We’ve tried to raise our dog fairly well. When we still lived in Ottawa, we would take her to the dog park and make her sit and wait until we were out of sight. When giving her treats, especially ones she was really excited about, we would give them to her and then, once she’d be chewing on them, take them away from her again (she would eventually get them back). The purpose of the latter was to ensure that if a young child took her food that she wouldn’t snap or bite then. And sure enough, our son can happily share food with her without much risk.
I believe at one point they even took turns taking a bite of whatever he was eating.
We also made her do tricks like “paw,” “other paw,” “first paw,” “down,” “belly” and “back up.”
Often times when we leave the house, she’ll stay outside. She’s got a nice dog house and has a quite a thick coat as she’s a mix of collie, German shepherd, great Pyrenees, bloodhound and whippet. Once it snows she’ll stay inside a bit more as the snow tends to get stuck in the balls on her feet given the right conditions. She’s generally an absolute coward having been terrified of everything from a mattress to a wheelchair.
However, with recent trips to Vancouver and a visit to my parents in Whitehorse, it may be time for her to get a friend other than the cat… I think she’s a little worried about getting left behind.
Usually, when leaving the house, you would tell her to stay and she would sit there looking sad as you drove away. When I tried to leave for work the other day my wife and son were still at home but she thought she was going to come along anyway.
My wife had one worse. She was going to pick our son up from daycare and was running a little late. She set off down the driveway (which is about four kilometres) and as usual, the dog remained seated, looking a little sad. As she was running late, she was going quite fast.
When she reached the end of the driveway she saw a black creature that kind of looked like a coyote but definitely wasn’t. Upon taking a closer look, the dog had caught up after first waiting patiently.
She decided there wasn’t enough time to go back so she put the dog in the back of the car and set off. Our dog gets incredibly car sick to even in the short five-minute drive to daycare and back she threw up. Oh well, at least the cows are right around the house now which she’s too scared of to leave the yard when they’re close.
