Blocking his aggressiveness can pull you off your feet

Frank Touby —

The Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon Oct. 19 was a spectacular event with weather perfectly suited for marathoners: cool to the point of chilly. Just the thing for someone running 21 miles, even in the sparse tank tops and shorts most of them wore.

The Tank Report

It was Tank’s introduction to the St. Lawrence Neighbourhood Assn. (SLNA) cheering section and he took it mostly in stride.

That’s saying a lot since he has a reputation for lunging after joggers and throwing them off their strides and making himself a threatening nuisance. Not that he’s ever bitten anyone.

But he’s a big, beautifully black dog with a sleek coat and pearly whites which are all a tribute to his recently deceased owner, Danny Murphy, who did spend a lot of time and his limited funds on ensuring Tank’s wellbeing.

Tank’s coat is as shiny and black as freshly cut coal. Some have suggested because the coat is somewhat (but minimally) fluffy, that he might be a mix of Labrador retriever and Chesapeake Bay retriever.

But when you look at the many varieties of Labs in dog show photos, he’s as much a Lab type as any of them.

He is still a very needy dog. Tank, as you’ll no doubt recall, was in the room with Danny’s body for a day or more when his owner died and until it was discovered he was dead. Tank was severely traumatized.

People who were at the seen when authorities entered Danny’s unit say Tank was distraught and doing the canine equivalent of copious weeping.

He is especially attached to me and at home he won’t let me out of his sight for very long.

He now is quite attached as well to Paulette, but I’m his substitute for Danny and it can be daunting having an emotional, 80-lb. Lab following you around and trying to be under foot. Literally under foot.

His insecurity especially shows whenever one of us leaves home, even when one of us is with him.

He doesn’t really play with Daisy, who would like to have that happen. But he can’t play-fight. Those are mock battles that are her preferred play style. I admit I encouraged that in her and she likes to snarl and lightly bite. But Tank is still an aggressive big dog and though he hasn’t hurt Daisy, he isn’t accommodating her in play.

But they have touched noses in recent days so he’s getting more comfortable with the idea of her being a permanent fixture in his life.

It’s not that he hasn’t been with other dogs. Kevin Scrimshaw, Danny’s close friend, has a couple and his basset hound Monty is Tank’s best canine friend. Monty likes to snarl and grip a big stick in his teeth and challenge others to take it from him, which is practically impossible.

It’s only been a bit over a month since Tank was released to our custody from the pound at Toronto Animal Services and we just have to be patient with him.

We are. It can be tough because he can take a dislike to some dog he sees and for no good reason will just lunge at the creature. During the Marathon he leapt at several dogs, including one little white dog that was in the arms of his lady owner and had her looking over her dog after the attack to see if it was injured. (It wasn’t.)

He also damned near pulled me off my feet trying to keep him from attacking a huge dog on a leash at the Marathon event. We have to be wary with him in public. Joggers who are on a sidewalk running past him will be lunged at. Ditto for roller bladers and skateboarders. Vigilance is the price of not being sued for Tank’s prejudices. We hope to wean him off those.

This is being written at our Lake Erie cottage where Tank really enjoys being a Labrador retriever. He’s in  the lake no matter how cold it is outside and seems immune to the cold.

I’m having an hell of a time trying to get him to live up to his name: retriever. He’s eager to chase down a ball that’s thrown but he refuses to bring it back. Paulette is more patient with his lack of retrieving than I am and she praises him when he walks toward her with the ball.

But he’s not responding as a retriever.

I get tired of chasing down the ball that he chases, takes in his mouth, lies down with and then walks away from.

But I’m confident that by next summer he’ll be a retriever. We live in hope.

Meanwhile, he’s getting used to our feeding regimen and has dropped some weight. He isn’t much of a chow hound as you’d expect from a guy who was as hefty as he was when we got him. But we think it had more to do with his many fans when Danny had him lying by his side as he sold street newspapers in front of the liquor store just west of St. Lawrence Market.

They no doubt slipped him tidbits of fast-food crap they were eating. Lots of white bread, hot dogs, junky burgers…the usual franchise joint imitation food. Nobody should eat that stuff. But surely no dog should.

Paulette and I are vegan, but we don’t expect our dogs to be. Leila at White House meats contributed some ground beef for Tank. (She called him “Danny’s Dog.”) He certainly appreciated the gift and we keep it up with him and with Daisy who also enjoys some ground beef.

They both like cheese, and we use it to flavour the high-quality kibble we feed them both. That way they clean their bowls. Tank no longer tries to eat Daisy’s food, so they are accommodating each other in important ways.

I’ll keep you posted.