Evil Lawnmowers

[Melissa]

So I am new to the forum and new to NDT but I have a bit of a success story to report. My Peanut, a 4.5 year old attack Havanese (ha) among other things "hates" lawnmowers and anyone who is attached to them. My other dog Amigo hates them too, but I am pretty sure he picked that up from Peanut.

This usually is how it goes: before I even hear it, they do. They are at the door wanting to race out. I am oblivious and let them out and the immediately go over to the privacy fence and try to attack the mower through the fence. Then when they can't do that, they turn on each other. Not fun. So I race over, try not get bitten and scoop Peanut up and take him in the house - Amigo usually in tow.

But not the other night. I heard mower before I opened the door and since I have had to walk Peanut on a leash because he sprained his leg he was already leashed up. So I grabbed some chicken and he pulls me to fence. He of course freaks out and I try to get his attention by letting him sniff the chicken and happily saying, "Come on Peanut, let's Push!" He knows "push" means it's time for pushing - so he's usually pretty happy to follow me. But not today. No, there was an evil lawnmower to rid the world of. After a minute or so, I decided I needed to drag him away to the other side of the yard so I could gain his attention. So I did and a gave a quick "shock" or two of the collar and he looked at me and then we started to push. I made him chase me to the middle of the yard, then we pushed again. Whenever his attention went back to the mower, I would run from him and he would follow and we would push again. I did this maybe two more times and by that time we were within about 6 feet of the fence. The mower was still going, but he was calm. Relaxed. And he didn't want any more chicken. He walked over to about 2 feet from the fence and went poo. I stood there in amazement. By this time Amigo had calmed down as well - as he often does when Peanut relaxes - and came over to me for a good push with the leftover chicken. Then we all went back inside the house for some cool air conditioning and a tall drink of water. I was shocked at how quickly (within 4 or 5 pushes) he went from raging lunatic to "I could care less and I think I need to go potty."

I'm sure his issues with lawnmowers (as well as anything that makes a loud sound like a motorcyle or large truck) isn't over, but I can tell you that instead of dreading my neighbor mowing his lawn I am looking forward to getting another successful pushing session in.

Melissa