Well now I've done it. I've gone and caused chaos for the canines. How dare I. Their entire world as they've known it has been turned upside down--starting with that dog-awful 13-hour jail sentence. And now they don't have their luxurious home, their dog door, their tree house, NitWit Bridge or acres of land to run free on. Instead they were forced to trade it in for a beautiful lush green lawn, thousands of miles of world-class hiking adventures and the smell of fresh pastry just outside their door.
Truth be told, both dogs, aside from a little sulking about not yet being able to run free in the yard (hence this month's masthead theme), both are handling the change very well. Routine has set in. Loki has gotten his appetite back. He had lost it a few weeks before we moved, no doubt sensing the change. In all rights, I should not have been able to relocate a dog like Loki. His anxiety can be over the top. But we've come a long way from two-years ago when bicycles, joggers, screaming children and people pulling luggage would send him over the top. Now, he's prancing along side his Husky in a foreign land on farms and in crowded areas, still his suspicious-self, but none-the-less more confident, experiencing loud farm noises (I have no idea what they are, but it sounds like a gun shot or a car backfire), huge farm animals and for the first time, neighbors. And he's handling it much better than I ever anticipated.
Well, except for the 3 or 4 times he wakes up Mr. Wild Dingo for snuggles each night when he's feeling worried. It's not unusual for Loki to do that. Whenever there's been change in our lives, if Mr. Wild Dingo had been travelling a lot or if we had gone out of town, Loki would always deal with it by getting in two or three extra snuggles in the middle of the night making a good night's sleep impossible. Unfortunately, Mr. Wild Dingo is a huge softy and reinforces it by complying to snuggle and Loki then builds up the habit. Sigh. Just like a child, a few nights of ignoring him and he goes right back to sleeping through the night. I'll have to remember to duct-tape Mr. Wild Dingo's hands and mouth to remind him not to snuggle with him.
Juno however, like the typical Husky, is taking it all in stride. Every day is a new adventure for her and she greets it with exuberant pouncing. She loves the farms and is completely obsessed with stalking cows, goats, horses and now pigs. While Loki is usually hiding his face, or looking to me to pacify him with a treat, Juno has been refusing food whenever she is near any livestock and can become at Tasmanian devil if she sees them before I do. Both have seemed to gotten over their fascination or fears of horses, but cows... oh the cows... I don't know what to do about the cows. Unfortunately, the cows are curious and friendly and will walk toward anyone passing their fence line (though it's not acceptable to pet them here). I wonder if they are having a good laugh at us looking like The Three Stooges as we try to pass by without an embarrassing incident. I'm already fantasizing about finding a trainer that helps desensitize dogs to farm animals.
Both dogs' favorite walk is downtown Morges. There are so many smells, plenty of people and for some reason, we get a lot of looks. I haven't figured out if it's the Husky or the GSFMD that draws the attention. Either way, these two are on their way to becoming international celebraties. But I'm sure they'll both find a way to disapprove of that.
About time the header was updated...
I'm just sayin'
Hugz&Khysses,
Khyra
PeeEssWoo: Thanks fur the pupdates!
Cows! Oh the cows! You need to find a barn yard animal desensitizer? Kind of funny when you think about it. Possibly you and Mr. Wild Dingo can get one of those cow suits and prance around your estate to give Juno practice. Of course, I am not going to hypothesize who would be the cow's, aham, rear end.
Slobbers,
Mango
Oh, humanity of it all! The torture of being forced to move to Switzerland and walk among the cows. It's AWFUL! (Or something. Although we are not making light of the stress of traveling. Or the stress of cows, actually.) Um. We just read Mango's suggestion, and I think he's got a brilliant idea there. Just make sure you get lots of pictures!
*kissey face*
-Fiona and Abby the Mutant Alien Pod Puppy
Mooooooo - maybe Juno is worried that her woo may one day become a moo:)
It is wonderful to see how well you are all adapting.
Woos ~ Phantom, Thunder, and Ciara
Do you think they realize the cows are just the first step toward yogurt? And ice cream? And chocolate? Oh yeah, dogs don't eat chocolate.
I vote for just "accidentally" getting loose and having a good romp in the cow pasture to get over it, but I'm bad that way. Plus, I can imagine the pictures now!
Miss Moo says cows are magnificient. just stay clear of their feety-feets, they can sneak in a mean side-kick. As for being stared at in town, it's a Husky thing, always happens when a husky is around. Seriously.
jack a-roo & miss moo
aside from cows, horses, pigs, and goats... are there any moles bothering woo? I could help with that.
ah yes, cows...chickens...livestock, in general...Sugar totally ignores them. Remember the "Bambi incident" when my 35 lb precious FMD took down a full grown deer in the backyard? When Animal Control had me take her for "aversion therapy," we learned that someone spent considerable time (1) desensitizing her to farm animals, (2) training her to hunt by using CATS AS BAIT. So, um, yeah...desensitizing to farm animals is possible to do, just don't know how they did it to Sugar, in Taiwan...(and no way in hell is she telling me the secret! She's still mad about her new diet and exercise program to reduce that FMD arse)
😉
Luv,
CL (and the Huntress)
I can just hear them while they watch the cows. Darn, it smells like a steak. But, it's looking at us...
I can just hear them while they watch the cows. Darn, it smells like a steak. But, it’s looking at us…
-Mr. Taleteller
We know international celebrities! Wow!
We have a field full of cows right by our house. And, we buy a cow every year to use in our homemade dog food. So, when our dogs start staring... I tell them that it's not polite, especially since it might be cow that they're going to eat!
Glad to hear that everyone is adjusting. It must be a huge change for you as well as the canines. Do you speak French or German? Is English very common there?