Amy & Archie dogs the social chase in the local park

It is hard for you to know why this photo is so special unless you know these dogs. The spoodle is my dog. He is dominant and walked each day. Amy is the large bernese chasing him in this photo.

I walked her when she was a puppy and again now, and she has always had a shyness to her. To make up for this she bluffs other dogs. This means that she will leap up in the air, throw her paws about and act crazy in the hope that other dogs will buy how scary she is and just leave her alone – or let them chase them, in play.

Of course to other social dogs, this is a mere amusing distraction that she gets caught out on. To anxious dogs that are not social they will either fight or flight.

To my social dog Archie that sees Amy five days per week, he knows this is her big move. At the start of the local park walk, she will often move on a little ahead and act like she doesn’t care, but will be waiting for Archie to come by. Then she does her best to chase him and show her prowess in speed and power.

Archie is more dominant than Amy but much smaller, so he allows her to have this game, which in turn builds her self esteem without any risk of getting harmed by another dog that doesn’t know that her actions are all bluff.

That is what a social pack does for each other, watches each other back and backs each other up!

This is an example of Amy showing us her ‘scary’ bluff style: