It's been nearly two years since we plucked Tovarisch out of the East Valley Animal Shelter here in Los Angeles and during those years we have learned a great many things about him and the difference between ingrained behavior and training, but some things only reveal themselves with time. We've had intimations of the strength of his memory before, but one recent incident served to bring everything into sharp focus.
One of the first incidents that gave us clues about Tovarisch's sensitivity and caring for others, as well as his guarding behavior, came when a neighbor was out walking his miniature poodle (or something like that -- under 30 pounds and I have a hard time being specific) at the same time Robyn was out with Tovarisch.
They were walking on opposite sides of the street, and the little dog, as they so often are, was highly excited and agitated to see such a big dog. It barked and whined and raced around until it finally darted across the street to meet Tovarisch. Naturally, the man didn't have a leash for his dog, in fact all he was carrying was a rolled up newspaper which he promptly used to severely whack the little dog who cried piteously and dodged to get away.
Now I understand the necessity of giving no quarter on the issue of walking into the street, but this was excessive and horrified Robyn. In Tovarisch, however, it produced a very different reaction. He roared to life and began lunging at the man, barking and snarling in one of his earliest displays of the Slathering Beast From H*ll, something that, at that time, we hadn't really believed was in him!
Though he was much smaller and more easily handled then, Robyn was kept quite busy controlling him. The man picked up his dog and continued on his way.
From that day on whenever we encountered the man or walked on a street that he had been on (Tovarisch always knew!) T would stiffen and snort or growl, letting all know that the enemy was near. We would always cross the street to avoid an encounter.
Since I had not been there for the encounter, I didn't know the man by sight, and until Robyn was able to point him out to me, I would occasionally come home shaking my head about how that crazy Tovarisch had gone off at some guy who's only crime seemed to be walking the streets of our neighborhood.
Eventually it became clear that the man was suffering from a guilty conscience, because one day he admitted to Robyn that he knew why Tovarisch was growling at him and he sort of apologized. He was apologizing to the wrong one, and his apology sure didn't sound sincere to Tovarisch.
It's been quite a while since we'd actually seen the guy, about a year in fact, but the other morning Robyn was out with Tovarisch and he caught sight of the man and, as though the whole thing had happened just the day before, Tovarisch again let the world know that here, walking down the street, was the worst kind of vermin.
I know now that there will never come a day when Tovarisch will forget or excuse that man's behavior. But more than that, Tovarisch will never forget an act like that, and I pity anyone foolish enough to behave so carelessly in front of a dog like Tovarisch. Come to think of it, maybe I've had an LGD long enough to know that everything IS right in the LGD universe.
It's almost perversely sick to mention this, but the man chose to name his dog 'Lucky.'
Benjamin G. Levy, ben-levy@westworld.com
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