Becoming Fudge

Becoming Fudge

Fudge helping me with my morning stretches

Fudge was 10 months old and about 25 pounds when we got him. He was full grown but still in his puppy phase. He loved to play with other dogs and the bigger the better. But Fudge was shy around people. He was especially uncomfortable with people he didn't know and just plain didn't like men. He liked me from the start, but I was the rare exception. A former co-worker of mine, Joe, who had relocated to the Santa Rosa area, came to town for a convention just after we got Fudge. He came over to the house and was the first male to visit us after we got Fudge. It was a nice spring day and so we sat out on the back deck. Fudge came out with us and proceeded to bark at him for most of an hour before he calmed down. That was the last time Joe came to visit us. We had taken Fudge to our vet and while Fudge didn't bark at him he noted Fudge's shyness and expressed some concern. We knew we had work to do. Fudge's first love, and probably his second, was food. He was always on the search for food. He continually acted like he'd never been fed. So, we started keeping treats by the door and when someone came to the house we'd have them give one to Fudge. It took awhile but it worked well. Fudge became happy to see people come over. He learned that humans were nothing more than treat dispensers and he became an enthusiastic greeter.

Puppy Love gave us a SPCA dog training class when we took Fudge off their hands. We promptly enrolled. The first class was just the people without their dogs. The head trainer, Val, had a couple of her dogs (I believe they were pitbull mixes) with her and she let them run around for us to interact with. As she started the class she called her dogs over and had them lay down on a mat where they stayed until she released them at the very end of the class. The class was informative but the real point of that first class was impressing upon us that she was not training our dogs, she was teaching us to train our dogs. The first class with our dogs Val went around to interact and make friends with each dog. She noticed Fudge was very shy but she got him to accept her affection after a couple of minutes. We spent the next 5 weeks engaging in practice sessions learning how to train our dogs. We did various exercises that included a few fun owner/dog bonding activities. For one of them we were to try to get our dogs to vigorously wag their tails for a minute. Now Fudge was never a big tail wagger. He wagged his tail but it was never a fast and furious wag. Knowing this Kris and I did all kinds of things to get him to wag his tail including getting on the floor and rolling around with him. After the minute was up we were declared the winner. Val said the tiebreaker was the effort Kris and I put into getting Fudge to wag his tail. At the end of the last class Fudge got the top training award which was Most Improved. Little did we know that this would only be the beginning of his award winning ways.

Early on Fudge was a little more my dog. We had instantly bonded and he responded quicker to me. Kris was still getting over our previous dog Kitzy and didn't initially bond as tightly with Fudge. That was about to change. Soon enough Kris discovered that Fudge was willing to sit on her lap. Kris had tried to get our previous dog Kitzy to do this with marginal success. Kitzy would do it but only for a short while and she clearly only tolerated it. Fudge was very willing, he liked it. This was the first step in Kris bonding with Fudge more tightly. Next Kris took up agility to have something she and Fudge could do together and get Fudge some additional exercise as well. Once agility entered the picture things changed. If Kris put on her agility clothes, and Fudge seemed to know which ones they were, Fudge would follow Kris where ever she went hardly noticing me. On agility days Fudge pretty much told me it's nice that you pet me but don't get between me and Kris today, unless you got some food for me. My line became that Fudge used to be my dog before Kris stole him from me. That wasn't really true. It was just Kris was now bonded with Fudge like I was.

Fudge on the JOB

Fudge was a willing learner. He was observant and a very patient dog. He learned quickly. We would take him to the park to work on the sit, stay, wait, come, and touch commands. Soon we could get him to sit as we walked 40 or 50 yards away. We'd walk around trees, zig-zag, and walk around him in a large circle. He would stay sitting until we called him after which he would come running. He even learned to pee on request.

Fudge had personality. With his ears cocked, looking like a little hat he would strut around the yard. We used to call him Mister Big Stuff and then Master Fudgewick. He saw himself as an alpha dog and other dogs generally saw him that way too. He had a big dog bark. Those who heard his bark first were often surprised to find he was not that big. Fudge was always around us but he was never intrusive so you constantly felt his presence but it was not bothersome.

Once trained we started taking him to our neighborhood dog park. The park was not entirely fenced off so a dog could easily run off. It was important to have control of your dog. One morning early on when I was at the park with Fudge, a truck drove by pulling a trailer with landscaping equipment in it. There was a rattling sound coming from the trailer and it caught Fudge's attention. He took off after that truck and I took off after Fudge. It wasn't until two blocks later that I was able to catch up with him. After that I kept a lookout for that truck and made sure to call him over to me to put him under a stay or wait command until it passed. I never figured out just exactly what the sound was that he reacted so strongly to, but while that truck continued to interest him he never chased a vehicle again.

Fudge did well at the dog park. He made many friends. There were three dogs close to his age that he played with often. Atticus (Attie) a corgi mix, Morgan a corgi, and Mandy a shepherd mix were his 3 best buddies. They were more his size. Fudge also seemed to be drawn to large dogs. He'd go off with any large dog that came his way. He seemed to think he was one of them. Fudge had strong hind quarters. He was pretty athletic and could jump and run well for a dog of his size. One morning as we entered the park Steve approached us and told me his dog Ruby could be tough on small dogs and offered to keep Ruby away from Fudge. Ruby was a big black chow like mix of a dog, Fudge seemed interested. I had seen enough of Fudge interacting with large dogs to feel he would probably be alright. Fudge liked large dogs and did fine with them. I let Steve know that Fudge was not a push-over and would not be shy in letting Ruby know if she was being too rough but I'd keep an eye out. They got along fine although at one point Fudge did briefly back off Ruby. Fudge loved to be chased and Ruby loved to chase. It was a good match. While Fudge had shortish legs he was actually quite fast. Fudge would take off and initially get a good lead but slowly Ruby, being so much bigger, would start to catch up and Fudge would have to adjust, usually by changing direction. Then Fudge developed this sort of 360 spin move. As Ruby got close, Fudge would spin around and Ruby would go flying by. Fudge would then head off in a different direction. One day he pulled this move on Ruby and as Fudge took off in a different direction a black lab crossed right in front of him. It looked like he was sure to crash. Fudge, unphased, and in stride, jumped completely over the lab as everyone oohed and awed.

Fudge being chased at the dog park

When Fudge reached 18 months something changed. It was like he'd read the dog behavior manual. His puppy stage was over. He still wanted to play but only on his terms. Those terms were he had to be the alpha dog. Evidently Atticus and Morgan felt the same. We arrived at the park and Fudge ran up to them. They each tried to initiate play but Fudge did not respond. Then Fudge tried to initiate play and they did not respond. After a few attempts they all just walked away. This went on for weeks. Fudge had to be the initiator. They continued to greet each other with wagging tales but were never again able to negotiate an acceptable start sequence to begin play. Fudge did continue to play with Mandy and others who seemed to be fine with his self imposed alpha status.  Fudge,while mild mannered and friendly, would continue to insist on maintaining alpha dog status. 

Fudge was now socialized and grownup, a big dog in a little dog's body.