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April 13, 2006

More Laika

Laika is doing really well. At least three times a day I think, "how could we get so lucky to get such a great dog?"

Her biggest problem seems to be separation anxiety (or is that mine?). Sometimes she can come to work with me, but she's still learning, so sometime it's a better option for her to stay at home.

She has a boyfriend at work named Huck (his full name is Huckleberry Finn), a big chocolate lab who's about a month older. Yesterday they lay on the floor together kissing disgustingly. Today at the vet I learned that she might have a mite infestation which may or may not be contagious. It will be embarrassing if she has to notify Huck (not to mention her other friend, Gage) about it, but meanwhile she stays home. (Otherwise her vet checkup went great; officially she is a "black lab mix" and also officially "really cute!") (Later: no embarrassing notifications; Laika has Demodex mites and we just need to get her immune system up to the task of fighting them off.)

I'm getting the impression that someone tried training her before, but with a much too heavy hand. She picks up things very quickly but seems to expect punishment. With lots of encouragement, she blossoms and has the happiest, prettiest trot I've ever seen. That said, she can have a stubborn streak. We're both learning.

I've been reading two books that have been really helpful. One is an actual dog book, Good Owners, Great Dogs, by Brian Kilcommons, a protege of Barbara Woodhouse. I never realized how much dog training/care stuff is actually non-intuitive, and this book explains a lot. The other one, a book I happened to just pick up at random in the search for a good read, is the amazing Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior, by Temple Grandin. From a review in Scientific American, "An autistic woman who as a child was recommended for institutionalization, Grandin has managed not only to enter society’s mainstream but ultimately to become prominent in animal research. An associate professor at Colorado State University, she designs facilities used worldwide for humane handling of livestock." Because of this book, I'm able to understand things why Laika balks on the sidewalk at work just before we get under the sheltered area of the walkway...the contrast between light and dark makes her wary.

Posted by terrie at 09:36 PM

April 08, 2006

Meet Laika

Here's our new family member, Laika! This photo is from the shelter where we got her today:

We went to look at another dog I had seen online; we learned that he had just been adopted out and was much larger and active than I had imagined. We looked at another dog who on the surface looked a lot like a dog one of my co-workers at work has, but he was way too much dog for us; a very large chocolate lab mix who was quite rowdy and not really interested in us at all.

We let the shelter folks know that we wanted something larger than a lap dog, that could walk with me to work, but not huge, and that we were most interested in a female. They figured out that the dog they called "Roxy" might fit the bill, so we put the big rowdy lab back and got her. She was so frightened by all of the other dogs barking that they had to carry her to the meeting room.

There, she hung out on the couch and trembled a little.

I didn't think it would go well. She was so scared! But she warmed up to us quickly, and she was happy to stay snug up against Steve. She has a really soft short coat; her head feels like velvet!

We talked to the staff, and Mariah, a 14-year old volunteer who maintains her own web site for the shelter and works there with all of the dogs. We learned that Laika was thought to be a good dog with cats and probably with visiting nieces and nephews also; she is very submissive, almost to a fault, and that worried me. We couldn't even coax her off the couch for a treat, and had to lift her up. But she banged her tail at us and looked at us intently with her funny furrowed brow. She's estimated to be six or seven months old (her paperwork says seven).

Of course she went home with us. She rode on my lap from Ukiah to Rohnert Park, where we stopped for pet supplies, and then rode on Steve's lap the rest of the way home. She started perking up along the way.

The shelter called her a Sharpei/Lab mix, but something else is in there, too. They thought maybe some terrier. All day I've kept thinking that I've seen a furrowed brow like that somewhere else, and I finally realized that it's a bit Basenji-like. She is certainly very quiet so far, but she did give a couple of woofs to the neighbor dog a few minutes ago outside.

I hadn't quite finished the fence because of the rain yesterday, so I worked on that to finish it up this afternoon. I took Laika with me and attached her leash to a pole near where I was working, and let her play with her chew toy. I was happy that the bangning of fence posts didn't freak her out...she just took it in stride and watched and hung out. After maybe 15 mintues of this I looked down and noticed a piece of purple on the ground next to her... she had neatly chewed thru her leash and had been lying there next to it, content to stay in the yard while I worked! However, she was taken right back inside, and had potty breaks on somewhat shorter leash until the fence was finished.

She's done great today. She really perked up and even ran and played a little, though she's still very submissive acting. She spent a quiet ten minutes in her crate without any fuss, has managed to make me understand when she needs to go outside three times so far, and has shown a respectful interest in the cats (Scout is curious about her but growled just to be sure, Buddy swears he'll never forgive us, but we hope he will).

Laika is named after the first earth creature to go into orbit. You can read about that Laika here. We plan for our Laika to have much more pleasant travels, and to always come home.

It was a big, big day!

Posted by terrie at 08:44 PM

April 03, 2006

Straight Shot Rocks Ace-in-the-Hole

Some photos from Uncle Steve's recent gig. Click for more!

Posted by terrie at 07:23 PM