How resilient is your dog?

That is an interesting question. I actually wouldn't particularly say Javelin is laid back per say, in fact he can be pretty pushy. It is more a matter that he is confident that is the foundation for his response to today's little accident. As to how I ended up with him when I had first pick among five boys there were a number of factors. The first part was knowing Lily well enough that she would absolutely never accept (let alone tolerate another bitch as a housemate, so that took out 4 of the litter mates). I also told that to his breeder so she would understand that I wanted a male who would be willing to accept her as the higher ranking dog in the sense that he wouldn't challenge her, but also needed a dog who would be self assured enough to not be a coward. His breeder also knew he would do obedience sports. She watched all of the males for characteristics that he thought were compatible with the important needs I had. Initially she very much watched one boy who she thought would be a nice worker and who she found to have a very good nose from very early. But then that boy started standing up against the challenges offered by his sisters so we took him off the list. I went and met the whole litter about 2 weeks before our pick day and actually liked the blue collar boy who is now Javelin very much (didn't decide then and there though). In between the first time I met the litter and our appointment to pick another person (lower on the list for a boy) met them. He did all the Volhard tests himself (although I am not sure his timing was right and he shouldn't have been the tester). He wanted the blue collar boy and had to make a 2nd choice to him in the event I took him. When BF and I met the boys we just sat on the ground in the puppy run with them and watched how they played with each other, looked for centripetal attraction to us, played with their feet, tails, muzzles, heads and such. we took three separate voice votes over about an hour and blue collar boy showed up at each round of voting for at least one of us. So a little bit of wysiwig and a lot of communication with his breeders to have them help me by looking over those first nine weeks for the things that mattered to me.

That is great. And I agree that good bounce-back or resiliency comes from a good, stable temperament to begin with along with a good, trusting relationship with a dogs humans...training, doing things together to make a good bond. Your involvement with your dog paid off with this scary incident.

My dogs have that same kind of resiliency. Something scary can happen and they get right over it. I remember an incident with the Dremel with Maurice. I thought for sure he'd be done with using the Dremel... that there's no way I could do his nails again after what happened. (long story) Anyhow, it was as if nothing ever happened when I gave it another shot. These dogs trust me and yours trust you. They seem to know that we didn't mean to let something happen to them. So the next time, they're willing to try again. Amazingly smart and interwoven with us it seems are dogs. But unfortunately, some aren't so strong like that.

Oh yes, noises are an everyday distraction. For therapy dogs that will visit health care facilities IV stands could be the crashing item. And at trials I have had the stewards table fall down as we were starting novice sits and downs. Lily broke her stay. The judge did not let us repeat it (even though it would have been an NQ had she been successful). Another time in open B she broke the sit along with a friend's dog. Just as we were walking out of the ring the person in the open A ring next to us hit the high jump with her dumbbell not just once but actually three times. It was super loud since it was a large wooden dumbbell for a GSD and it hit a wooden jump! At the first throw hitting to jump Lily ran past me out of the ring right into her crate. My friend's dog stood up and took a few steps. We both did the downs with the rest of the class and then the judge let us redo the sit together. Expect the unexpected.