Dog "friends"

[Enko]

Please help settle a debate between dh and I

Before lockdown happened dd1 was on a placement in a local (ish) primary school. I had agreed I would drive her up each morning and she would take the bus home. I got into the habit of taking Ddog with me and on the route back we would go to the local commons and go for a walk. This would be about 8 15- 8 30.. There was this one other dog there " Teddy" who Ddog just loved and they would always make a beeline for each other playing and loving spending time together to the extend the other regulars would comment " oh there is your friend" to the other dog when one of them arrived.

Lock down happened and due to this our schedule changed as we have another part of the commons closer so would walk there. A few times when we did get down to the larger area we met Teddy and they are stil SO excited to see each other and clearly recognise oneanother and are "best friends" (if a ddog can have a best friend)

As lock down has eased up I have started driving to the larger commons area more regularly and we are walking there again most days. As dd1 now is at another school she is no longer in needof a ride so I have started walking a bit later as well I am not a morning person. Today I made a comment that perhaps I should start getting up earlier so we could go up to the commons and likely see Teddy again then said "that is just way to overindulgent of the Ddog and borderline stalkish of Teddy and his owner" (whom I do not really know bar we have exchanged first names)

DH however thinks this is a great idea. Argues it will get me up and about earlier (he is a morning person) and it will be good for Ddog to meet up with his friend..

SO AIBU to get up earlier on the off-chance that my dogs friend MIGHT be there (I wont know as like I said I barely know Teddys owner) or is it stalkerish/overindulgent?

YABU - Get up early and take your dog to meet his friend..
YANBU - You are over indulging your Dog and are borderline stalking Teddy and His owner..

Before anyone says anything this is a lighthearted post and I have no intentions of making Teddy and His owner feel like we are desperate to see them if we DO meet. Picure of DDog as wellI know many of you are Dog lovers.

He's lovely!

It doesn't sound weird to me at all, although we do hugely indulge Ddog and make a point of timing walks so she can see her fire (and even changed our plans to accommodate a playdate once ).

*friends, not fire.

Omg I can't believe people think you're being unreasonable!! Go and play with Teddy, dogs don't have very long lives, indulge them. Nothing makes me happier than seeing my dog happy (his name is Teddy too tho so maybe a little bias going on)

Yes for sure, my dog has lots of friends and I often drive 20 mins to meet them. I’m good friends with the owners too and have so many more local friends.

My dog clearly has friends. His behaviour with them is different from his behaviour with other dogs. He can tell when they are about - and his demeanour tells me they are around long before I see them. He recognises their names too. I don't know what is going on in his head, but I know that these are dogs he likes and enjoys playing with, whilst other dogs are just "ok" or "ignored". There is nothing indulgent about letting him have fun of his friends owner is ok with it.

My dog has friends! My SIL's husky is his bestest friend ever - they recognise each other from ages away and go bonkers when they're allowed to play. It's so sweet.

I'm also a dog walker and the dogs are so happy to get out and play. I picked up a dog last week and when I put her in the car, her face when she saw one of her buddies in there was a picture - she was so excited!

My dog has a best friend and I would absolutely go out if my way once in a while so they can be together.

I didn't realise this was an unusual perspective!

My dog has a best friend, she is a Labrador and he is a pug so they make a funny pair. I don’t go out of my way to ensure they meet up, but we are out at the same time fairly regularly so it occurs naturally. They love seeing each other, when they realise the other is around, the one in front will stop and wait and the one behind starts trying to run to catch up.

Make friends with the owner. Sorted. Then you can text to meet somewhere mutually convenient once in a while.

My dog has a best friend too .They are both Dalmatians and look so cute together!Yours looks lovely too yes I would 100% go and meet up every week or so!

Look at your dogs lovely face! He wants to see his friend. Do it.

DH is loving you all are agreeing with him [grin[

Definitely take him to meet his pal! DDog in 18 now, and doesn't have much time for other dogs. But he does clearly enjoy the presence of DSis's 2 yr old dog. Even though she's way too bouncy for him, he's always calmer when she's around, and she's obviously very fond of him too.

Of course you should go and see Teddy.

Poor Teddy, he's always in the same park, probably hoping.

My dogs sulk if we don't go and see their human friends on our way round town, and we organise Saturday mornings so they get to go to their favourite cafe to have sausages, even though there are other options with better human food so sometimes we have to have tea and cruffins in one place then go and have coffee in the other which serves sausages

YANBU and your DdDog is gorgeous!

When LolaLakie was a youngster, she had 2 "friends" that she particularly liked and would actually play with (she's very choosy about the company she keeps).

One was a lovely lurcher and they would play a heart-stopping game where they would run full tilt at each other and swerve at the last minute, or the lurcher would drop to the ground and my dog would leap over her. Neither of them ever did this with other dogs.

I used to take DDog at the same time as her lurcher mate, so they could play together so YANBU. I think she missed her when they moved away, she would run towards dogs that looked similar and then go all hangdog when it wasn't her pal.

Her other bezzie mate, when she was a very small pup, was a big German Shepherd. They played games that looked rough but the GSD was amazingly gentle and an absolute sweetheart, and never trod on her or anything. She adored him, and she's really not very sociable with other dogs. She seems to think they're a bit beneath her.

Meet the friend! I wish my dog had dog friends, but they all just bore him...he's a people person!

Our puppy has dog friends - so excited when she meets the ones she likes. My in laws frequently walk her so fairly often we'll meet up with a dog I don't know but she clearly does. And their owner will say 'oh it's '[in laws name] puppy!'. No she's mine.

We time walks when we hope/know puppies she likes will be around. She looks sad if she gets to the common and they aren't there.

Do it! Our dog has best friends and you can whip him into a frenzy mentioning their names. He also once escaped from our place and legged it to his bestest friend's house two streets away, which was both terrifying and adorable! We always comment on how quickly dogs judge one another's character –a two-second interaction will result in growls, being ignored or joyfully chasing each other around.

Take him to see his friend! Their lives are so short, make every day a happy one for him!

Do it! DDog's best friend was DH's uncle's dog, Murphy, who sadly died last year. He generally doesn't like other dogs and gets very skittish around them so it was lovely to see him playing and having fun.

By 8:45am there is going to be a photo of the reunion isn't there???

Please do meet up! Ddog deffo has pals he likes to meet, and others he just acknowledges and that's as far as it goes with them - they can be so funny. Photo of DDog attached to help cheer everyone up

I'm always thrilled when we bump into ddogs friend on our walks, go for it!

My youngest has anxiety and is fearful of nearly all dogs, with the exception of my other dog or my boyfriend's dad's dogs. We rarely see BFs dad's dogs but it's so nice to see our youngest interact with them without fear. Dog friends are definitely a thing!