Morning Greetings

This morning Enzo approached to smell my breath for the first time, like the dogs do with each other. I’ve noticed that Morning Greetings are a special time when even wary dogs are more open to proximity and touch. Like many things of that nature that I do, I don’t know how the dogs perceive it, but I figure it can’t hurt, and I’ll take advantage of every opportunity I can. It took our Bisou (a Decom grad and foster fail) years to get to the point where she would smell my breath, and even now I have to be careful to look away from her. Enzo got a nice neck scratch and butt rub after emerging from his crate, as usual, then unexpectedly approached and sniffed me. It was one of those little moments one learns to look for in poorly socialized dogs that shows increasing trust and comfort. I don’t expect he’ll do it tomorrow– progress in dogs is rarely linear– but it was still a tiny landmark and I felt good for him. [Update a week later: Enzo does this many/most mornings now.]