I wrote a few weeks ago about Dogger, the dog at Eva’s who is so determined to be friends with Chico and promised to try and capture some of their interaction.

I am posting the video I shot of the two dogs but it’s been a bit scary to share it. When I reviewed the footage, I realized that I had probably let this interaction go on a bit too long, distanced as I was by being behind the camera, and I’m not proud of making an error in judgement. Chico is deeply conflicted about Dogger and by the time I stopped recording and separated them, I’d say Chico was pretty ready for it all to end.

At the same time it’s amazing to me how doggedly determined Dogger is to be friends. He does just about anything a dog can do to say “Let’s play!”  He does play bows. His face is a big, sloppy, lolling-tongued smile. He turns and puts his butt right in Chico’s face. When Chico does sniff Doggers hind end the first time, it is quite by surprise and you can see Dogger jump, but he doesn’t react negatively; instead, he turns to Chico with a look that says “Oh, so finally you’re in the game!”

Chico says “Back off” a couple times and Dogger does. But Dogger doesn’t give up. At one point Chico growls and snarls at Dogger who leans back into a joyful, bouncy, play bow, as if to say “Yes, we can turn this into play. I will show you how.”

His owner said she’s never seen anything like it. Usually if a dog says bug-off, Dogger does. And he’s no pacifist, there’s another dog that comes to work at Eva’s a few days a week and the two of them cannot be together. Simply cannot. Someone would get hurt.