=== When Dogs Go Wild ===

     So recently I find myself torn between my love for our dog, and my dislike for him getting into things; it makes me furious when dogs go wild. Our dog is a black shih tzu / cocker spaniel named Furgle; he's super cute and does the most adorable things when he's trying to get your attention, or when he's just TRYING to be cute. I absolutely LOVE him and he makes it so difficult to stay mad at him when he does something wrong.

     Just yesterday we came home after a day in Regina to a torn up pile of swim diapers and a couple other objects from around the house spread around the floor of the living room. That right there is a lot of valuable money that we don't want to have to spend again... but I also understand where he's coming from. Most other dogs don't have a problem with separation anxiety like he does though.

     When I say separation anxiety, I don't mean your average run-of-the-mill "Oh no, my family is gone so I'm going to be sad" sort of stuff... I mean "WHERE ARE YOU? WHERE HAVE YOU GONE? HOOOWWWWWLLLLL!!!!!" Mix that with a little bit of puppy / cocker spaniel chewing on everything destruction and you've got our dear Furgle. I know I make it sound bad, but he's really not THAT bad. He's pretty calm when we're home most of the time and even when company comes over, he calms down pretty quickly as long as they actually let him sniff them... or jump all over them.

     Jumping isn't the only bad habit he has which we'd like to get him out of. I'm sure some of this he'll grow out of as he gets older and after he gets fixed, but he likes to bite SOOOO MUCH. Don't get me wrong, I love to do a little bit of rough-housing, but I HATE being bitten. So currently that's a never ending fight to get him to stop with that along with jumping (which is also pretty cute) and getting so frantic whenever there's a door between us and him. Currently I absolutely no idea if we'll ever get him out of that last habit... we might be stuck with a dog who doesn't want to be separated for the rest of his life. I think I would be alright with that; It's really not so bad having him always want to be around us.

     He's absolutely a sweetheart and the cutest dog in the world when he's not so busy biting us all the time. He's super athletic so we're thinking of getting him into some agility training at some point. There's actually a dog agility club here in Moose Jaw believe it or not. I think that would be good for both him and us. And of course, we'll get our dog to stop going wild with a little bit of help from a puppy-training class after we get him fixed.

~ Kyle Welykholowa