Mira was a super interesting pup. We run into these pups along the way sometimes. She was not good and living in the human world. She was rescued from the streets in Russia. She's a breed that most of us haven't heard of here in the US, but very common over there. She's a smart one. Very independent thinker!!

If anyone can guess her breed, I will give you one month of premium access (after we meet our 100 member quota so invite your friends).

She did not respond to human body language the way that we - as humans - would like. And so it was very frustrating. So I began with her moving with dog body language.

"OMG!! What does this mean you animal nut!!" I began sitting on the rug. My hands were low. I had treats in them but my palms were open so it was her choice to come sniff them and choose to take them. I would look at her, then look away. I would yawn. I would lick my lips. I would do a paw raise when my hands were free to do so. A big one was the look away. Eventually I was able to do play-bows so she would understand that I was friendly and we could be friends I had to slowly transition from acceptable dog language to things that humans would do - like touching the top of her head - so she could start to understand, it was ok.

In the video, I was still in process of communicating very much in a dog way. Eventually we continued to work and pull back so she could respond to words only. But Mira's biggest challenge was welcoming a new (human) baby into her family. We had to be sure she would accept the new baby and all the new noises and routines.

The way that we accomplished this with Mira, since she was not as domesticated it was actually easier - we greeted the new family in the lobby of their high rise. Mira and I waited for a very long time for them to arrive. We went for a walk and waited all day for them as soon as we heard they were getting discharged (or might get discharged). Then we went to the lobby and waited. She was very tired by the time they arrived. She had stayed with me while they were in the hospital so she was also very excited to she her family.

When they came in, I worked on keeping her calm. We worked on calm behavior. I asked for a down. She was to remain calm while they approached us in their grand lobby so she could work on impulse control - but also not startle the new born. This was to be a huge skill she was going to need in the coming months!!

When the baby was close enough they lowered the bassinet and let her sniff the baby. She seemed very happy (she was given a blanket from the hospital with the baby's smell so it wasn't her first chance to "get a whiff" ) but Mira seemed way more worried about the new mom. Mira went to her and gave her lots of big sniffs. There had been some complications and an extended hospital stay. Not only did this cause a longer separation from Mira - but I'm sure Mira could smell the change on this new mother.

Mira went back to sniffing the baby. I was holding the leash all the while.

One point to note - from a safety stand point - Mira was attached to a leash on my belt. She was not just on a leash, that I was holding in my hand, that I had the potential to drop. From a safety stand point. I had these pups on a leash that was attached to a belt - a military belt - that I was wearing. I was still holding the leash. But if she lunged at the last minute, I didn't have to worry about my arm stretching and Mira getting to the newborn. All I had to do was sit back and she would hit the end of the leash.

Was I deeply concerned that Mira would harm the newborn? Nope. But should any new family be concerned about bringing a newborn home to their family pup? YES.

Why? - I want to pull my hair out whenever I hear phrases like "my dog is so sweet, she would never hurt anything." All said while their dog is "playing" with their toy - shaking the stuffing out of it - looking like a murder scene for toys. ... Basically ALL dogs are capable of harm if they become triggered.

There are 3 (or 4) types of bites.

Nip - A scared dog that is asking for distance, might begin with a nip. A nip (sometimes qualified and a bite... sometimes not) is when the dog puts their mouth on the skin (or whatever medium) but does not break the skin. This is simply a communication for the dogs. The dogs will put their mouths like this on each other and not break skin quite often to communicate or play. But this is not breaking skin. It's still important to note - but it's not breaking skin.

Breaking Skin - If a dog bites and breaks skin, this is truly a bite. The dog is intentionally biting. Dogs will have "bite inhibition". This is what helps them use their mouth to play and nip but not press so far as to break the skin. They learn this when playing and rough-housing with their littermates as pups. So when the adult dog bites deep enough to clearly break skin - this is a clear communication - please back away and give space.

Bite Hold - This is a much more aggressive bite. We see this bite colloquially with police training, military or stunt pups. What the pup learns is to bite the perpetrator/toy until handler asks the pup to release. But this pup will lock until directed, no doubt. These are tough dogs and being on the other end of this type of bite, trained or from organic communication - this is a scary bite.

Bite, Hold, Shake - We have all seen this bite. And we genuinely thought it was cute... but probably because we misread the context. When we saw that cute fluffy Pomeranian grab a stuffed animal and give it a shake - and the fur and the pom shook right along with the toy - we thought it was the cutest video on twitter... but what were we watching? We were watching an animal perform a kill bite on what it thought might be a smaller animal. That bite - or rather grab - and lock and shake is the kill that a dog will perform on another animal. Since you provide the actual food, you dog just enacts the hunting move on it's stuffed prey.

Now imagine your gorgeous golden retriever that couldn't hurt anything - except every toy you every bought - became fearful. And this state continued over a period of time that it was elevated to such a height and all the signs were ignored and suppressed - that the bites began. First it was just a nip when the scary little being that made noise and pulled hair got close. Then harder and harder nips until your docile golden broke skin just to beg for space. But the small thing just kept challenging with direct eye contact, loud noises, hands in face... and the big people just kept pushing the issue... This is how babies and dogs get into trouble.

Any dog - no matter how sweet their temperament is still a dog. They still communicate like a dog - because they are dogs. They will never stand up and start speaking. They will never express their stress in words. Your human counterparts don't even do a great job at communicating stress and they speak your language.

So please - be smart. Exercise cause when you bring a newborn home. That sweet pup sitting next to me on the couch right now, he's an animal. He as a gigantic mouth full of teeth that can cause me and my family harm and I need to respect the crazy idea that humans have. Let's live in peace with multiple species. To do that - respect the fact - they are a different species.
WOW!! Think about this for a minute. We are living with a different species And we are trying to communicate with them like we're Jane Goodall or something. How AMAZING is this!!

So Mira stayed attached to me in the elevator. I stayed with Mira as we entered the home.

Why did we do this whole lobby nonsense? We didn't want Mira to feel like she was defending her home against this newborn and not welcome her. Mira had not been home since the family left for the hospital to have the baby. It had been many days and Mira was excited to get home as well. When Mira got to go home, she walked in WITH the baby - together.

As soon as we got inside, Mira seemed very excited to see the baby. The crib was a little out of her reach so we began to let her off leash. I kept her harness on so I could still grab her if I needed to - and I did. I grabbed her and picked her up - she's 30-40lbs - not small but not too big. I held her and the whole family watched the baby fall asleep in her crib for the first time in her home. Grandma took pictures. (I hid behind Mira). It was a beautiful moment. To be there with the family and to see all the love. Mira was definitely part of the love. She loved that baby. She would watch the baby sleep and be the first to the crib when she cried. Mira was even cranky from lack of sleep in the beginning because she was so attentive.

We worked with a lot of pups while mom was pregnant and helped with introductions and beyond. This was a niche that our style of training was very useful to new mothers. Mira ended being a great mothers helper and we were glad to be able to support the family and Mira through the transition.

Again - the importance of calm behavior.