffee I put Meg into her crate with her breakfast, fed Meshi in the dining room, went to have my coffee. I returned to find him curled up on a sofa—which is not allowed. I told him no, and he ignored me, so I removed him and explained that dogs are not allowed on my furniture. He gave me a look. Am pretty sure he will wait until I have gone and then get back onto the sofa. I hope Meg doesn’t decide to copy—this is one of the few things she is good at obeying.

Actually, Meg has done very well. Although she is way too excited and bouncy, considering she has a dog, who she has never met, in her house, she is very friendly. There seems to be nothing territorial or aggressive in her at all—which considering her siblings are all in the police and bringing down criminals, is excellent. One of my fears was that she might be aggressive. Online I see videos of her siblings as they fly through the air and grab hold of men and pull them down—and I was keen not to have that in a pet. We have tried very hard not to stimulate her aggressive side (which is why I was wary of the training advice from the police-dog handler—who would have produced an obedient dog, but not necessarily a friendly one). I spent the day working, sharing the run of the house with the dogs in turn. I didn’t attempt to have them sharing the same space for long—not yet. Maybe when they are used to each other that will work, but for now it’s better to have them mostly in separate rooms. When I let them have ‘free play’ (closely watched the entire time, because I do not want to return a damaged dog to my son!) they chase each other. Meshi will run away, with Meg chasing, then he will turn and face her. I call Meg back to me—taking his turning as an indication that he has lost patience. Meg runs towards me, Meshi chases her, tail wagging. Meg then turns and chases him, and he runs away (still with tail wagging). At one point they did laps of the kitchen. But Meg is so easily tipped into mega-excited-mode, that I stop the game pretty soon. I tell Meg to go into her bed, and she is very obedient and does this immediately. Sometimes I don’t even bother to shut the door; Meg entering her crate is enough to calm the game. Sometimes Meshi attempts to enter her crate too, and I stop this and shut the door. I think Meg needs a space that belongs to her alone (though I haven’t noticed any signs that she is bothered).

I will let you know how things develop. Thank you for reading.
Take care.
Love, Anne x