Come Out to Play?

About a week ago, as Kodi and I were sitting in the backyard one evening a young girl on a bicycle came to the driveway. She parked her bike and asked if she could play with Kodi.

He welcomed her, sniffing and licking her, jumping up and talking to her.

For about a half an hour, she threw his ball, tossed his Kong Wubba around the yard for him. It was nice, as she and I got to chat while they played.

When she was ready to leave, as it was getting dark, she told Kodi goodbye and I told her she could come over and visit whenever she saw us out in the yard. Kodi would appreciate having someone who could run around the yard with him.

Last night, there was a soft knock on the screen door. I called out, as I was getting up to answer, “hang on.” A meek female voice asked, “Can your dog come out to play?”

I nearly fell over as I crossed the room. Now Kodi has ‘friends’ coming over and asking if he can come out to play… ugh! LOL

I’m telling you, he’s more human than some humans I know.

I Love My Dog More Than Most People I Know

I truly love my dog, Kodiak, more than most people I know.

I've not been feeling very well. I'm trying to keep up appearances and keep moving every day. Some days that's easier than others. I've been feeling dizzy, weak, dropping things, just experiencing a general sense of 'disconnect'.

Because it's been so hot and humid this Summer and I've spent more than a month and a half without my power chair while it's been in the 'shop', we've not been taking walks, not been spending a great deal of time outside. Kodiak simply doesn't want to.

As a result of our lack of 'outdoor time', I've been trying to exercise him in the house by getting down on the floor (that's the easy part, falling off the chair onto the floor. LOL) and playing tug-o-war or bouncing his ball for him.

When Kodiak was a puppy my husband played rough with him, wrestling with him, letting him chew on his hands, etc. (something I didn't want him to do), so when Kodiak is bored, has a lot of stored up energy, playing can quickly become wrestling.

We were wrestling on the floor, when he stopped and went to get a drink, so I decided rather than trying to struggle to my feet, I would just lay down on one side and watch television from the floor. Not the most comfortable way to do it, but certainly more comfortable than what I would experience trying to get up off the floor.

When Kodiak came back into the living room, he came to me, sat down against me and began to lick my face, my glasses, my neck and nibble on my nose. He got up momentarily to chase a cat away from his food bowl and when he came back, I was feeling a bit dizzy. I had my eyes closed and was taking some deep slow breaths.

He sat against me, placed his front paws over the arm I was leaning on and lay down, holding me down, as he licked my face. He lay there for quite a while. Before he let me get up, he licked my face one more time and sat up as I did. He followed me over to my chair, as I sat back down he curled up between my feet.

I've been laying down and taking a nap during the day, whenever our schedules permit and sure enough Kodiak is right there, on the bed with me, the whole time, curled up against me, so I can feel him. He makes soft noises, crawling up the bed so he can lick my face, cuddle with me. We often 'spoon' for a few minutes before getting up and getting back to our day.

When we go outside so he can 'go potty', he stops and waits for me to catch up to him, cognizant of the fact that I move slower, that he is my protector and companion. Once I've caught up, he will move further toward the ramp. If we are coming up the ramp with my husband, he will let my husband get ahead of us, but wait for me, turning and looking back over his shoulder until I'm coming, looking back as we move up the ramp to be certain I'm there and following closely.

I can think of no human, except my husband and son, who demonstrate the level of caring, compassion and love for me that Kodiak does.

Big Changes

For a little while now, Kodi and I haven't been seeing eye to eye. He's been crabby, growling, moody.

I consulted someone who trains dogs and they suggested that my female problems, the menopause, the changes in my body, emotions, etc. can be sensed by Kodiak. She said, "you probably seem like a whole different person to him."

She also suggested that since I clip his toenails and trim the hair on his feet while on the bed, and the bed seemed to be the place where we were most at odds, perhaps he felt threatened by me on the bed. She thought maybe he was claiming the bed as his.

Since then, some of my female issues are more under control. Kodiak got pretty aggressive on the bed this past week, growling and nipping at me. I'd had it. I snapped and gently swatted him on the side of his muzzle telling him "No!"

He lay there, still, then I told him to get down off the bed. He did. He walked around the bed and came back up on the bed, his head down, snuggled up against me and licked my face.

Since that day, he's been amazing. There's been no more odd behavior on the bed, no more grumpiness, no more growling, he's not jumping off the bed as soon as I come close to it. We're playing multiple times a day on the living room floor, because it's still too hot and humid to be outside playing.

I would never advocate hitting a dog, I felt terrible about having swatted him, it was a knee-jerk reaction out of frustration, but it appears he was claiming the bed as his and threatened in some way by me being on the bed. I claimed the bed, dominated him on the bed and the issue is gone.

I've had a couple people also suggest that for whatever reason he was viewing me as weak, inferior, because of my illnesses and health problems, that he thought he could dominate me.

Again, I feel terrible about swatting him, I didn't use any force, just made contact, but it was enough for him to understand the severity of his mistake and make corrections.

At Odds

It seems that Kodiak and I are a bit at odds lately.

It's been terribly hot and humid outside. We are experiencing sustained temperatures in the upper 80 and 90 degree range with humidity above 84%. Our nighttime temperatures are in the mid to upper 70's, so it's terribly uncomfortable outside.

I'm trying to walk Kodiak in the mornings when it's cooler, but we don't go out in the yard to play much at all during the day. On several occasions he's vomited when we've been walking, drooling excessively, panting so hard, I knew he was minding the heat. I don't want to risk heat stroke.

We play inside, in the air conditioning, the best we can. That typically means bouncing a tennis ball for him to catch, playing tug-0-war with his stuffed animal. It's just not the same.

It's as if he translates the lack of walking and playing as me punishing him. He acts like he's afraid of me, ducks when I reach to pet him, growls at me whenever he's on the bed and I'm near the bed, as if I'm threatening him somehow. I'm really stumped about what's going on with him.

I've talked to a number of other friends who have dogs, service dogs, and they've told me they are experiencing something similar right now too. Their dogs are 'off', 'odd', not quite themselves.

I can think of no injury to his head, no symptoms of seizures, etc. I can think of no physical reason why he would have such a change in personality.

What is so puzzling, is that he's inconsistent. For several days, he's a doll, obedient, compliant, willing to do whatever task put before him, then he will take a sharp left turn and suddenly require a great deal of prompting, convincing and cajoling to get him to even 'come' when called.

I know that huskies, by nature, are stubborn dogs. They are very headstrong and have a reputation for being obedient, even for years, then suddenly behaving as if they've never heard their name before, don't know you, etc. I'm sure some of his behavior can be explained by his breed characteristics, but some of it certainly has to do with lack of exercise, boredom. Huskies can be very difficult, destructive, when they are bored. They need to be stimulated constantly, whether through interaction with humans, other dogs or toys that cause them to problem solve. They need to have a 'job' to do, something that challenges them.

Unfortunately, right now, my power chair is in the shop and I don't know when I could get it back, a motor seized up. We aren't even able to walk right now, it's been 6 days since our last walk. I don't know what else I can do to keep him active, keep him from being bored and crabby.

Right now, I guess we'll be at odds.... it's almost like he has a 'time of the month' when he's crabby and irritable. Is there such a thing as 'male doggy pms'? LOL