Today was a public holiday and we finally had a day off. When I got up in the morning, I took the dogs for a walk with my bicycle. Liwa kept on running in front of the bike with plenty of energy and I had to make sure not to roll over her and Paulo was walking like a snail behind me. Looking at their anatomy, you would expect it to be the other way around!
Then I decided to clean their kennel which hadn’t been cleaned for years. Hans joined in and we spend the rest of the morning scrubbing until we looked like a pile of mud ourselves. At least, Paulo & Liwa have a wonderful home now. As Paulo & Liwa had been with us, there weren’t much white spots left on them and I took them both to the special dog shower which even includes a dog hair dryer. Once they were clean, I also cleaned Sirius, one of Hans’s dogs and then I still had to clean my caravan, refill water etc...Once all this was done, my day off was nearly over and I hadn’t relaxed for a minute. Then Hans started cooking our dinner, a wonderful duck with vegetables. While he was cooking, he started to take out one dog after the other and we finally had a pack of 6 shepherds and among them Paulo & Liwa running in the fields. It was interesting to observe them, especially as there were 5 dominant males among the 8 dogs and Liwa who currently is in heat. Everything went well, and they would sort things out among them, until Hans closed the dogs together with Martina and I in a fenced area and left. I could feel how Liwa increasingly got insecure and would hide behind me. All of a sudden, all the males would jump onto her and she would run and try to escape. As they were starting to attack her she was squeaking so loud that it would break my heart and I just managed to get her out of the attack on time. She got a couple of scratches but nothing serious and I carried her back into the caravan. It was only after a few minutes when Hans came back from the kitchen and I told him about what happened that I started crying due to the previous shock. Hans said that this was normal and that it will happen to her a couple of times until she learns how to behave in a pack. As I was worried that she would now be scared of the other dogs, he told me to take her out of the caravan and let her run around together with a few of the other dogs. First she would hide but then I was happy to see that she would quickly become comfortable again and mingle.
That night not only Liwa learnt her lesson but also I got to understand that I have to become less protective of her and let go...If I want to establish a proper relationship with Liwa, I cannot feel sorry for her as she has to go though certain situations on her own...
In the meantime, Paulo made friends with Angelo and they happily ran around for the rest of the evening! Hans said that Paulo did a great job adapting to the pack.
Then I decided to clean their kennel which hadn’t been cleaned for years. Hans joined in and we spend the rest of the morning scrubbing until we looked like a pile of mud ourselves. At least, Paulo & Liwa have a wonderful home now. As Paulo & Liwa had been with us, there weren’t much white spots left on them and I took them both to the special dog shower which even includes a dog hair dryer. Once they were clean, I also cleaned Sirius, one of Hans’s dogs and then I still had to clean my caravan, refill water etc...Once all this was done, my day off was nearly over and I hadn’t relaxed for a minute. Then Hans started cooking our dinner, a wonderful duck with vegetables. While he was cooking, he started to take out one dog after the other and we finally had a pack of 6 shepherds and among them Paulo & Liwa running in the fields. It was interesting to observe them, especially as there were 5 dominant males among the 8 dogs and Liwa who currently is in heat. Everything went well, and they would sort things out among them, until Hans closed the dogs together with Martina and I in a fenced area and left. I could feel how Liwa increasingly got insecure and would hide behind me. All of a sudden, all the males would jump onto her and she would run and try to escape. As they were starting to attack her she was squeaking so loud that it would break my heart and I just managed to get her out of the attack on time. She got a couple of scratches but nothing serious and I carried her back into the caravan. It was only after a few minutes when Hans came back from the kitchen and I told him about what happened that I started crying due to the previous shock. Hans said that this was normal and that it will happen to her a couple of times until she learns how to behave in a pack. As I was worried that she would now be scared of the other dogs, he told me to take her out of the caravan and let her run around together with a few of the other dogs. First she would hide but then I was happy to see that she would quickly become comfortable again and mingle.
That night not only Liwa learnt her lesson but also I got to understand that I have to become less protective of her and let go...If I want to establish a proper relationship with Liwa, I cannot feel sorry for her as she has to go though certain situations on her own...
In the meantime, Paulo made friends with Angelo and they happily ran around for the rest of the evening! Hans said that Paulo did a great job adapting to the pack.
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