Holding her Licker

Elka licks. It's a thing she does.

She licks people who let her (and sneaks it in sometimes on those who do not), she licks her toys, she licks herself. Occasionally I've had to utter the improbably phrases "Elka, don't lick the floor" and "Elka, don't lick the couch."

With a tongue like that, you might as well use it, I guess.

It's that time of year again (....almost)

So, seeing as how it's almost the end of October (finally!), I've been thinking about National Novel Writing Month.

As happens to me very often, I had an idea at the beginning of the month  (an urban fantasy novel about an occult biker gang, to put it in a nutshell). I started planning it out a bit, did some reading, started watching Sons of Anarchy again (I'm only partway through season 2, no spoilers please!), that kind of thing. So I was ready, right? Then I looked up and it was only October 16. So.

Now I'm thinking of writing something that takes place at the Jersey Shore, where I'm from (surprise, right? Writing about a place I know). But of course there are ten days left before November. So. I still don't really know. And I may or may not have already started the other novel (also urban fantasy), which may or may not be cheating if I use it (it is).

So I need to lay in some toys/treats for Elka to occupy herself with so I can shoehorn some writing time in evenings after work. Remembering to freeze Kongs will help. Getting a couple new squeaky toys will help, as they only last so long. It's funny, Elka didn't used to like squeaky toys, but she sure does now! I can just watch her play with one, and they are an enforced "No, you play with that yourself" toy.

Any of you novelling this year? How does your dog occupy him or her self when you write?

Island of Misfit Toys? No, we have a toy graveyard.

With Elka, we have toys that are "supervised" and ones that she can just have all the time. For the most part, the "supervised" toys are ones that we've gotten to review (like from Zippypaws or a PetsLoveToys box.) Or they're squeaky toys, which are not awesome when people in the house are sleeping. Or they're ropes, which a certain miss has apparently now decided must return to their original thready forms. Or, or or. You get the idea.

So, the "supervised" toys go on top of the refrigerator when she may not have them. This has resulted in a rather sad and desperate collection of things that I haven't yet thrown out because seriously, that's dog blog gold, and also because I feel bad throwing things away. But I also don't feel like I can give them to her most of the time.

Intelligence: a two edged sword

I may or may not have mentioned it, but I do so love blog hops (you might have noticed). I get to read all kinds of new blogs that I hadn't discovered before, and new people come to me as well! One of these new blogs was Bites and Tales, who commented on last week's Wordless Wednesday and who I went to check out.

Scrolling through, I adored the picture, and then came to a post on a topic near and dear to my heart: Smart dogs.

I'm sorry, Lennox

Lennox, the Belfast "pit bull type" dog, is to be put down. He's an American Bull Dog/Labrador Retriever cross. But, he "looks" like a "pit bull", and his measurements are like a pit bull. So, too bad. He's been impounded for two years. His family has fought for him for two years. Frankly, I wondered if he had been euthanized long before now, but the bureaucracy kept rolling. They didn't even let the family say goodbye. That may have been a blessing; a dog kept in a shelter environment for two years may not be the dog that he was when he went in.

The Lennox case perplexed me. I tried, very hard, to find another side. I wanted to find editorials about how Lennox had been a terror to the neighborhood, a menace, running about off leash taking shots at people. Granted, it's hard to find the story at all. One account says that the animal warden showed up to the family's house, unannounced, measured Lennox's muzzle and body with a measuring tape, and said he was a pit bull and must be euthanized.  I mentioned in the final Heidi the Doberman post that Lennox had knocked down a dog warden, but I'm hard pressed to find articles that say that now. It's hard for me to find a dog guilty based on knocking somebody down, of course; he could have jumped up in play, to smell her face, any number of things. I'd like to say "blame the deed, not the breed", but there was no bite here.

Without witnessing an event, it's hard to say what happened, and even then, it isn't always cut and dry. A Huffington Post article does relate that two separate animal behaviorists examined Lennox and thought that he was just fine, behaviorally speaking. Not an aggressive threat.

There have been petitions and boycotts and letters written. People have petitioned that Belfast be skipped along the torch passing route for the summer olympics. The torch was scheduled to pass through on June 6; I don't doubt that it did. Lennox is only a dog, right? I'm sure any number of people outside of Northern Ireland would have been poised to adopt him, whisk him away to a theoretically safer location, where just having a big square head wasn't a death sentence. I wonder if people rethink Labrador ownership?

Lennox had been legally owned and legally registered in Belfast until then; they had even done a DNA test to prove that he was an American Bull Dog (not a banned breed) and a Labrador Retriever (another not banned breed). Since his removal, he was evidently kept in what amounts to a concrete box with sawdust on the floor, seen in photographs that his keepers released. One might assume, since he was a BigScaryMeanDog, that he had no human contact, no play, no toys. For a human, solitary confinement of that sort, for that length of time, might be considered questionable. But Lennox is only a dog, right? One whose fate was pretty much sealed from the moment he left his owner's custody.

For a dog that never bit anybody to be euthanized makes no sense. For a dog who is not suffering from a terminal disease, an irreparable injury, uncontrollable aggression, or neurological condition to be euthanized is sinful. It's a failure of humanity. It makes me sad and sick and I wonder...well, I wonder too much. And it seems that nobody gets answers.

Doberman temperament: What is drive?

In the wake of Westminster, and reading peoples' reactions to the appearance of the German Shepherds, I've been thinking a lot about working versus show in the context of breeding. My understanding is that German Shepherds did not always have the rear assembly that they do now, and that working lines of German Shepherds still look "normal", as it were. The slopes of their backs are not so extreme, they're not walking down on their hocks, etc.

And then I thought about Dobermans. Working Dobermans vs. Show ones, thankfully, do not have gross physical departures from one another. The AKC Doberman breed standard is to ensure a physically sound dog; one that can be as agile and athletic as the job entails. Mentally sound as well, so far as the standard covers it, as "a judge shall dismiss from the ring any shy or vicious Doberman." A stable working dog is neither shy nor vicious, but rather alert and confident.

In Internet circles, I do see complaints that American show Dobermans are softer than their European counterparts, and softer and less drive-y than working lines in general. So, what does "drive" mean, anyway?

I Can Fix Your Problem Dog!

Now, what was it that made you click so quickly?

What is it about your dog that makes him or her a "problem"?

In fact, let's make a list of the top five "problem dog" behaviors, shall we?

1. barking
2. pulling on the leash
3. jumping
4. nipping/biting/chewing
5. "she's just out of control"

Are these behaviors you have to deal with, from your dog, on a daily basis?

Successful Kong use

Elka loves toys that we can stuff food in.  Even if it's just a schmear of peanut butter, she'll spend (what I feel) is a disproportionate amount of time rolling it around, holding it down with her paws, dropping it, and licking it.

This kind of "work for your food" activity, no matter how short, is good mental stimulation.  The Kong rolls around, has knurls inside that trap the food, and doesn't really have a big enough opening to entirely accomodate the DoberTongue.  Frequently, mental stimulation can be more tiring than physical exercise; perhaps it just puts dogs in a mental mindset, so that they recognize fatigue?  That's my best shot at speculation.

I can't claim to be the canniest of Kong users, but I do have a few tips for making a Kong last longer than five minutes.

Tennis Balls: Contestant Number six

Since seeing my montage of purchases in my Anatomy of a Petco visit post, some of you may or may not have been waiting with bated breath to see how the exceedingly pink Petco tennis ball held up to Elka's jaws.  I know I would've been, anyway.

Rainy days

Elka doesn't really like the rain.

Thunderstorms don't bother her in the slightest; she would in fact love to be outside to watch them.  But Elka does not like sky-water falling upon her, which can make things like potty breaks and exercising difficult on a rainy day, besides the fact that the back yard gets rather muddy.

So, what is there to do on a rainy day?

The Monster Mouth

Elka has a number of toys which can be stuffed with a variety of treats.

The point is to cleverly stuff them, and then give them to the waiting DoberMaw, to be tossed about and nosed around and licked until all the treats come out and it just smells vaguely of peanut butter and deli products.  Freezing said items definitely increases the longevity of this venture, which is timed to both distract the Elka from me, that I might accomplish non-dog things about the house, and to mentally wear her out, so she might nap and let me accomplish non-dog things about the house.  Many trainers, some of whom I like and some I don't, say "a tired dog is a good dog", and that is a fact.

The Monster Mouth came into our lives towards the end of last summer.  Like the clicker, I bought it at Tractor Supply on a lark. I thought it looked fun, and perhaps challenging, and the rubber didn't smell bad. These things are important.