
07/15/2025
A really touching for my friend Tooty.
Tooty has a pretty intense case of stranger danger, and doesn’t enjoy sharing space with anyone but her humans, ESPECIALLY in her own home. I became Tooty’s first new friend when we started training together a couple years ago. And what a journey that has been!
Muzzle training, some remedial socialization, lots of consent based practices and confidence building, and this girl has come so so far. A dog that couldn’t see a stranger from across a big parking lot without losing her mind can now happily walk through stores past strangers and even sometimes give a passing sniff or accept a little pat.
But her true social circle of accepted people is still small. She’s tolerant of a handful of people, but not fully comfortable. Just me, mom, and dad are the only ones that can handle her and enter the house without her muzzled. Our current journey has been building a good relationship with another person, expanding her social circle to 4. And it’s taken many months of small steps, but we’ve done it!
A huge thanks to her new friend Keegan for being such a patient and understanding new friend for our sweet Tooty. We promise, her love is worth the time it takes to gain her trust 💕