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Old 02-01-2013, 20:13   #4
Gypsy Wolf
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Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Florida & Minnesota U.S.
Posts: 252
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We actually let Luna decide whether she wanted to be in the crate for a break from time to time. For most of the Meet the Breed experience, she was up on the table at the front of the booth - that way she was more comfortable with strangers staring at her - she was not in a submissive position but on almost the same level. I find that a lot of sensitive dogs do not like being "dominated" unintentionally by strangers who lean all over them or are agressive in their body language. Vlcaks can be sensitive to that, especially when those people are staring, too.
She got lots of high-value treats to make the experience pleasant, but it still was stressful from time to time with the amount of people she attracted. So when she would purposely jump off the table and open up her crate door and go in and lay down, we knew she wanted a break.
20 minutes "refreshed" her enough to do some more meet 'n' greet time.
Right across the aisle was the Labrador Retriever booth - which illustrated for a lot of folks - that Vlcaks are not the breed for everyone. Someone asked me if I thought it was a "good idea" to show off Vlcaks - the concern was that by showing Luna off, there would be even more people interested in the breed... I actually think the opposite - we informed the public all about the breed - the good, the bad and the ugly. Most Americans want a pet dog with the personality of a Lab - something very different from a Vlcak. I think those people initially interested in getting a vlcak saw for themselves that they are NOTHING like a Labrador! Better they learn that now, before they get one as opposed to getting one and then dumping it into rescue because they didn't realize that vlcaks are not what they expected them to be.
So I think it was a success overall - Luna did very well despite the stresses of the event - and we not only got to educate the general public, but also had professional "dog people" stop by - judges, mostly, who had never seen one in person and were curious. It will probably be a long time before a judge sees them in the breed ring in AKC shows, but it's nice to create interest and show them a nice representative of the breed.
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