Monday, May 29, 2006


Show mommy!

This is a command that works on both our huskies. They respond to it in two different ways.

When Lobo wants something, he howls at me to follow him to where he wants me to come. Generally, when he howls, he takes me to the direction of the kitchen. Why the kitchen? That is where his treats are and where his dishes are. When he gets to the kitchen, he howls again. This is when I say, "show mommy". He would normally point his nose to where his treats are sitting on the counter or if it is water he wants, he points his nose towards the empty water bowl.

Layla on the other hand, is the quiet type but very clumsy. For a princess, this one has no grace. While Lobo moves with grace, like he has spring under his paws, my baby girl is the complete opposite. When she feels like a treat or if she wants me to follow her somewhere, she would hop on me. It's sort of funny, because to everyone else, it would look like she wants to ride on my back. She would totally put all 50 lbs. on me if I were sitting on the floor and she wants my attention. Anyhow, we've been so used to Lobo's body language being that we've had him much longer and had hours of one-on-one with him, that he is a lot easier to read. Layla is a whole different ball game. It takes me a few minutes to read her before I figure out that she wanted something. She uses the same body language for everything else that it makes it difficult to understand what she means.

After she'd try to squash me under her 50 lb. frame she'd take 2 steps forward, look back to see if I'm coming or not. If she sees me moving she'll keep going but if I don't budge (because I'm being dense), she'll keep trying to sit on me. That is when I start to get it. So she also makes sure that I follow her and again, like Lobo, we quickly move to the kitchen. Once there, I command her "show mommy". She'd just stares at the counter where the treats sit or she would circle her dish if it's water she wants all very quietly at the same time, clumsily. All these without making a peep. So different, don't you think?


Clearly our huskies have developed their own identities.

Disclaimer:
Our dogs have never been to obedience training, they are not professionally trained.