She and her owner moved away a couple of weeks ago, and Murphy still looks expectantly toward their door when someone comes out of their apartment building, and sniffs the hedges out front.
A friend of mine who lives a few blocks away from us has a lovely 6 year old Springer Spaniel/GSD mix. We had been wanting to introduce the dogs so that they could hang out together when we go to their house, as they have access to a small back patio - this is a huge asset when you live in NYC! The first time we introduced them a few months ago, they parallel walked and we walked them in circles, and mostly the dogs just ignored each other and sniffed the ground near each other. I thought it was a good sign, that they both weren't that comfortable but not being reactive. I was mostly worried about Murphy, as my friend's dog K is extremely friendly with dogs and people, and her only issue is that she's very excitable and barky...and really there are much worse things than that! Because their work schedules were so different from ours, we hadn't been able to get the dogs together since then.
Earlier this week we ran into them on their morning walk, and the dogs couldn't get enough of each other. Murphy whined to get to her as soon as he saw her - I got him to sit, but he tried to bolt every time I released him. It took a few tries to get all the way across the street to them. We were on a quiet street but it was still the street, so both dogs had to stay on leash. K barked in Murphy's face because she loves chasing and tried to initiate it. Murphy got the zoomies and ran in circles around me because he wanted to wrestle. It wasn't an altogether successful greeting but Murphy didn't bark and lunge at K, which is a good sign. Murphy doesn't bark to initiate play; he's more growly. When he actually barks it includes snarling and lunging and I need to get him away from the other dog immediately. So I was happy that that didn't happen.
This morning we ran into them again -- it appears our morning schedules accidentally got synched up!
This time Murphy was more calm, stood in place with tail wagging instead of trying to bolt toward her, and there was no whining. I thought he'd be too excited to hear me say the "sit" cue, so I tapped his rear twice lightly with two fingers, which I used sometimes and he responds to 99% of the time.
Murphy and K ended up sniffing each other, K barked only once (my friend asked her to shush after the first bark, which she did). Murphy didn't do laps around me, but he did run back and forth to the end of the leash a couple of times, thank goodness for the fleece harness! Then they stood in front of each other with tails wagging, bodies facing each other but heads turned, Murphy to his left, and K also to her left. Then they ran back and forth trying to initiate play but since they were on leash were very limited. Then they stood in front of each other again, bodies facing each other and heads facing opposite each other. I know that turning the head is an appeasement gesture, but I want to make sure that I'm reading them correctly. They did this three times - initiate play, stand with heads turned for a few seconds...initiate play, stand with heads turned.
So this is good, right? This last encounter was friendly and not uncomfortable?
If anyone is more high-strung over their dog than I am, it's my friend. (He also subscribes to the Pack Leader mindset, so we don't always talk about training.) So I just want to make sure that we're heading in the right direction for Murphy and K to hang out together. Thanks for any feedback.
I should also note that my friend is the same one whose hand Murphy nipped when we had a few of our friends over. So I think/hope seeing him with his dog will start giving Murphy good associations with him.
Anyway, I feel like I should know the answer to this because I have studied body language so much over the past several months. But when it comes to real-life situations I can't be sure.
