Atlas the big bully

Remember Atlas the St. Bernard? Well, he's one big bully after all.

When Cindy and I took him out for his afternoon walk last Sunday, he immediately knew that Pete, the "Alpha" of our pack, wasn't around that day, and tried to take advantage of the situation by bullying us a couple of times.

First, he pretended to be clumpsy and kept walking slightly further and further away from Cindy. He wasn't really pulling though, but was more of the "oophs, did I go too far?" kind of pulling. Cindy was, of course, no fool, and quickly reigned him back in. As soon as he realized that he couldn't get away with Cindy, he gave up and continued walking nicely beside her.

After a while, I took his leash and walked him onto the paddy fields so he could relieve himself. Instead, he picked up a piece of twig and started shaking it around. This may look playful to a lot of people, but both Cindy and I knew that he was trying to test our level of control. We took one look into each other's eyes, and simultaneously grabbed either end of the twig and pulled it out of his mouth.

Boy, was he agitated! He grunted and turned to nip at the air around my hand. I held his leash away and bumped him off to the side with my outer thigh. Had Pete been around, Atlas would have stopped right there and then, but it was just me and Cindy, so he pushed further and nipped towards my belly. I felt his teeth brushing against my skin, and my shirt being tugged, and I was, outraged. Something clicked at that moment, and my instincts took over: I reprimanded him using a technique that Pete has taught me before, which I had no chance of using until then. I have never thought I would be able to call upon it, especially in a sudden situation, and Atlas was quite surprised to be pushed aside by me. I then took advantage of his uncertainty, pulled him back beside me, and started walking as if nothing has happened.

After a couple of steps, I saw from the corner of my eye that he started looking down with his mouth opening, and both Cindy and I knew that he was going for it again. I prepared myself, and continued walking forward with all my strength. He got dragged forward and couldn't stop to take anything off from the ground, and got really upset. I heard him grunting and pounding up behind me, and I reprimanded him again. This time his level of agitation was a lot less, but he kept protesting and kept closing in towards me. Instead of backing up, I held his leash high and stood my ground with a poker face.

And then it was over. He gave in and all that agitation just subsided. It was mesmerizing to be there at that moment. One second we were heading into a twister, and then all of a sudden, everything was bright and calm. He became that big teddy bear again, and just walked nicely beside us through the fields and back to the shelter.

It was some kind of experience. Was I scared? Not really. It may sound scary to people when I told them what happened and especially, after I showed them a photo of the big boy standing beside me. But for me, it was more like, another experience. If I were to describe it in my own words, it was more of an energy exchange between me and the dog. It's like, he tried to overpower me with his bullying (i.e. invade my space or my energetic field with his) but I just refused to give in by flaring my energy field up and bouncing his advances back to him. That's all. It's hard to put to words but that's how it felt to me.

Looking back, this was truly an enriching experience because I will now be less worried about handling big dogs and will probably have better instincts when I have to deal with similar advances. I have not only gained a bit more confidence in myself, but have also opened up a better perception of the energetic channels between humans and animals. I'm not saying that I'm ready for ANY dog yet, but at least, I think I am now a bit bolder and braver when it comes to seeing bigger dogs.

Does size really matter?

Well, depends.
Depends on what you're thinking of... ;)

Have a great evening,
AM