Learning New Things: Yay?

I find myself very tired after several days of making sure Ewok doesn’t get into trouble while I’m at work. Today was especially draining because I got to have my first experience with dogs jockeying for dominance. It did not sound pretty.

There are two other dogs that semi-regularly come into my office. One is fairly naturally submissive; even though he’s larger than Ewok, he got put in his place fairly quickly. They did the usual chase around the cubicles Monday morning, but for the most part now just ignore each other. I also discovered (the hard way, of course) that Ewok is a little toy-aggressive. The other dog had a ball, and once Ewok had had a chance to catch it, he did not like letting the other dog have it back. So we don’t throw that ball any more.

I was a little more worried about how Ewok would react to the second dog, since they are both fairly dominant (at least, they both established their dominance over the other, more submissive dog). This second dog is also larger than Ewok, so I was a little concerned. Their first encounter seemed to go alright, with the usual butt-sniffing and whatnot. But then things took a turn for the nasty-looking.

Turns out that the bigger dog didn’t feel like just lying down for smaller Ewok.

What ensued certainly sounded nasty: barking and leaping and growling and open jaws. Literal fur was literally flying. Not exactly what I expected, to say the least. I ended up freaking out slightly and stepping in between them, and for the rest of the day Ewok stayed on his leash attached to my desk, and the other dog stayed shut in his owner’s office with the door closed.

Like I said, I freaked out a bit. It left me shaken for pretty much the rest of the day. Being the overthinker that I am, I spent some time searching the Web for “how to introduce dogs” articles. Turns out we probably should have introduced them in a neutral area (like outside), and it may have been better to let them sort things out with whatever scuffle ended up coming to pass. Oh well.

I didn’t realize it until today, but keeping an eye on Ewok takes a lot of energy. If a dog is this distracting, I can only imagine how all-consuming a human baby must be (not that either of us plans on getting one of those anytime soon). While he is adorable, I will be happy once my girlfriend and I can start trading off work days. It’s only Wednesday, and I already feel like I’ve worked a full week. Plus, the change in morning/evening habits Ewok has required (read: walks) means I haven’t been sleeping well.

Maybe I’m finally reaching my limit for coping with change. Maybe I’m just running low on Spoons from all the new experiences. I don’t know. I just know that today was a bit of a shock, and I wouldn’t mind things getting a little quieter.