I literally have no idea what this dog does and does not understand

So, the other day, we (the household, Elka included) were sitting on the couch, watching a movie. Night Watch, for those interested. It's a Russian urban fantasy film based on the first of a series of books by Sergei Lukyanenko. Very much worth checking out.

But I digress.

(this is a blog stock photo, it's not warm enough yet to have the door open, not by a long shot. But this is approximately where she was on the couch, anyway)

It's been awhile....another chewed library book

It's been awhile since I've had a thoroughly chewed library book come across the counter. But last week, somebody came in with one. Their dog is about a year old, and they're making gestures at leaving the dog out of the crate when they're not home.

The dog really showed some ingenuity, actually. The patron said the book was in the middle of an otherwise empty table, and it was the only thing dog chewed. Also, the cover isn't chewed, and the book is chewed in sections. I try to take these things in good stride, obviously. Elka never chewed any books, thank God, but she did chew things. So I understand. What I said was "That was some good problem solving! Give that dog a job."

In Which Elka understands "If you do X, then Y" consequences

I shared this on the Facebook, but figured I'd make a post about it as well to get the most eyes, because obviously I thought it was cool and thought it was further proof of Elka's smartness, dogs' understanding of things, etc.

We had visitors over the weekend, friends who used to come regularly when they lived closer, but who moved at the end of last year. We've seen them only once or twice since the move. Elka is SUPER EXCITED every time people show up, because she loves all our friends, and she knows their names (even when there are doubles, i.e. more than one Eric, more than one Bryan, etc.)

But what does a leash really mean?

This bit of mischief does not involve Elka, as I was work.

Somebody came into the library and said there was a brown dog running around in the park with no owners in sight.

So I grabbed my phone and went outside, figuring I could assess whether the dog was approachable and then either catch the dog and call the owner (provided said dog was tagged appropriately) or call the police to come and do their dog wardeny things.

Monday Mischief: Dogs chewing books

Occasionally, a red-faced dog owner brings a chewed book back to the library.

I've posted pictures of them before, and thank the good Lord frequently that Elka is not a book chewer. She's not an inappropriate chewer anymore at all, actually (/knock wood).

This latest offering is 61 Hours by Lee Child. The dog owner was doing the right thing by having his dog crated when the dog, a Rottweiler, could not be supervised. However, the dog knocked the crate against the table where the book was, knocked the book off said table, and then drew it into the crate with his paw to have his snack. So good problem solving skills there!

I asked if it was all right to take pictures for my blog, and he said it was fine. We had a good talk about dogs needing mental exercise as well as physical, and I told him about the magic of a frozen  peanut butter Kong, even if it's "just" the dog's normal kibble and not anything more treats-y.

Dogs make their own fun

There's no telling what toys Elka will like and play with, and what toys she'll hate.

The Unbreakoball is a great example. It certainly hasn't broken, because she hates it. Hilariously.

She likes squeaky toys now, though. When she was little, she seemed to think she was hurting them, perhaps because of the way we taught her bite inhibition (the yelp 'n' stop playing approach).

An Aloof Young Lady

When Elka was younger, she would greet every person exuberantly. A little too exuberantly, as Elka's love is not a gentle one. But, we worked on it. And worked on it. And she doesn't jump on people anymore. Sometimes she'll jump next to a person still, but never onto them. And that's good.

Do I smell....banana?

We spent last week in Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. The drive down is 12-13 hours for us, depending on traffic and stops. Elka is very good in the car, and doesn't even puke anymore, now that we give her Dramamine (per the vet's recommendation and instructions).

On our drive down, the car was a bit more crowded than on the way back. We had more snacks packed, more booze, y'know, things like that. At one point (probably about....hour 11), my fiancé goes "Why do I smell banana?"

(car was stationary when all pictures got snapped)

Look over there! What's that?

I know it's kind of the stereotype of the dog owner to think that their dog is the smartest and bestest dog of them all. Really, it's every individual dog's job to be the best dog. It's just the way things are.

Of course I have stories like that, though. Where I just couldn't believe Elka's intelligence, or the mental connections that she made to reach the behavioral end. A main reason we picked Doberman is for the intelligence; perhaps we didn't think that through? But it's been great, for the most part!

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.

Can't we just cuddle?

I was reading on the chaise lounge part of the leather couch the other day, and Miss Elka decided that she needed to be up there with me. We lay together companionably for awhile, but of course I couldn't just let things be. I had to get the camera.

What did that pillow ever do to you?

Those of you tuning into the new furniture saga know that Elka is all right with the love seat. She's slowly, slowly, warming up to the red couch. The love seat is undeniably comfortable. The arms are of a good height to rest her paws and/or head.

For some reason, though, if Elka is on the love seat, the throw pillows may not be.

Somebody's been sleeping in MY bed

We are a dogs on furniture household, that much is very apparent. Elka also sleeps with us, which is sometimes more pleasant than others.

She's also started a behavior that I had only heard about, never seen, until recently. Evidently, when I'm at work and if our room door is open, Elka will go upstairs and sleep on our bed. She doesn't mess with anything, trail clothes around, nothing. Just goes up and sleeps. She did this even before we got the new couches, which made sense because our bedroom is very warm, but with the new couches, she does it even when I'm here.

The first time, it was a little startling. I emerged from the shower. My fiancé and housemate were going about their business. No dog. "Where's Elka?" I asked, trying to play it cool, but seriously? Elka is never not there.

"Oh, she went upstairs," my fiancé said. Oh.

Elka, where's my other sock?

When my fiancé got up the other day, he brought socks downstairs with him, as one does. After getting out of the shower, he returned to his socks, which were no longer there. In fact, one was on the floor. Alone.

Elka...did you...?

We talk to the dog a lot. I credit a lot of her comprehension to the fact that we have conversations with her.

Sometimes, these conversations are utterly hilarious. Like the other day, when my fiance was going upstairs after having eaten breakfast. Partway through his ascent he stopped and turned. "Elka, did you drool in my pocket?" he asked in a scandalized tone.

Elka did not look up at him, but went and got a toy that she shoved in my hand, so that we would play tug, as if to say "No! I'm playing!"

Caution: Area Patrolled by Doberman

So, last Monday, I posted about our new furniture.

In the course of cleaning/organizing/clearing things, we located a sign that our housemate had purchased, but we hadn't hung anywhere just yet. It's so hard to choose where signage should go sometimes.

But, in the interest of display, I put it on top of the light switch in the living room.

We got new furniture!

We got new couches. And a new coffee table. Elka, to say in the least, is dismayed.

See, first, we emptied the living room. Took the furniture out. The whole nine. Poor princess had nowhere to lay, and was very disgruntled the entire time.

(please ignore our unsightly Internet wires. They were in a table that is no longer there)

My face!

So, when I posted on The Joys of Dog Ownership last Monday, I didn't quite expect to have another entry of the same tone quite so soon. Maybe it's just my luck.

But, here we are.

I've probably mentioned here at least once, and I know I've occasionally wryly said, that I wish we'd been able to teach Elka "paw inhibition" just as well as her bite inhibition. She's never laid a deliberate tooth to anybody, not since she was an itty bitty puppy. She'll kind of "nibble" somebody occasionally, but I'm not even sure what the behavior is trying to express; perhaps it's an affection thing? It seems to be in moments of joy, anyway.

Another issue with Elka is that she'll occasionally head butt somebody. It's not really on purpose, it's just because of the way that she kind of plows through the world. Comically, it's sometimes in the hand, which is a "why are you hitting yourself?" sort of situation. Sometimes it's a leg. However, this past Saturday, it was my face (which puts me in mind of a joke some of us had in college, in which we would exclaim "My face!" because of Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark.")

I mean, I guess I'm lucky. Some owners on Doberman Talk have related broken noses and black eyes; we haven't had that issue. But, we had people over and Elka was pacing back and forth because there was no room for her on the couch. I finally got her up on the recliner behind me, and figured she'd quiet down. And she did, for a little while. But somehow, a single fly was in the room, and Elka has a fascination for all things flying. It buzzed past at one point, and she whipped her head around to watch it and laid the length of her muzzle right across my cheekbone. I'm confident that she almost knocked me out; she certainly made my eyes water.

I don't have a bruise yet, and I might not, which would be nice. It certainly aches, though. I made her get off of the chair and do a down-stay on her bed after that, because holy smokes, I can only take so many hits!

Celebrations that Bother Dogs

Midnight is not an unusual hour for me to see; I've been a night owl since college, the first time it was really possible and permissible for me to do so. Back in high school, there were times in the summer I stayed up later writing, but not often. Now, it's odd if I'm in bed before midnight. I must say, though, the fireworks at midnight on New Year's Eve tend to startle me. We celebrate midnight now? Oh, that's right. Auld lang syne.

If fireworks startle me, though, how do dogs feel about them?

Letting Elka just be a dog

There are times I think about all of the expectations that we have for Elka, and the expectations that dogs carry while trying to live in our society, and it's kind of overwhelming, really. I know that for me, sometimes  it's hard enough to remember all the social rules; dogs are really very smart, to do as well as they do.

There are times, though, I just have to let her be a dog. At the park especially, as I talked about in my recent sniffing post. Sniffing is important to dogs; their olfactory sense is just so strong as to be incomprehensible to me. You know what else is kind of a dog thing? Getting dirty.