Sleeping beauty

Facts: 9 month, 63 cm, 30 kg

A little summing up
At the exhibition last sunday she behaved so great. She have had a little fear of children for a few months. At the exhibition a little girl just went over to hug her, and Pandora never had time to be afraid, so she accepted the hug. And the rest of the day she showed no fear of children.
It was a good turning point.
Also her kindness to the judge was good.

This last week she has been so good. (I know I know, she always is). She is back to the happy, crazy dog she was three month ago. Like a young puppy.
Her mood changes often and her behaviour changes to.
Some of it is because of hormones. Some of it I guess is just a dog trying to be a little more grown up.
Her temper is still so good and though she just ate the remote control to our DVD player and my Mighty Muse to my Mac, she is still loved.
What can we do but shrug and remind ourselves that we are responsible, because WE let the stuff lay around for her to destroy.

The accident
Oh no!
Last Thursday Pandora got hurt.
She played with her friend Bandit and when he left we saw blood traces several places in the house.
A closer look revealed a deep cut in her hind leg just above the paw. The open wound was deep and it bleed a lot.
We wrapped bandages around it and waited to see what it would bring next day. Friday after work we took her to the vet.
Poor girl.
She needed stitching and the vet saw the one of the tendons was cut through. She was sedated for 30 minutes and a drain tube was laid in the wound.
It was a tired dog we brought home from the clinic.

Pandora being operated

Sleeping beauty

But she took it very fine. Because of her toughness she never made a sound or a cry. Not when she was wounded, not when she was sedated and not when she tore out the drain Saturday evening!
Tomorrow, Monday, she’ll go to the vet again and get the drain removed, but it’s too late. I think the wound looks fine so I hope that there’s no need to give her another drain. Which would probably mean putting her back to sleep and do the operation all over again.

She has been playing in the snow today but we try to keep her as calm as possible. That is NOT her style!
Luckily my parents can take care of her the entire day the coming week so she can be observed all the time.

… to be continued.

Pandora after the operation

Snow is falling …

And I’ve had !
Every time the snow starts to melt, a new snowy day comes up.
Pandora loves it and she is so funny when she plays in the snow, but if we have to walk more than a mile, it’s heavy to walk in.
And further more we can lay no tracks.

Exhibitions
Stimulation will have to come from elsewhere.
The last two weekends we have attended exhibitions.
Sunday the 24. January an Sunday was a sight show, just for rehearsal.
The 31. January was a real international exhibition in Fredericia.
Both times she got Very Promising, and both times we were not among the best ten puppies (out of 30).
It doesn’t matter. Everybody tells me to be proud of the VP as it is quite good in an international show.

Funny to be among 1500 dogs Sunday the 31. and the most interesting dog among them all was my own.
I recall going to exhibitions 6 years ago, and the 2 years ago just to see the Czechoslovakian Wolfdog. And when I saw it, my heart melted. I loved that breed so much that I could weep.
Now I’ve got Pandora. And I’ll never regret my choice.

Fans
Pandora got a whole bunch of ’fans’ at the exhibition in Fredericia. So many people asked if she was ’the wolfdog’. Lots of people had actually come just to see that breed.
And Pandora did her best to impress people by ‘hugging’ them and licking them in the face.
It was so good to show people that she is kind and happy, not shy and frightened.
She also charmed the judge, and both times, her good temper was mentioned in the description.
A lot of people asked if she was difficult to raise.
It’s so weird, but as I stood there, I just couldn’t recall any difficult things about her.
But of course she has been a tough challenge sometimes, and I find it very important to let people know that she is not the easiest breed in the world, and that she is not a beginner’s dog.
Her wolf look amazes everybody but it is not a good enough reason to want this breed. You should want to have the challenge of the temper and needs, too.

9 month, turning into Junior
In a few days, she’ll no longer be able to attend the exhibition as a puppy, but will go as a Junior.
It’s exciting to see if she still does well in that age group.
As a puppy she no longer has the ‘cute’ look, as she looks pretty grown. It’s just her behaviour that reveals her age.

Friends
Even though exhibitions don’t mean a lot to me, we meet a lot of nice dog people. Nerds just like us. And Pandora gets a lot of friends.
She now has a steady bunch of favourite playmates and one of them is Cirkeline (a white swiss shepherd), whom she played with this weekend at the exhibition.

Pandora and Cirkeline

Future model work
We have just paid the fee for attending the World Dog Show in Herning in June. An event we really look forward to.
16.000 dogs in a not-too-big city. Wauw.

Food is no thrill
Pandora has now been BARFing for 4 month. I hope that it will never end.
Sometimes it’s difficult if she doesn’t eat her food, and we have to keep it cold and fresh until later in the day or the next day.
Sometimes we forget to get food out of the freezer and then we have to defrost it using the microwave.
But all in all it makes her look healthy and good.
She isn’t very hungry though. Sometimes she refuses to eat before late in the night.
That’s fine, but it takes the power out of goodies.
It’s difficult to give her treats when she’s not hungry. She simply ignores everything from fresh salmon to sausages.
I guess the solution must be: only one meal a day, and only in the evening. Then perhaps we can accomplish some results if we train before dinnertime.
All we need now is the snow to go away!



Pretty in pink

Facts: 29 kg. 63 cm, 8 months old.

News: Pandora has got her own YouTube site called:

http://www.youtube.com/Pandorawolfdog

Few movies, but will grow.

Falling down the stairs
The week before last week, Thursday, Pandora fell down the stairs. I was sitting on our loft which has an open side to the staircase. Pandora was sleeping by my side. She was tired after swimming. As she woke up, she wanted to go downstairs, but somehow her hind leg slipped and all I saw was the girl falling over the edge, desperately trying to hang on to the rim with her front paws – and the she fell. On her back on the stairs and bumping down all the way to the floor.

I can’t describe my fear as I ran down the stairs to see what had happened to her.

She was laying all curled up on the floor, her tale between the legs. Paws lifted as in pain.
And not a sound came from her.

Both my husband and I ran to her to see if she was okay. She was cuddled and caressed for a few minutes, and then we got her standing up.
Nothing broken, no limping or anything. She showed no pain or problems with anything but I guess under the fur she might have had some black bruises.

The next day we went to the vet just to get her checked out, and the vet didn’t find anything to be concerned about either.
Thank who ever held a hand or paw over my girl.

Pretty in pink
After the Christmas holidays, going back to work was hard, especially for Pandora who had not been left alone very much during the holidays.
Day one she found a red ball pen to play with as she was alone. The result was fabulous.
Pink front legs – all the way to the knee. With an exhibition coming up it wasn’t the smartest time, but we had a great laugh.

Pink legs

Meeting the fellows – again
Exhibition in Stestrup last Saturday. Stestrup is in the middle of nowhere on Sjælland (Sealand) DK.

It took 1 hour by train to Roskilde. Then a change to another train from Roskilde to Hvalsø. In that train we met up with Rolf and his two darling dogs Xtreme and Uno.

Train ride to Hvalsø, then Taxi from Hvalsø to Stestrup. Luckily Rolf had forum a Taxi driver in Stestrup ahead of the trip.
It was a nice exhibition. Small and unpretentious.
And it was so nice to spend a whole day with the dogs and Rolf. Lots of geeky talk about our fur kids, and the dogs playing the entire day.

Watching Pandora playing with the big guys was great. Her godlike admiration of Uno last time in the beginning of October had changed into healthy curiosity so she actually dared to challenge him to play. She had a lot more guts than she had last time.
(Movie will be on YouTube soon).

The exhibition itself went well again. But as Pandora should show her teeth to the judge, she started to growl. He was a very tall man, dressed in dark clothes and he stepped sideways over to Pandora. I could feel her confusion all the way through the leach. A little growling and the judge commented it of course, saying that she should not be like that as she was a big dog that could do a lot of harm with her canine teeth.

I know. So now we must be training ‘showing teeth’ and letting big men pet her.

Pandora received Særdeles Lovende (Excellent) as a puppy and got a 3. place out of 6 puppies. One of the prices was 2.5 kg of dog food that we had to bring home by the train. And Pandora eats raw meat. Sigh!

Thanx to the boys 4 a wonderful day! Hope we’ll meet again before WDS.

Xtreme, Uno and Pandora sleeping in the train on the way home.

Afraid of everything
She is changing these days.
As at the exhibition she showed fear for the judge, she now also shows fear of a lot of other people and especially children. It is such a radical change within a month that we have decided that we will go and socialize her on people again instead of dogs. Almost everybody we see these days are people with dogs, which makes her ignore the humans as soon as there are dogs.
Her ability to be with other dogs, puppies, small dogs, big dogs is so good now. Now we need people, children and big, tall men.

Heat
I am pretty sure that her changes are course by the fact that she is maturing. She is almost 9 month old. In a month or so, she should be in her first heat.
It seems like certain male dogs already find her interesting, so it may be close to happening. And how great is that as we have 2 more exhibitions this month!
(These two exhibitions will be her last attending as a Puppy, then she’ll move to Junior class)

Xtreme showed some interest in her at this exhibition but I hope we can get through the next exhibitions without all the male dogs freaking out.
I’ll try to give her Chlorophyll (Called Klarfyl) in the hope that it might remove the smell of ‘sexy girl’.

Next exhibition is Saturday 24. January in our own city, Årslev.

Happy New Year

Facts: 29 kg. 63 cm, 8 months old.

The first snow
December then 15. we went to a concert in Copenhagen and Pandora was for the first time, left in a kennel for the night.
We had our concerns but if she could be there over night we would have this option in the future. Not a solution we would use very often though.
Next morning at 8.30 I parked the car at the kennel. Longing to see Pandora. A whole night without her? Terrible.
A little snow was falling and I was thrilled that I had taken the day off to be with Pandora.
Pandora wasn’t particularly excited to see me; she was desperate to get OUT! Being in a cage for so long? Not nice for a wolfdog.
The caretaker said that she had seemed unsatisfied with being trapped. I was just glad she didn’t whine or cry when she saw me. Her need of freedom was so much more important to her.
As we drove home (only 3 km away) the snow started to fall, thick and beautiful.
It was so funny to see Pandora observe it for the first time. First she tried to catch the snowflakes, then she shook her head as snowflakes hit her ears, and then she didn’t understand the concept that if she used her paws to catch them on the ground, the flakes would melt.

Pandora in her very first snow

Two ours later the snow was laying thick all over. A beautiful landscape, and Pandora started to figure out what it was all about.

Pandora two in snow hours later

Later that day her best friend Bandit came and played with her in the snow. He stayed until next day and it was one tired wolfdog we had the following evening.

Pandora and Bandit playing in the snow

Xmas and new year – the fearless wolf
We had a quiet Christmas evening with just our parents. Pandora was surely wondering why a tree had to be in the living room. Great though, that her people had left nice, shining glass balls all over the tree to play with.
They were soon moved away.

Holidays were used on the fur-kid, talking long walks, playing in the snow and sleeping on the sofa.
The day before New Years Night, we were invited to dinner at some friends. Pandora was also invited and her best friend would be there, but also a dachshund. (Wiener dog).

She respected the little furry one. Her observation was probably that the dog was small and therefore should not be bullied. She actually showed signs of maturity.
We went by train to and from there. She coped with the one hour long train ride very well. On the way home she was so tired that she fell asleep on the seats.

Pandora sleeping in the train

New Years Night she managed to steal a big lump of our dinner, delicious beef tenderloin. Luckily we had enough beef so we could just laugh about it.
At 12 o’clock we went out to see the fireworks. Pandora came along by her own free will. She felt absolutely NO fear. She looked up, saw the crackling, colourful fire, and if she could have shrugged her shoulders, she would have. She didn’t care at all.
Clever, cool girl.

Exhibitions coming up
In January we will attend 3 exhibitions. She still goes as a puppy this month. After that, she’ll go as Junior and get new competitors.

Growing up
Suddenly one day I thought: It’s a long time ago since she tried to bite my hands or feet. She doesn’t do that so often anymore. And now it’s only when we play.

She also does not have ‘accidents’ indoor any more. If she has to go out she starts to breathe heavily and whimpers a little.

She met a little Irish wolfhound puppy before Christmas. She treated it so gentle and nice. Now she understands that she is bigger and older and must be careful.

Wolfish
We talk wolfish now. The more I know about the language between wolfs, the easier it is to communicate with Pandora.
Of course we shout: NO or DOWN when she jumps to the kitchen table, but if I’m really mad at her (if she runs to the street or eats another pair of shoes) all I need to do is to look her in the eyes. Staring. After a few seconds she’ll run off, with her tail between her legs..
I show my ‘forgiveness’ by smacking my lips and looking away. Immediately she’ll come back to me to check if she is let back in to the pack.
This is very effective, but I try not to use it too much. We are still a team and corporation is to prefer.

Speaking of this, I must recommend Shaun Ellis from England and his fascinating studies in wolfs.

http://www.wolfpack-management.com/

Wolf-do’s
And the fur girl also does more and more wolfish things.
She always buries bones or other big lumps of food that she cannot eat. If she can’t go to the garden, she buries it in the sofa.

Holes are important. EVERY hole we see as we take our walks is examined. If it is small, she’ll make it bigger. Last week she almost caught a mouse in its hole. Funny to watch.

She opens doors. Now we have to lock the doors. She has no problem by opening it inwards either. If she wants to go out, she’ll go out.

Next
She must learn to be with minor children. She is afraid of children below 12 years or so. It could be that they look her in the eyes or it could be that she has hardly been with any before now.
Ring training continues. We still have a lot to learn.

Swimming continues. Mostly for the fun of it.
Soon we’ll be able to attend Agility or other kind of training. That’ll be good.

So far, we just have to get through the winter without being too bored.

Exhibition and show off

Facts 61-62 cm, 28.2 kg. 7 months old

Exhibition
Well, well, well.
So we went to the exhibition the previous Sunday.

We arrived 2 hours before we should attend the ring so we hoped that Pandora would be relaxed and tired as she should enter the ring and meet the judge.
In the ring Pandora jumped around a little. As we were asked to run in the ring, she kept biting me in the thigh. She’s not used to run only walking.

I wasn’t nervous. I’m never nervous about stuff like that … I mean – until I stood there and the judge said:
“Can you make her stand with her side to me?”
And I couldn’t.
My legs started shivering and Pandora seemed astounded: My mom’s NEVER afraid!

But never mind that. I didn’t mind she was a little crazy-happy and neither did the judge.
The verdict was: Very Promising (DK: SL – Særdeles lovende)

As we were the only CzW, we had to attend the ring again later. (As Puppy of the breed.)
It took a loooong time before that finally happened.

My crazy dog jumped the judge in joy (another judge this time) and he petted her and said that he like her behaviour.
We reached no. 2 in the Puppy category (out of 3 so it wasn’t that difficult), and the judge’s final word was: Make sure she remains her good temper.
I think more than 10 people said that, that day. Everybody is pleased with her mild and kind attitude.

Prices

Swimming
Thursday we’ll went swimming for the fist time without instructor. And we finally were able to take some pictures. She is swimming very well now. Actually she didn’t want to get up this last time, but kept swimming and turning at the places she usually should to keep on swimming. Great!

Pandora with waistcoat

Pandora swimming

Train
Last Sunday we went by train into the city. Based on the fact that we should do all kinds of stuff with Pandora before she gets 9 month old, it was about time we tried some more distressful events.
The train ride was 20 minutes long. The first 10 minutes she was a little nervous. Not by the train, but by the fact that the look outside the window was passing by extremely fast. It might have confused her sense of smell, too. A kind lady on the train really wanted to pet her, but her concentration was somewhere else. Wide awake, very attentive and observant;
But the last five minutes of the trip, she relaxed a lot and sat down beside me and even found the time to let the woman touch her.
As we got into the city we attended a Christmas market with hundreds of people and Pandora met other dogs, smelled everything from grilled pig to warm red vine and was touched and caressed by many.
Only once two children wanted to pet her, and she withdrew. Sometimes she seems afraid of children and I guess it’s the fact that they have direct eye contact with her ‘cos it’s only children with the same height as herself she feels uncertain of.

When we came home it was with one tired wolfdog. It was a exciting day for her, and I’m not at all afraid of bringing her by train in the future.

Christmas and stuff
It’s soon Christmas and I’m looking forward to my holiday together with Pandora. And I hope that we’ll get snow so I can see her reaction. I bet she’ll love it.
This afternoon we have to go to a concert without her and as we are home late tonight Pandora is going to sleep out. Actually in a dogs pension. I’m afraid her heart will break but we have no other possibilities and it would be nice if this is a solution in the future though I hate it. My heart will surely break.

A few notes
I forgot to tell that Pandora now opens doors. If she wants out she goes out. Keys are a good invention.
She also gets wolfier and wolfier. Every time she has a bone she doesn’t need she buries it in the garden. And she DOES remember where she put it, because a week later she returns with some alien looking material with an unpleasant odour.  She is very good at that.
Digging holes is definitely one of her favourites. Just the smallest hole anywhere, in dirt, in cement, in tree, has top be explored – if possible: extended. It’s very funny, but a little dangerous walking on the lawn in darkness these winter days.
When she is a little hungry she stands on her hind legs, front legs on the kitchen table and search for food. A lot of kitchenware has now hit the floor in infernal noise.

But all in all, she is so g’damn cute and we love her although we sometimes must take a deep breath not to shout a little louder

Merry Xmas so far!

The nightmare on Mill Street

Facts: 61 cm, 26 kg, loosing fur, changing to winter coat.

Exhibiton visits
Last Sunday we went to Brørup, Jutland to see an exhibition.
My friend and her baby Jack Russel were attaining the exhibition. We were just watching.
I did it mainly to make Pandora get used to many dogs at once.
We arrived around 11 am.
When we opened the door, still in the lobby, she sat down shaking. She couldn’t see the other dogs, but she could smell them.
Last time we went to an exhibition was when we saw Rolf, Xtreme and Uno. At that time, Pandora was so preoccupied with the boys that she didn’t recognise that she went in to the big hall with a bunch of dog. This time she was on her own, wide awake and very much on foreign ground.
But after 10 minutes she pulled herself together and went into the hall with us. In the beginning she wanted to greet every one dog in there, but soon she figured out that it wasn’t possible. After a while she calmed down. Of course she was curious, but she could control it.

A very tired Jack Russel baby

Hairdressers battle
Oh my. I must say that dog owners are different. Of course they are. For all four hours we were there we watched a couple with their two Yorkshire Terries nursing them, combing them, putting bows in the hair and so on. I couldn’t help wondering why they were not hairdressers by occupation. Weird dogs with clothes, trench coats, jumpsuits, you name it. A special puddle like dog was being treated like a queen, hair spray, trimmed to the last ’straw’ with a scissor, powdered and perfumed. The dog was obviously used to it. It sat completely still.
Pandora sat down and watched in her ‘give me time to see this’-kind of mode. To her big surprise the puddle suddenly moved and Pandora jumped backwards in chock. I bet she thought it was a teddy bear.

Slaves in line
We went outside where there was a competition in obedience.
That was (of course) completely different breeds. Wauw, what some of these dogs could do with their human J
Actually I have thought a lot about starting obedience training with Pandora but after watching the combatants for a while I got quite disillusioned. A lot of these dogs don’t act like individuals –  but like slaves.
I’m sorry. I don’t like it. And it always makes me think that these results are not just based on respect and joy but also on fear and force. I think I’ll try to train Pandora in some of these disciplines but I’ll never use force or physical punishment. If we can’t go far enough without that, we’ll just have to NOT be no. 1.
Anyway, I hate the word: Obedience.

The nightmare on Mill Street
Well, well, Tuesday we went to ring training to see how Pandora would behave among so many other dogs.
Ehh, she went crazy. She wanted to play with each and every one of them, but fell particularly in love with the enemy, an 8 month old Irish Wolfhound named Otto.

The teacher said it was all right that Pandora was a little uptight as she was so young. She did have the time of her life and it was very good for her. We will definitely go again.
But a funny little happening was as we had just arrived and a woman came over to me and said:

“Can I ask you what kinda dog that is?”
“It’s a Czechoslovakian Wolfdog” I replied, not without pride.
“Which means a breed between a wolf and a …?”
“German Shepherd” I answered.
“Isn’t it a nightmare?”
I was really surprised of her comment. A nightmare?
“No she is not”, I replied wanting to tell all sorts of good stuff, but she just turned on her heel and left.

Rude, I thought. She actually insinuated bad things about my dog. How could she?
I was also surprised of myself. I was really offended. Perhaps I was too sensitive, but really …

At least I brought a very tired dog home that night. But as we came home it was like she couldn’t really rest. She was wandering around in the house. Not crossing any speed limits, but just shuffling from room to room.
(The ring training is arranged by the Danish Kennel Klub, and cost 30 D kr (app. 5 Euro) for one session.)
(NB! Mill Street is where we live)

Pandora the nightmare

Terror for half a year
This last week she has definitely been working herself up. Monday she tore a teddy bear to pieces, Tuesday she managed to push a glass full of chilli to the floor so it smashed to small fragments. Both while she was alone. Luckily she didn’t get hurt or cut herself.
My farther’s conclusion was: “From a dog is four months old until it’s a year old, they will try to rip things apart. After that, they might calm down.”
I bet he is right. It fits the terms of the dogs need to get independent.
I can feel now that I have to be more consistent. There can no longer for instance, be times when she can jump up and other times when she cannot. If she should be allowed to jump up it should be by a given order.

Ups
Last night, my husband had to go into the city to a meeting. As he left I thought he had closed the gate to the street.
Later on I let Pandora out of the front door to do whatever a dog does in the dark and after 5-10 minutes I called her in. That was when I saw the missing fence. My heart almost jumped out of my chest. I had just seen a very big truck pass by.
But the darling dog was standing in the middle of the garden, not paying any attention to her possible freedom. Thank god (or whomever).

The week to come
Friday we’ll go swimming again. It’ll probably be the last time with the instructor. After that, we’re on our own.
Sunday is the big exhibition day. We are very excited but our expectations are not too high. But I don’t really care as long as I have such a lovely dog.

Pandora the movie star

Weekend’s up

Friday. Time for the blog.

Next week will be busy.

Tuesday I have made a registration for Pandora and I for ring training. Next Sunday she’ll go to the exhibition in Hedensted so I think a little education will be in place.

Last night we went swimming again. It turned out very fine. She didn’t love it, but she didn’t hate either. She was swimming several rounds without panic but as we came home later she was extremely tired.
Next time will be the last time with instructor. After that she’ll be able to swim with our guidance alone, the instructor estimated.
He is, by the way, completely crazy about Pandora. He keep saying how beautiful she is (and she is) and just like all other people with dogs as professional subject, he is fascinated and must know her behaviour compared to other dogs.

I have been looking into some training classes for Pandora. I would like to train something. I need a little inspiration. The dog is clever and I myself is an old dog training instructor, but even I need new inspirational ideas.
I think IPO and obedience training would be great (even though I hate the word: Obedience). So in this weekend I think we’ll start up a little.

This was a short blog but I guess next week we’ll have a lot to tell.

Ups. I forgot to tell that we are going to WATCH an exhibition sunday in Brørup, Jutland Denmark. My friend is going with her Jack Russel and we go to watch and learn. And we have also commited ourself to a ring training session tuesday to get a little insight in what to expect nex sunday. I’m getting a little nervous already. And it won’t be Pandora that messes things up, if so. It’ll be me.

Pandoras blog – by Pandora

I guezz thiz blog iz about me therefore I’ll write thiz time.

Last night mom forzed me to take a walk in rainy, windy weather. Ztupid humansz.
I tried to hide under the sofa but I am too big.

Later in the evening the catz were fed with delicate tuna. I tried to reach them, but I am too big to go through the cat flap zo I almozt got ztuck.
Finally – while I waz trying to exercise my deliciouz body – I fell of the bed, tore the sheet apart landed on the floor with a bump and hit my head on the big chewing bone I had earlier in the day because mom waz afraid I would get bored in the ztupid weather.

No comments

Tonight I’ll go swimming again, mom sayz, but I’m not sure I remember quite what that is. If it iz what I think it iz, why don’t we juzt go bathing in the stream behind the house? Or dip out feet in the water bowl in the kitchen, like I usually do? Hell, even the bath tub will do!

I also have complainingz to do. Can someone tell my people NOT to wrap me up like a spring roll!
On our evening walks I get wrapped in a black harness. Around that I have a screaming yellow waiztcoat with zome reflecting stripez on. Darn, I look like I am wrapped in catz with rectangular eyez – and as if this wasn’t enough I even have a blinking collar with red light around my neck. AND IT ITCHES!
Please mom, can’t we just go through the neighbour’s gardenz so we can avoid the traffic?

I don’t understand people. Mom sayz I am really good at ripping, but it doesn’t seem like she is getting very happy when I rip things like the ceiling inside the car, the sofa or the curtains. Why does she say that I am good then?

Let me know if you have similar experiences with your human.

Best Regards, Pandora van Goverwelle

Pandora van Goverwelle

Milestones

Facts: 60 cm, 24 kg.

The BARF-page has been updated with Pandoras notes.

Barfing  for a month – Status
Last weekend it was 1 month ago since Pandora stated BARFing. We went to a 1 month-check with a vet. Not the same vet as first time, but with a guy who, himself have a Saarloos (a wolfdog originated from a Eurasian wolf and a German shepherd, but breeded in Holland).
It was nice to meet a vet who understood and knew the wolfdog breed. He said Pandora was very beautiful, no longer too thin, great temper (trustful and sweet) and the lack of muscles that had a comment the first time was all right, she is still young.
Her fur was a little dry so we increased the amount of lamb fat in her food. Everything else was fine.
“Remember, he said, you’ll have to have one more before Pandora gets 22 month old.”
We told him that she is socialized a lot and have other very good friends to play with, but the vet said that it would be good for her to have one of her own breed to be with.
I think that this rule is more important to the Saarloos Wolfhound than to the Czechoslovakian Wolfdog who has a different temper and better socialization skills.
“Also remember, he pointed out, you have two month left to teach her to go by train and bus and all the rest of the things she has to get to know.”
All righty then … we’ll have a train ride and a bus ride next weekend.

Swimming again
After last weeks disastrous experience in the swimming pool it was with a certain kind of scepticism we went to the pool again yesterday. But hey! She swam!
After one more try and without anyone in the basin as we thought was needed, she began to swim.
She only panicked for a few seconds.
Still we were all to busy to take pictures, but soon she’ll be calm enough I think. We’ll go swimming next Thursday, too, and then I think she’ll be more self confident, and she might even begin to like it.
It’s going to be nice to have a dog that can swim next year when the water in the lake and the sea gets warm enough.

Safety in the dark
As winter comes closer and the days get shorter, the need of safety increases. Pandora now wears a safety waistcoat with reflectors and also a collar with blinking red lamps when we go out at night. The latter makes her look like a UFO or a selfmoving Christmas tree, but it is nice to be able to locate her in the dark as she is set free to run in the fields.

The Ripper
This last week she has been destroying a lot of paper. Paper is her favourite and boxes, magazines, kitchen paper – you name it – are torn to little pieces. She is also still biting our hands if she is excited or plays. She doesn’t bite hard but her grown-up teeth don’t give one a lot of pleasure.

Otherwise she is just plain beautiful and teenager crazy.

Pandora ripping paper

Pandora in the eveningsun

Pandora mornings

The mystery about the creaking floor board

Facts:

60 cm, 24 kg. She has reached her minimum height. She is 6 month old.

• The Facts About …-page has been updated

• The Growing Stages-page has been updated

Most mornings I go upstairs to our attic to iron my clothes as our ironing board stands there. And Pandora follows me. She has done that since she was three month old and we could no longer keep her downstairs. She is good at climbing stairs.
At the attic the floor is old, made of wooden boards and one or two of them are creaking when you step on it.

This creaking sound has made Pandora look puzzled and astonished for quite a while now. She simply cannot figure out what kind of animal that’s living down there. It isn’t visible and it never comes up.
Weird – and amusing.

Pandora observing the creaking floor board

Doesn’t everybody love wolves?
So far I haven’t met anyone who thinks Pandora is more frightening than cute, but it might happen. I meet so many people who find her beautiful, sweet and fascinating.  “I would love such a dog next time” they say. “I bet you would” I think.
Ones I met a guy who wanted a Czechoslovakian wolfdog because then the dog could “beat the a#¤% out of the two Pit bulls further down the street.” Not the best of reasons to buy a Czech. Sometimes I meet guys who think she is a real ‘tough’ macho dog. Other people just want a dog like her because she is special and beautiful.
Luckily this is not the kind of dog you can buy on the next corner.
My boyfriend and I (husband, sorry) are of the opinion that we’re proud of our dog and we want to tell how sweet she is, but we don’t really want everybody to have a dog like her because in the end she needs to be taken care of in a special way. This dog will be you nightmare if your evenings are spend on the sofa or if you don’t understand a dogs language. It’s good that it is a little troublesome to get hold of this breed (at least in Denmark). But on the other hand, those who want a Pit bull terrier will get it although they are absolutely not qualified at all.
What can I say: take care of your breed and always tell the truth about its positive and negative qualities. No matter what breed it is.

From a kennel or from private owners
I have had a dialogue with Regitze under the ‘About’ page where we talked about a dog’s background.
It made me think of the difference it can make whether your dog has been raised in a kennel with lots of dogs and few people, or if your dog is from a private owner or a small kennel where all the dogs are treated with much physical handling every day. I guess that – just as with humans – you can get very different dogs depending on that. I think that dogs being of a dominant and ’strong’ breed, should be physically handled, touched and caressed form the earliest days, preferable day one of their life. The longer the puppy is without people in their closeness the more difficult it’ll be to get to know it and teach it things.

Swimming
Uh oh, I promised to tell about Pandoras swimming ‘lesson’ last Thursday.
Ah hm.
It didn’t go very well. My intention of taking pictures was completely unrealistic. The swimming pool is 6 x 3 meters. And Pandora walked on the side of the edge all the time. She hated it.
She was wearing a lifejacket with a handle on the back, but she was put in the basin alone. That was a mistake. She went in three times and every time she hated it.
She didn’t show any signs of fear, she didn’t shiver or tremble but she just plain hated it.
The instructor even fell with the dog falling on him as she tried to escape.
He was a very kind man though.

We will go again next Thursday. This time she will go in together with the instructor and he will wear a wet suit. If that doesn’t calm her, she won’t go again. I bet that if we went into the pool with her, she would calm down completely but that is not allowed.
More about the ongoing experiment in the next blog. Poor creature.

This is NOT Pandora swimming, but it is the pool she was in

A small note of the small dog inside of a big dog
Pandora has now reached her minimum height. But inside she is still a little puppy. When she crawls around on my back as I lie on my knees on the floor. When she’s standing on the sofa,  jumps up and put her paws around my neck and lick me in the face, or if I lay on the couch and she walks on me to tell me she wants to play.
But she is also getting very clever. With  a little help from a goodie she can SIT, STAND, LAY DOWN, CRAWL, ROLL, JUMP UP, SHAKE PAW, GO BETWEEN MY LEGS, FROM SITTING IN FRONT OF ME – WALK AROUND MY BACK AND SIT BY MY SIDE. This is a lot of commands she can suddenly understand. COME is definitely improving and she can run free in more and more places.

Her track is good. She actually doesn’t care about the goodies anymore, she just wants to do the track. Yesterday she followed the track app. 30 cm. to the left of it because the wind had blown it sideways.
Clever girl.