Paws up!

Two years ago (!) I had my Command Clinic: Pawmania post, wherein I listed the paw tricks Elka had, such as "give me your paw", "high five", "pattycake", and "Testify!"  Since then, I've added one more, or am in the process of.

See, I can hold my arm out as though to receive a falcon in flight and tell Elka "paws" and she'll put her paws on that arm. I'm expanding that cue, so that she'll put her paws on the object I'm indicating, rather than the arm I indicate with (so, if I use my left arm to indicate, rather than my right, she puts her paws on the object, not my arm. This required a few trials [I have a fading scratch on my bicep], but she's getting it.)

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!

Search Terms I've Seen Lately

I kind of have a cold which is making me somewhat miserable an unfocused. The good news is I've watched all of Supernatural on Netflix (well, up to season 7's end. Season 8 just started on television last week). My public, though! So, I've fallen back on an ever interesting topic: some search terms that brought people to my blog recently.

Resident Evil Dog breed: this doesn't get you to The Elka Almanac 'til page 5. In my eyes, it's a dedicated searcher that goes to page 5 of a Google search. An image search of "Devil dogs" also goes to that particular post.



Sleeping Doberman:

Doberman Paw- a haiku

Sometimes when Elka

naps, I take her paw, sleep-loose

in my hand to hold

Product Review: Kong Squeezz

Ever since our recent Gummy Bear success, Elka has been a lot more interested in squeaky toys. She no longer seems to think that she's hurting the toys when they squeak, and will actually play by herself with one. This is nothing short of miraculous, I assure you. Elka is a sharer, of the highest caliber.

So, when I received an email asking if we'd like to review the Kong Squeezz with rope toys, I said "Yes please!" We love new toys at Casa Elka, and I love Kong toys pretty much as a rule. They're durable, they don't smell funny, and Elka tends to react well to them.