Beauty and the beast

Goshen and Barak cuddling

My new baby boy is the most loveable dog. He has the softest nose that I love to squeeze and kiss and play with. The kids can do pretty much anything to him without any protests. At the same time he is a powerful guardian who would not hesitate one second to defend his family, and people cross the street when they meet this intimidating beast.

He has never shown any aggressive behaviour in his attempts to dominate and we can even take raw bones out from his mouth without any fuss. There is no problem there. Nevertheless, he makes me dream wet dreams about e-collars and pinch collars when he notoriously steal and eat our socks, or when he pulls frantically on the leash and completely ignores me when we are outdoors.

His previous owners did not educate him and he was allowed to grow a strong dominance and independence. It shows most clearly when we are outdoors. He has no sense of the pack when we are on walks and if there is something I really miss, then it is my walks with unleashed dogs. Goshen never leaves my side and I never have her leashed, but with this boy unleashing only works far out in the fields, where we not go every day.

If a dog grows up and get the taste for independence it can be very tough to get him to step back in line again and stay with his group. Since he also has a cat obsession, it is pretty much impossible right now to work on having him unleashed around the houses where we live, since there are so many cats. I tried to let him go for a while last week, down in the valley below the houses, but it turned out to be too close. He ran off, up towards the houses and on the way he scared the neighbours kids who was on a walk with their two cocky Pekinese dogs, who I have mentioned previously. Barak was back with me in a matter of minutes, since he always runs back to the house. The kids made a big hustle about it and I had a visit later in the afternoon from the father and another guy who thought that he had really attacked the kids. However, I know Barak, and I know that he probably only barked at them a bit to scare them, since he is not aggressive when he is loose. His only interest is to run after cats. That is no defence though, and we have to be even more cautious in the future.

Then his sock fetish. In the beginning he only picked them up, carried them around and dropped them again. Then socks started to disappear and we realised that he also eats them. Proof came when he started to throw up partly digested socks. What comes out is not particularly yummy, but it is instead rather obvious that the content has travelled all the way down to the poop section of the tummy, and back again, concluding from the smell of it. In spite of the nasty condition of the mess, he always wants to re-eat it, so we need to be fast to remove it from him. If Goshen shows an interest, she is harshly growled at. It is his puke, and his alone.

I had forgotten how simple things were with only Goshen around. She follows me like a shadow and she reads my mind in the daily routines around the house. Barak instead needs guidance all the time. The most beautiful thing is the friendship that has developed between the dogs. It is obvious that the confidence between them is growing. We have less and less arguments over bones and toys and they allow more and more from each other in the play. They always sleep bundled up together and that is so cute that it nips my heart a bit.