The Doggie Door

Debbie Hayle invited me to go to the Doggie Door (329 North Park Avenue, Winter Park) to go to a meeting of the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel club. The King Charles Spaniel is the same breed of dog that Charlotte York became obsessed with in “Sex and the City”. When I arrived there were a few dog owners in the store but over time more and more Spaniels and their owners arrived.
Debbie had a cake made with a photo of her first Spaniel on the frosting. These dogs are a very excited and active breed. There was plenty of sniffing and tail swishing going on. Some owners were not content with just one dog and they walked in with a pack of spaniels. The bull dog in the sketch is actually a ceramic sculpture.
One little spaniel started growling and snapping at the other dogs. The owner immediately took the dog outside. Debbie had invited a professional animal trainer to come in and give a talk. He approached the woman with the aggressive dog and then demonstrated how she should be training him to stop the aggressive behavior. Rather than remove the dog from the situation he simply tugged at the collar to get the dogs attention. He would then reintroduce the dog to the situation where the aggressive behavior was initiated. If the dog behaved he was rewarded, if it was aggressive again he tugged again to get the dogs attention. The dog soon knew without a doubt what the trainer wanted it to do. Within a minute the dog was no longer being aggressive towards the other dogs.