So, today I walked an extremely silly dog. Like all dogs I meet these days (or so it seems), she was named Bailey.
She's a lively and attractive dog (see picture), a German Shepherd mix about seven months old. If you went by appearances, you'd think she'd be adopted already. She's cute! She's young! Etc.
However, if you go by behavior, you might fear, as I did, that she'd never get adopted. Why? Because she's mouthy. I don't mean people-mouthy, like she barks at you. I mean she uses her mouth when she plays.
The first time I walked her, she chewed on the leash for the first five minutes of the walk. Only the fierce guard dog at a local business shocked her out of it. She also jumped to play with me, exuberant and loving. And mouthy. She dodged, ha! She juked, hey! And she nipped me on the arm hard enough that I thought she might have drawn blood. Through the jacket sleeve.
I wasn't the only one. Several workers and other volunteers mentioned being nipped—always playfully, but nipped.
She's not aggressive or angry. Today in the middle of the walk she sat down and cuddled against me, sort of pressing against me like a pup on a mama dog. She licked, licked, licked my chin…and then nipped me there. She's just not…calibrated. She nips like she's playing with a bushel of puppies.
Well, in any case, someone met and loved her, and she him, right away. The papers have been filed, and we're all waiting.
