The Stig.

Oscar met his first dog today. A big terrier called Stiggy who lives at the B&B across the green. After a morning where things didn't seem to be going our way (the doggy date that had been arranged for today got cancelled and we couldn't get in touch with any other potentials) S popped over their to see if they had any bacon and sausage we could cook a consolation brunch with (they have their own pigs on a small-holding).

He came back with bacon, sausage, black pudding and a promise to bring Stiggy over in an hour.

I was quite worried really, you don't quite know how the pup is going to react and we don't know the older dog either in this case. Not ideal but trying to get Oscar socialised is worth basically having him meet any dog who's owner thinks they are going to be ok. If the dog is a bit "funny" then Oscar just gets used to a wider range of canine reactions. Eeeek.

Right on time Stiggy and his boss came trotting across the green. As soon as Stiggy came in the gate Oscar went right up to him, close to the floor wagging, wiggling and widdling a little bit. That's good, good submissive moves puppy. Stig seemed totally unimpressed and proceeded to ignore Oscar completey and concentrate on sniffing the garden before scent marking everything.

"Everything" including Oscar! Poor pup had decided that running between Stig's legs was a good plan (he's a tall terrier - wirey orange fluff on stilts) and he managed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. He didn't seem to notice and it didn't stop him keep getting in Stig's way.

Stig gave Oscar the occasional "back off" growl and Oscar responded well, making himself smaller and further away for at least a second or two. This carried on for a while, Stig doing a really thorough job on the scent marking and Oscar trying to persuade him to stop and play. Oscar was really good and came away when called though and didn't just focus completely on Stig and was very happy to come and say hello to Stig's human as well.

Then Stig decided he wanted to play and there was rolling around on the floor and some face-batting. Then Stig barked and Oscar did not like that at all! He couldn't understand why this big dog was making that squeeky noise (poor old Stig didn't have a very manly bark) and his tail went between his legs and he legged it a bit. Stig thought it was a game and chosed Oscar, but came away for a fuss with S and Oscar calmed down and came and sat by us and looked at Stig doing his best Ewok impression rolling around on his back.

There was a bit more chasing around during which Stig humped Oscar!! Oh my God, Oscar's face. Dog behaviour in action! Stig's owner said "who's the daddy, Stig?". LOL! Poor Oscar. It's alright in a few months Oscar'll be twice the size of Stiggy and can get him back good and proper.

To be honest it sounds worse than it was. By the time Stig left Oscar's tail was wagging again and I think he will have learned a good bit about doggy body language - which is the point of the exercise. I'm going to make sure I have food with me for his next dog so that I can reinforce positive associations with other dogs as he was a touch stressed when Stig barked and it would have been better to give Oscar a treat when Stig barked so that he made a good connection with it in his head.

Live and learn. There will be more doggy dates for Oscar this week.

We gave him a bath after that (just to add to the trauma of the day), mostly to get the Stig wee off but also to help wash off the scabby bits that they mites have left after we killed them off with Frontline. Tea tree shampoo to sooth his skin a bit as well. It seems to have worked - he's been a lot less itchy and I flea-combed alot of scabbage that had got loose out today as well. Yuck. But the mites have mostly gone which is the main thing. He may well pick up more but we can use Frontline every two weeks and the mite season only lasts a couple of months. We'll see how it goes.

Big day for a little Oscar all round really. Tomorrow is another big day... back to the vets for his first jabs!

xxx