If it looks like a wolf …

Pandora comes when I call.
Forget about guys walking on the moon, this is a much greater step for mankind.
My little girl has grown up obviously, and I still don’t trust her 100 %, but she has been so clever these last couple of weeks.

Apart from that, we had a great wolfdog week last week.

Darius
Thursday we met a little Wolfdog boy, Darius, 8 weeks old and just arrived to Denmark to live with his daddy.
Pandora was a little rough with him at first, but as she figured out that he was in fact a baby, she treated him nice and started to teach him to dig holes.

Darius and Pandora digging holes

He was already capable of killing plastic bags and hide under the chairs.
He was such a darling, and I hope to see him  again soon.

Tired puppy Darius

Medieval Days
Saturday we went to the Medieval market in Copenhagen. Bethina joined us this year and we all went by car together with my boyfriend.
As we arrived a little to ten o’clock Saturday morning, Pandora immediately hated to be there. Too many people, too many smells, too much smoke coming from campfires and grills. She was shaking. Terrified and wildly stressed.
She didn’t want to talk to anyone apart from me, Bethina and Morten.

Later in the day she calmed down somewhat, but she hated every minute there. Again and again people in ‘our’ camp, tried to caress her, but she growled at all the men, so did she as we walked around in the market to see all the tents where stuff was sold.
A few selected (what they were selected by I have no clue) was allowed to touch her and had Pandora-hugs (those where you face gets all wet).
All people coming towards her saying:
– What a cute little dog, bending over her, dressed in armour, weird hats etc. were all stopped by her growling.
She never bared her teeth, but she did warn them all.

Kasan
In the evening we had the first Wolfdog date. We met with Kasan, a 15 month old male outside the market area.
Pandora and Kasan played so well together. Pandora lured him to the little pond where they could bath, and afterward we went to Valby Stadion where these two dogs had all the play room they could ever dream of. Not a person or dog in sight. And so they played.
It was a positive end of the day for stressed out Pandora, and Kasan’s dad said he was very happy with their play, too.

Crazy guys playing

Kasan is a little uptight towards people, but has a lot of self-confidence towards other dogs. I think his self-confidence will grow when he gets older. All he needs is a lot of trustworthy people around.
Kasan is a tall boy, and he is very good looking.
Thanks to his daddy for a couple of great hours.

Kasan is a tall boy, and very good looking :>

Detour
As we came back to the market, all tourists were gone, it was turning dark and I sat down quietly with Pandora nest to me. Now she relaxed completely. And she was so tired.
She fell asleep, and some people sat next to us and caressed her. Now the fear was gone, she didn’t growl at anyone.

At night we slept in a tent. It was freezing cold and I woke up several times during the night shaking of cold. Finally I fell asleep, but was awaken by one of the attendances in the camp:
– Pandora is running around at the parking lot! Hurry up and get her, seven people are out there but they cannot catch her.
No of course they couldn’t.
In panic I hurried to the parking lot and saw Pandora trying to get away from everyone.
I had 1 tiny snack in my hand, and when she saw me, she ran away into a small wooden area.
I followed her, having flash backs to when she was two years old and was an expert in staying an arm’s length away from me.
She wouldn’t let me near this morning, so instead I went ‘normal’.
– Come on, Pandora let’s take a walk.
I turned away from her and started to walk.
She came running after me.
We came to a meadow and I found a small branch so we could play.
– Are you ready, girl?
I tossed the stick and Pandora ran for it. She returned it and I tossed it again. I could almost see normality seeping back into her body.
She returned once more and I could grab her and caress her.
My little girl hated the market.

Guard
But we had to go back for a short while, and as the number of visitors increased Pandora got more and more uncomfortable.
But luckily we had one more Wolfdate.
At one o’clock we met with Guard. This means, Guard was this crawling excuse for himself. His mum said that he was  always this submissive in the beginning, and he especially had some fear for female dogs as he had been attacked by some not long ago.
But Pandora is a heroin and a kind one. We started walking with the dogs side by side and before we had reached the Stadion from the day before, Pandora had charmed herself into Guards heart.
As we let them loose on the lane, they played with fun and much respect. Guard no longer feared her and they had such a good time.
Actually the dogs were together for almost five hours and I swear, when we finally separated them, they were in love.
Guard was the most kind dog towards people. Everyone could caress him, but he hated other male dogs.
Somehow this was complete upperset of Kasan from the day before.

Hello Guard. Hello Pandora.

This just shows that no wolfdogs are alike. And you’ll never know what you get.
Socializing is very important, both with other dogs and with people.
And still your dog can change into a wild animal if he or she is frightened.
They all showed us that.

We are friends, yes we are!

Is one enough?
It was a great experience to meet all these dogs. Unfortunately Pandora seamed a little sad being without friends monday when we returned home.
I seriously think that if Bethina (now auntie B), wasn’t going to have a puppy this summer, I would get one myself. I am a little insecure wether I have done the right thing only having one wolfdog in a country where this breed is so rare that there’s months between they meet their own kind.
It makes my heart bleed to think she is lonely.

A wasted Wolfdog, full of good experiences

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.

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

Good dog, good week

Facts: 50 cm, 15,2 kg. 4 month old.

And what does she do when she’s alone?
Thursday I spend the day free from work. I went to the doctor to get my knee examined. This gave me the opportunity to let Pandora be home alone I as I went home I parked my car at the neighbors house  and sneaked home. I was so curious to see what see what she was doing. I sneaked up to the window (I bet some passing cars thought I was a thief sneaking in) and I look in, and see: Pandora was laying at the couch quit and calm. Awake and observant, but not uncomfortable and uneasy. Thank god she wasn’t trying to break down any doors or smashed any windows. It made me very happy and took a burden of my shoulders.
Great discovering.

The cage
Next, we bought a cage for her as mentioned in the former letter.
Now she has chosen to use it when she wants to be left alone. She walks into it when she has a particulary good bone or wants to eat in peace. Also great. The cage is a positive thing, not a jail.
Two days ago she tried again to get through the cat flap and she got stuck.
She wined and screamed like she was beaten. One of her legs couldn’t get through and I didn’t know whether to pull her back in or push her out.
Finally I got her free from the trap and we couldn’t help laughing at her. I think she is now completely done trying to get out that way.
The funny thing is that she doesn’t understand that she is growing. How should she know?

Ignorance
Few days ago I went to my boyfriends work to pick him up. One of his colleges reached into the car to pet her, but she totally ignored him.
“She is very reserved and shy” he replied.
But no, That’s not it. She just wasn’t interested in him.
That is one of her wolf reactions. If she is not interested she ignores whatever it might be. No aggressiveness just ignorance.
To people who doesn’t know her it might seem that she is shy, perhaps seconds from being aggressive, but really she just isn’t interested!
It’s the same behavior when I call her and she ignores me because there’s a million other things that are more interesting.
Ignorance is bliss, they say. To her it’s true.

Hearing or not
Just a short note to tell that we sometimes meet up with some guys and play music.
It doesn’t seem to be a problem to Pandora to lay in the middle of it all as we play. Drums, bass, guitar and singing, very loud. I don’t understand how she can stand be in the middle of it, but she can.

A little show off
This week (7. Sept. to 13. Sept.)  Pandora was chosen as Dog Of The Week at the danish United dogs-homepage. Cool.

http://dk.uniteddogs.com/welcome

Visits
This weekend we are invited for dinner at some friends. And Pandora is invited too.
Very good friends indeed. Also to Pandora.
Hope she won’t have any ‘accidents’ in their house.
A nice weekend is waiting for us. I just cannot seem to spend enough time with her.
She’s a darling.

Pandora in her new cage

In the middle of the music

Dog silence

Not much to report this week. Every thing has been going fine. No problems, no accidents, no trouble. Nice, right?

49 cm is her height now and using the cat flap is now completely out of the question.

Alone with daddy

I went away last Saturday so only my boyfriend was at home to cuddle Pandora and they did fine of course. Though it missed her like crazy I also thing they needed a little time together without me.

And thanks to my dear boyfriend I had pictures of the beautiful dog coming in via the iPhone during the day. You can see them here.

We also bought a cage to her, a cheep one to bring with us as we go on tours. She now has two weeks to get used to it before she has to be locked in it for 30 minutes or so. It might be very handy to have sometimes, but it’s interesting to see if she can cope with it at all.

She went into it last night without any fear and we have started to feed her inside it.

It is app. 1 x 0,6 x 0,8 metres with two doors and is collapsible into ‘nothing’ within 30 seconds.

By the way …

Pandora has her own Facebook profile, and she is now getting friend invitations form people I don’t even know. That is really funny.

You can become Pandoras Facebook friend if you search for Pandora Van Goverwelle

Loved and missed

These days at work I really miss her. I feel like I need a long holiday to have enough time to spend with her. It must be the same feelings as a mother/father have for their newborn baby.

I just miss her when I can’t reach out and caress her.

Alone with 'daddy' at the lake. Watching!

Hiding upstairs

A dog hidden in a wolf

Since last week, following has happened:
This morning Pandora tried to exit the kitchen via the cat flap and found herself in trouble. It seems that she almost over night gained two centimeters. Her weight since last friday has raised to 8,5 kilos so she is growing.
Five days ago we let her alone in the house 15 minutes for the first time. As we came back, she was climbing the windows in our outdoor room. Next day we let her alone for half an hour.
When we returned, everything was quiet. Too quiet. As we opened the door no dog came to greet us. Actually there was no dog in the entire house!
The little fur ball had managed to exit the house through two cat flaps at each end of the house, and the neighbor came to ‘deliver’ her after a few minutes. Embarrassing and worse: something could have happened to her. Awful!
Next day the cat flaps were sealed as we went of.
As we returned after 30 minutes, Pandora was staying in the living-room window trying to get out. Nothing was torn apart, but the food that we spread all over the floor had gone. Today we’ll try again.
Making a lot of activities inside the house with food and her toys.
This might be one of the issues where we cannot succeed and will have to make a special room for her, but we will try.

Almost everything else is successful.
She walks beautifully in a line now, as she has learned the command: STAY.
She hardly ever runs after the cats anymore.
She now understands that she cannot bite our hands all the time, but this has been the hardest so far.
She is often eating her dinner at the lawn to activate her nose. This morning she was even trying to spread her own meal in the bowl, so she loves the challenge of finding the food herself.
She gets a mix between discipline trips (learning how to walk, sit, lay down etc.) and activity (smelling, climbing, running, playing) and the  mix makes her tired. She can now walk app. 3 kilometers, but then she is tired and thirsty.
Her constant biting in our hands is punished by holding her nose or putting a finger deep down her throat so she fills like puking.
Sometimes when she understands a command but doesn’t really want to obey, she barks! It’s like she is saying: on no it’s so unfair, I was having such a good time. It is quite amusing as she should not be able to bark and it sounds so sweet. Our reaction is encourage her saying: BARK, come on BARK. And as if her protesting isn’t heard she stops barking and give up. Idiotic human beings, doesn’t understand a word.
She’ll probably stop barking at a time, as she is not supposed to be a barking dog, but IF she can learn to bark at command, it would be very cool.

She has now been a guest in a lot of different houses, met 30-40 people who talked to her, at least 10 dogs that she has played with, and everything with success and without problems. She loves all other dog. All! And she has made her own personal human-friends.

She has been swimming, but so far she doesn’t love it.
She’s had a shower, and HATED it. I have never heard that many different sounds from anything. Not even my stereo-player. She did a very convincing cat imitation though.

There’s no more diarrhea and if we wake up a little fast in the morning, we can almost avoid accidents in the house. Peeing and pooing is now outside 85 % of the time.

The wolf and the dog
As she walks next to me, like this morning, she is a little wolf. Her entire bodylanguage is a wolf. The elegant but low shoulders, the almost elastic way of moving her legs, the snout in the dirt and her awareness and very fast reactions to ‘dangerous’ things. She is very observant when she is looking at new potential dangerous things, like big cars, cows and horses. Her reaction is to sit down, look at it and uuhhh … think about it? She doesn’t chase it and she doesn’t run away. That is a very cool reaction I think.

But the dog part in her is almost the rest. She’s not difficult, and she does want to learn. She has stopped chasing the cats, she sleeps at night (and during the day). She gets tired after a short time and she isn’t that persistent or challenging.
Are we just lucky or is it because she is constantly stimulated? Either way, I don’t find her problematic or difficult.
And everybody she meets says she is such a sweet dog.
I guess I expected more problems, and they can come, but for now, her settling down in our small family has been successful and that is great.

The little wolf seaching for her food at the lawn

A long way from home

Tonight we leave Denmark to go to the Netherlands.
Coursed by the summer holiday we want to avoid the queues along the German ‘autobahn’ so we’ll have to leave early.

Tomorrow I’ll see my baby.

People think I’m a little crazy I’m sure, because I can’t wait but who cares ?

Well, going home packing the car and the go. 702 km to Pandora and 702 km back home. Will she be sick? Will she be sad or tired?

Exciting journey’s waiting ahead.

Pandora, my furball

Lately we decided to wait another week to pick up Pandora from Holland.

It’s awful to have to wait for so long, but on the other hand it gives us a possibilty for better planning.

The 10. july we’ll go and get her.

It’s very hard to wait now. Days are looong

We got pictures from Veronique earlier today and my puppy starts to look like a dog! (Thanks Veronique)

Next week we’ll go and POWER SHOP dog stuff like at leash and a collar, probably also a dog bed and some toys.

The trip to Holland will include plastic bags and lots of towels in case the baby gets ill on the way back home. 800 km is quite a lot to sit in a car. Of course we’ll have lots of breaks and the good part is that she’ll be with us for many hours and get to know us, know the smell of us ad see that we can keep her safe.

I always feel my heart bleed a little when a young animal has to leave it’s mom. She’ll probably cry (howl?) and feel sad. We’ll do our best to give her all the comfort that she needs, poor girl.

I know: I’m pathetic.

Pandora 8 weeks old

Pandora 8 weeks old

Only 3 weeks left, with a little luck ..

Only three weeks until we can pick up Pandora, with a little luck.

The breeder said yesterday that she had not heard anything from those who chips the puppies.

I talked to my collegue today and she said that she never heard anything until 1 week before the dogs were ready to leave.

Pandora cannot leave her breeder before she is chipped so we are crossing all our fingers and hope we won’t have to wait another week for her.

If we have to wait, well we can do that but I’m so looking foreward to meet her, get her, hold her.

Next week we’re going to London on a 5 days vacation. I’ve wanted that since I was 14 years old, and now we’re finally going. I’m looking foreward to that, but actually the expectations are a little overshadowed by the thoughts of Pandora.

What will she be like? Will she be fearful or fearless? Will she like water? Will she eat the cats?

I have great confidence in my own skills as a dog owner, but I’m still excited.

Ouh, please June, disappear and turn into July.

The first pictures

Great! Last night I recieved the first pictures of Pandora. 2 weeks old.

Thanks to Veronique.

A college warned me:  “Don’t expect to see much the first two weeks. It’ll only be a furball”

She’s breeding Jack Russels herself.

But even a photo of a furball was welcome. I just needed to have somthing visual, so last night they came.

Enjoy with me.

Pandora 2 weeks old

Pandora 2 weeks old

Pandora 2 weeks old