Our little dog, Misty, decided to move in with us when she was around 6 years old. She is, we were told, a Shih Tzu x Lhasa Apso, but we've come to believe that she is likely pure Lhasa Apso based on her character and temperament. Her first three years of life were spent in an abusive environment where she was both physically abused as well as deprived of social contact with friendly, caring people or with other dogs. She also received no training or exercise. She learned to bite to protect herself as best she could. She was rescued from that environment at about 3 years old and spent the next three years with a family who cared for her but did not have know how to deal with the many issues arising from her early environment. We have been able to modify/tone down some, but not all! - of her negative behaviors. She had never been walked an a leash before and had a disconcerting habit of running to the end of the leash and snapping at anyone passing by! That is a rare event these days, but still happens sometimes, so we constantly have to be alert for that. One thing we've learned from living with Misty (and our previous dog which also entered our lives as an adult from an unfriendly home environment) is that you can never entirely trust them to behave because you're never sure that you really know all their triggers that will revive fears and behaviors that originate from their time as an abused dog.

One of her behaviors that we have not been successful in modifying/toning down is her reactions to dogs that she doesn't know and that we meet when out walking. She charges to the end of the leash, lunging, barking, snapping and growling! She's only 20lbs. but can still makes a fearsome and intimidating impression! I have come to realize that it is all 'sound and fury signifying nothing'. She actually LOVES other dogs but has NO idea how to introduce herself politely! Interestingly, in almost all cases, the other dog does not respond in a way that indicates it is frightened or feeling threatened. The most common response is for the other dog to respond equally vigorously and with body language that says 'playtime!' Misty's response is not appropriate though so we shorten the leash to keep her close to us and usually the other owner hurries away with their dog! When someone does take the leap of faith and let Misty meet their dog, we've found that the first two meetings involve a lot of fuss but, by the third meeting it's getting to be 'old hat' to Misty and the fuss goes down substantially. After three meetings, subsequent meetings usually evoke just an 'oh yeah, there's my buddy' casual nose and tail sniffs and then both dogs walk on quietly. But it's not easy to convince people that that will be the eventual outcome of encounters with this lunatic little dog! Unfortunately, she responds more reliably with dogs that she does to people so we discourage advances from strangers. Because she's so small and looks very cute, people sometimes find it hard to believe that she would be much of a problem. She is very selective about who she makes friends with and we've come to see that those people she reacts negatively to are probably reminding her in some way of the people who abused her in her first few years. She is particulary afraid of burly people, but, when it comes to other dogs, she loves having big buddies! This album features Misty and some of her buddies.