sad squeeze

FAMILY pets are becoming the forgotten victims of the economic squeeze as animal shelters see a massive rise in those abandoned. ... some people who have lost their homes have been slumming it out in their cars to hold on to animals because of restrictions in rented accommodation. WalesOnline

the telegarph reports that pretty much all rescue centres and council facilities (pounds) are filled to overflowing. in addition to the animals that would normally get surrendered because of owner death, family breakups and failure to cope, many families are simply forced to give up their pets by economic reasons. most rented accommodation, for instance, does not allow dogs.

we had an inkling it was going to become bad for dogs when the recession hit, which was one additional reason to adopt sam. now i wish we could take another... but it would merely be a drop taken from an ocean. our best bet would be that the dogs trust were successful in making more landlords accept pets. but you need a lot of dog's trust to believe that's going to happen.

a bumpy flight

sam has been improving alotly with his recall on lead, so i decided to let him off it in a small, fairly well enclosed area by the river yesterday. he did great, sniffing trees and fences, but running back to my sticks or treats when called. he then ran close to my feet as i walked along the path towards the bridge that takes the road across the river.

and then... he took off, and disappeared under the bridge. i called him, to no avail, then walked under the bridge, certain to see him somewhere in the undergrowth, but he wasn't there. i called out "sam", and looked wildly around me. then i saw him -- a shadowy dog form, on the other side of the river. this clever/stupid dog must have run up the stairs, along the road, and down on the other side.

since i wasn't about to lure him back the same way, i ran up those stairs, across the river, and called into the darkness. this time he did come, but there was a fence between us, and the slats were just too thin for him to comfortably squeeze through. so he went off again. i stood about the roadside, thinking "he can't be thinking about crossing the road," realising "yes he can," and starting to look for cars when i saw him coming... on the other side.

i tried a feeble "sit!", but he was already trotting across. luckily for us both, it was a late saturday evening with few cars about, and the road remained empty. sam came straight to me, and i gave him a treat for coming, after all.

now the great leader of the pack tells me northern inuits can be difficult to teach recall. oh. really?

meeting alsatians

speaking of alsatians, sam has met a few of them and not enjoyed it much. there were a few at the rescue centre, one a few kennels down which barked furiously whenever anyone walked past and was "not for rehoming", and another mad barker at the other side of an endless, flimsy fence.

then there are the two alsatians down the road. we met them with their owner early on at one of the nice green spaces where dogs can run. i had a nice chat with him until suddenly one of the dogs started... guess what... indeed, barking furiously, and we had to part ways rather hastily.

a few days later, we met them at the same place, but this time, the alsatians were lose. the aggressive one ignored its owners commands to come back and tore towards us. i'd recently read dog books about not getting involved in dog fights, so let go of the leash and let sam fly as best he could. the other dog caught up with him and sam yelped, but luckily, that was it. sam didn't seem overly damaged physically, and he can be a bit loud when something is disagreeable to him. however, his submissive attitude to other dogs seemed more like fear from that day on.

today, we met the owner again, sans alsatians, which meant i hardly recognised him. he held his hand out to sam, and this usually fairly friendly dog sniffed it carefully. "still timid, eh?" said the owner. i didn't mention my theory that the smell on his hands might have something to do with it...

alsatianness

the other main heritage of northern inuits is german shepherd dog, which i usually refer to as alsatian for shortness, whereas others call it GSD, presumably for confusion.

alsatians are lovely dogs, well-known throughout the world with good reason. they're known for their loyalty, trainability and suitability as guard dogs. like all breeds, however, they do have their faults. i used to be neighbours with an alsatian which would come out onto the balcony every sunday morning and bark... bark... bark.

the alsatian in sam is less visible than the "snow dog". he doesn't look like an alsatian, but you do see traces in his shape and colouring. i like to call him a washed-out alsatian. he has none of the aggressiveness or assertiveness to dogs or people of some alsatians. he does seem to be more trainable than your average malamute, and he has an alsatian's bark -- but only if desperate, like when we leave him alone outside a shop.

so i guess the passers-by are correct in thinking sam is a snow dog. but who says alsatians can't be that as well?

"German shepherd in the snow" was taken by Maurice Koop and shared under a Creative Commons by-sa 2.0 license.

snow dog

we keep being asked if our northern inuit sam is a "snow dog". i'd never heard the term before, but it seems to refer to dogs from the arctic, such as huskies (huskys?) and malamutes. i'd never heard of those either, but the net is my friend, and the US alaskan malamute rescue has taught me a lot. yup, there is a lot of the behaviour they describe in our sam. and of course, he has the brown eyes typical of malamutes, not the blue ones often found in husk...s.

the photo is "yuki snow run" by paulmoody. published under Creative Commons by-nc 2.0

glossy fame

sam is a bit of a local celebrity now. his accident was witnessed by a lot of people, who are all relieved to see him out and about with nothing worse than a scratch on his front paw to show from it. after they've made sure all is well, they remember to ask us how we are. luckily, our bite marks are healing too.

recall training is going fairly well. i can get sam to come, sit down and get a treat in all safe situations -- that is, indoors, from the garden, and out when on a leash. still, there is some way to go before he'll be totally safe to let off it. i have lost hold of the leash twice in the last few days, resulting in an ecstatic dog that preferred to ignore any entreaties to "come". the other day, i got him when he lay down. today, he actually did come to get a treat, after i'd waited and watched him fight his extendable chain for a while. we'll get there, eventually.

a bit of trauma

when we first got our sam, he found all cars, but especially big ones, traumatic. after walks along the traffic-free river, we moved to nearly deserted night streets, then residential areas, and then, eventually, long walks by continuous traffic, such as in the road we live by.

all in all, a successful treatment. sam no longer thinks traffic is a big deal. then, the week before christmas, we open the door to carollers -- one fairly bad caroller, actually -- and before anyone can stop him, he has streaked out of the door, and right onto the road. into traffic.

a car breaks but sam is hit midleap, in the middle of the pedestrian crossing. everything is awful. the husband tries to keep him from running into more cars, i try to get him into the house. onlookers try to give advice, the car driver tries to take the blame, while sam refuses to move and turns into a wriggly, biting beast. well, at least he's not paralysed. bleeding from our hands, we finally manage to get him onto a chain and lure him into the house, where he slinks away, once again a traumatised dog.

luckily for us, the driver did break on time, and sam's injuries are mainly external. our wounds are deeper, but are healing now. and sam, oddly enough, is still confident about traffic. we're developing a strict routine of him always sitting down before we go outside, and will be looking into gates and fences for the forecourt.