While out walking, Marley spotted something that concerned him. To him, it was a weird thing in a weird place that didn't make sense.
Being an intelligent human, I recognised it instantly as a rock in a car park. Marley however, stopped in his tracks and stared.
He didn't growl, lunge, bark or try to run away, no hackles came up. He simply stopped.
"Da heck?!"
There are many ways I could have dealt with this. For example yanked on the leash because we were "meant to be walking," (another reason to think of walks as outings, sniffaris, adventures) yelled, dragged him along - though if I added tension on the leash in this non situation, I'm sure that would have incited a reaction. I could've marked it so he turned to look at me, said his name, played tap n go, put food in front of him to catch his nose and get him to move etc.
Guess what I actually did?
NOTHING.
And you can do nothing too! Because sometimes, that's the best thing. The gift of time. Give them the chance to learn on their own.
It was a safe environment
In this moment, his body language wasn't anything to worry about.
He was processing
We are so used to instantaneous everything that we forget to pause. If you come across something of concern or curiosity to your puppy, dog, probably even small human and it fits the three points mentioned above, grant them the gift of a moment, observe them figure it out and only get involved if you actually need to. They'll be better because of it.
