I continue to observe the relationships with Keena and the Huskies, Nicoya and Winnie. As each of them continue to get older, changes continue in their relationships as well. Keena has a strong innate desire to herd if the “something” in front of her is moving. If it is not moving and she wants to herd, then she thinks she should get “it” moving. This can be another dog, ie Nicoya or Winne or it can be her stuffed chirping bird toy she will throw up in the air, chase it down where it falls, then carry it in her mouth while running wildly through the backyard in between plants and jumping over the various heights of cement and stone retaining walls. She creates her own fun if Nicoya or Winnie are not willing participants.
Since Nicoya and Winnie are also aging along with Keena, their getting-older-ailments that go along with their much senior ages of double digits prevents them from feeling the need to play wresting or tag games with Keena. My observations tell me that since Keena has crossed over into her 11 months age, both Huskies have stepped up their response to her let’s-play invitations with definitive declines. They are not mincing their desire not to play any longer. To them, Keena is grown up (by age, not size) and its time she knows her place.
Keena still tries to entice them with play each morning but this is the least likely time of day they want to teach her a hard loss lesson. Winnie will actually equal Keena’s contact with her body back at Keena. It ends quickly with Keena whining or whimpering in defeat within minutes. Winnie can be relentless if need be to teach Keena her lesson. Nicoya’s response is more in her face by showing his teeth from his head that is 3x bigger than Keena’s head. She has yet to calculate her size as her disadvantage. Or Nicoya totally ignores her and doesn’t move. If Nicoya does move or try to walk away, Keena’s smaller size and speed is her advantage of at least getting a nip in at his back legs. I typically intervene at this time fearing Keena’s enthusiasm to herd Nicoya will lead to Nicoya falling down from the unsteadiness of his legs due to his severe arthritis—it has happened before.
In hopes of socializing Keena with other dogs and helping her to understand not all dogs are to be herded by her, I have on occasion taken her to dog parks in the neighborhood recently. We have had success 2 of the 3 visits, with the third visit showing me what I already knew was bound to happen at the dog park…a negative experience with potential social trauma to Keena. At first, all was fine as Keena played fetch with a ball. We stayed to one side of the park while a dozen dogs were down at the other end interacting. Three big dogs had crossed over into our side and said their hello-s with quick sniffs and then ran back. Moments later a woman pulled up with two dogs in her car, one was a tiny dog and the other I noticed had the head of an Australian Shepherd. They all came through to the first gated entry stall and she removed their leashes. The tiny and older dog went off by itself to sniff out the park. The Australian Shepherd was a red merle, 10 month old, female Aussie with hair and markings similar to Bear–curly hair and more white than red markings. She was only slightly bigger than Keena. The woman and I admired each other’s dogs sharing our stories of their puppyhood. Within five minutes of their arrival, her Aussie, Josie, took after Keena. Josie began to herd Keena with a determined and I would say “crazed” look just as one other dog from the big group joined Josie–a male Springer Spaniel that had previously and with kindness greeted Keena. Keena was in the run of her life! Just like Keena has shown me when she gets in targeted herding mindset, she can’t or won’t hear my voice and come as called. Josie’s owner was not successful with calling her Aussie puppy to her either. Unfortunately to Keena but fortunately for me, Keena got herself cornered between two fences just as Josie was upon her, Keena’s eyes bulging with terror, ears back behind her head, I approached the three dogs and pulled Keena out of bad luck. The Springer Spaniel immediately ran back to the other pack of dogs at the far side of the dog park, and Josie suddenly heard her owner’s voice calling her and turned to find her leash attached to her collar. Her owner apologized and then told me that Josie just started getting “aggressive” while wanting to herd other dogs but that she is fine with all the other dogs on the other side. Josie, their tiny dog (who continued to sniff around during the almost altercation) and their owner walked down to the other dog pack in the park while apologizing to Keena and I insisting we don’t leave the park. Keena and I left to walk off any trauma in hopes Keena would forget the bad parts of this dog park experience. I hoped it worked. But I won’t know for sure until we get into class this week when Keena is around dogs she doesn’t know.
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The girls in a compatible time.
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Telling Keena ONE time!
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Actually, telling Keena to leave the popsicle drops alone, her tongue licking her lips. Notice Winnie’s side look and understanding her place with their discussion happening.
Image may be NSFW.
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Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
