A Glorified Squeaker

It's been over a month now, but at the end of September, we received many invitations to peoples' houses to celebrate the various Israeli holidays. At one such house, there was a dog that Nathan was interested in playing with. The dog wasn't as friendly as Nathan, however, and Nathan returned home with a fear of dogs and of being chased. Now we have Dogberry (that's his name, since I forgot to put it in the last post about him!). At first Nathan wanted to take him back. but when he realized that wasn't an option, he just tried to avoid him. Anytime Dogberry was down, Nathan was up. If Dogberry was being held, he might venture close enough to reach out and pet him, but if Dogberry even turned to sniff his hand, he quickly jerked it back and ran away. As Nathan became more comfortable with Dogberry, the temptation for Dogberry to play with him became greater and greater. Nathan would cautious go toward Dogberry and then run away squealing. What Nathan didn't realize was that in his haste to get away, he was turning himself into a glorified squeaky toy. To any playful puppy, this kind of action looked like a life-sized squeaky toy that wanted to be chased. Back and forth it went, Nathan creeping toward the dog, Dogberry turning and noticing him, Nathan running to the nearest couch or chair, squealing, with Dogberry at his heels. Slowly, the playful puppy worn Nathan down until he realized that Dogberry is no longer a threat. Having Dogberry run toward him still isn't fun, but now he's not afraid to get down on his level and talk to him or say "No, Dogberry!" regarding Dogberry's latest stuffed animal acquisition.