24/10/2025
Cowboy figured out how to use a Bob-A-Lot! He's also decided he loves it. And really that's a big thing for him because it makes a deep sound as it moves, it creates some vibrations, and it hits against things.
Cowboy has a lot of thoughts about the world. At times it's too loud, it's too weird, it moves in unexpected ways, and sometimes it's a little too much.
When he first encountered this toy, he crept towards it, got a little startled, then decided it wasn't for him and avoided it because new stuff is scary for him.
So it's been in the background as we built up his feelings of security and optimism. I didn't force him to 'overcome' his fears by making him interact with it, it was just off to the side, away from the action as we played familiar games. And then it became safer, more familiar. And now it's awesome!
So many times we want to prove to our dogs that something is safe because we know it is, but our dogs don't and their feelings matter. Just because in our mind nothing bad happened in an interaction where we forced our dog to interact with something, doesn't mean they felt the same way and it doesn't mean they're more confident now.
