I usually enjoy Patricia B. McConnell’s posts but the “hard eye” one made me feel very uncomfortable when I read it.
Roberta, the Border Collie’s owner in the story ignored the dog’s resource guarding and the story ends “well” because the dog chose to leave the candy bar behind in the car. But...what happens next time when the object of desire is a bag of broken glass instead of a chocolate bar? (Senta tried to eat a bag of broken glass when she was a year old.) I think it says a lot about the dog’s relationship with the owner that he directed that dead eyed stare towards her. This wasn’t the first day of a new relationship but three years in. When Bosco was ten months old, he hard eyed a trainer who gave him a command. That cold, alien stare is very frightening and not something I would want directed at me. Getting the chocolate bar back from the dog is just the beginning of the story.
Lots for me to reflect on in this post. Super discussion with my mentor this morning.