A few months ago we got a postcard in the mail about United Water updating all their meters to be wireless so they could get more accurate readings. Well we finally had our appointment last night. The install guy that came was AWESOME!
It seems most installer people that work with the public these days are terrified of dogs. I do not understand how anyone can be terrified of dogs and do these lines fo work, but it happens all the time! This guy never even got to knock on the door before Sunshine was doing her kujo snarling rearing and barking routine. I moved her away from the door, told her to hush (unsucessfully), grabbed Rainy's collar (didn't want her to scare him by going to greet him), and invited him in. Guy walked in, shut the door behind him, held up his hands and announced "alright go ahead and sniff me!"
Knocked me off kilter! I told Rainy to go ahead and say hello and she bounced over, her tail wagging away as she sniffed him. Sunshine even was brave enough to creep up on the other side of Rainy and grab a very quick sniff at his front pocket before retreating at lightening speed. Then she just stayed in the back and kept barking off an on at him. After a few moments he said he just needed to see where our basement was. We advised there was no basement but the meter was behind the dryer and walked him through the house to it. Rainy went back to sleep on her dog bed and Sunshine followed us at a safe distance barking sporadically. The guy completely ignored her antics.
It was the nicest visit ever by an installer! A very positive experience for us and both of the dogs, even the shy one with issues! He never asked that I lock the dogs away. Come to think of it I don't even think he ever petted Rainy, he just baby talked to her. Maybe he wasn't as comfy with large dogs as he led us to believe? Or maybe he was just very dog savvy? If I was walking into strange homes with strange dogs all day long, I would think I would do the same. Let them sniff and greet, baby talk to make friends, then move on and ignore them. if you don't pet them they cannot snap reactively at you. It probably is your best bet at never getting yourself bit AND keeping your clients very happy. Throwing your hands up while inviting the sniffing might not be the wisest move when greeting new large dogs, but neither of the girls found it a threatening gesture.
United Water just got a few more brownie points in my mind!
When my AC broke, the Jiffy guy came out and Joey was here and Joey was a freakin' spaz on him trying to sniff and lean and bark and play. Despite my best attempts, I couldn't get Joey to calm down. They tech guy was great. I asked if he would prefer that I put Joey in a crate and he said he was fine with him being out. He made sure when he had to go out that Joey wasn't going to escape out the door and the same when he came back in. After several trips, Joey calmed down since he realized he wasn't going to get extra love.
ReplyDeletePhil greets strangers at the door and when they greet him, he retreats back to his crate or the bedroom, which I'm totally ok with. If he knows the person is going to pay him attention (friends that come over regularly), then he'll do some jumpy/rear back things (which is kinda scary if you've never experienced it before) and once he gets his pettins goes straight to his house or the bedroom. He knows those are his safe places.
Unfortunately, I have a feeling that I'll have this XX-large crate set up for the rest of Phil's life since he LOOOOOOOOOOOVES his crate.
He will slowly wean himself off that crate in time ;) Sounds like you had the perfect AC person! Most repairmen or installers that I have had are either awful with the critters, or terrified. How is Joey doing in his home? Calming down any?
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