13d • General discussion
When your service dog is just not having it…
or the last hour or so of my work day, Atlas was just DONE. His focus was gone, nothing could bring him back. There was a group of kids playing some game they made up all around the library while we were shelving books. They weren’t running or anything (we don’t allow running in the library and are quick to tell kids to stop if they run) but Atlas was just absolutely 100% hyperfocused on them. He would sit, down, and stay when I asked, but his head was on swivel. He was NOT afraid (I honestly couldn’t tell you the last time this dog was afraid of something… scarecrow as a puppy maybe??) He just seemed to REALLY want to know where they were and what they were doing.
On top of that, a co-worker had burnt a bag of popcorn on their break so that smell lingered a little into the main library, but not too bad. I assumed the smell was making him crazy at first but when it continued for an hour after the smell was mostly gone from the main area of the library, I knew it wasn’t that.
Two of the girls have developmental disabilities so I was wondering if he was also picking up on that? The last time he was ever this hyperfocused on a person was when I worked at my last job and a manager would come in drunk (yes he got fired). Atlas could smell it on him.
Any advice? We did sneakaways on the leash, I tried moving away from where they were, etc and he always found a way to look toward or at them.
The kids didn’t try to pet him or anything, they just said “ooh, dog!” noticing him, then HE initiated trying to sniff them repeatedly and I just never could figure out why. Of course he got corrected for that. They come in regularly and he’s seen them, so idk why today was so different.
Atlas pic for tax because despite the rough evening he is the best boy and I love him so much!
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When your service dog is just not having it…
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