When I took Ella, I had not had a dog before. Or yes, we had a dog when I was a teenager and lived at home, but it was never my responsibility. When Ella was little, I wanted her to spend time with as many dogs as possible, so we hung out a lot in the rest yard in this area. Not, Med Boyo, I think in a slightly different way.
For a week or so then Mysak's mother asked me if I could have him over a weekend in mid-March. At first I thought to say no, because Lilo will be here over the weekend the week before, but then I started to think a little and came to the conclusion that Mysak must be allowed to be here.
Namely so I will be quite picky about which dogs I want to let near Boyo. He is a black German Shepherd male who is going to be big, and it feels important to me that he understands right from the start that calm and composed energy is preferable.
No dog is perfect, but of the dogs I have around me right now, I want Boyo to spend time with Lilo, Egon and Mysak – adult dogs of which all three can set boundaries, and also are just calm, sensible and sane. Then of course he will get to hang out with the Leonberger mix Mozart too, to play and fool around – although even there I feel that it needs to take place in orderly forms.
The whole point is to give Boyo good role models. Lilo will be a hell of a one. stay, on the occasions we see each other in the future, will also be a great role model. And the fact is that even though Mysak is small, squeaky and generally pretty silly 😀 he's an adult (he will be eight this fall), quiet, sane and good at setting boundaries. Besides, he is quite small, and I would love for Boyo to learn to respect and socialize with dogs of different sizes.
Then he comes to meet other dogs too. For example, I would like to be able to meet one of my best friends who is a daycare provider for a couple of dogs. But it won't be quite the same way; they won't hang out 24/7 for days on end, or even every day.
But this is important to me. Considering that dogs have an easier time relating to each other than people, I want him to have sensible dogs to emulate and learn from. As said was; he will be great, and I want to give him the best possible conditions to become a sensible dog.
In the long run, if man (I) think a little ahead, I wish Boyo would be a dog I can use to help other dogs de-stress and come down to earth. Plus I would like him to act as a role model in case I get another dog in a few years. And it's not entirely unlikely, because I don't want to be part of such a long break between dogs again.
It really should will be so incredibly interesting to see how this turns out. As with any other situation, it's hard to know until you're there. It will probably be completely different than my current thinking about it.
But now is it really only a few days left, and I can't put into words how much I'm looking forward to this. ♥