Failing Obedience School

Since Cane was a rescue with a sketchy history, it seemed best to enroll him in an obedience class. A local trainer experienced in Huskies was recommended by Cane’s new vet. So he was immediately enrolled. The class was six weeks in duration; one evening a week.


It started off good. Cane was progressing as expected and had no problems with other dogs. Cane could perform sit and down using just hand signals. He could heel with moderate corrections. He could walk in and out of the presence of other dogs without freaking out and would usually sit like a gentleman before meeting another dog.

Cane did not really like to come, but the nature of a Husky is to work and if he was in the working mindset, he would come.

Then came the stay. Or maybe not. Cane cannot sit still for more than a few seconds and if he knows humans are near he will he will go apes#!t until he gets attention. He can make the most blood-curdling noises when he wants to. Since Huskies don’t bark, they make up for it by talking, howling, screaming and basically sounding like they are being tortured.

Test day finally came and Cane passed 9 out of 10. He cannot yet be considered a Canine Good Citizen.

Eating weird stuff

Cane has an indiscriminate palate. His propensity to eat random objects may be tied to his time as a stray when he had to fend for himself. He eats wood like most dogs eat bones. He is quite skilled at catching yard lizards and will swallow them whole if he thinks a human is coming to take them away. Eating these types of items doesn’t seem that strange for a dog that lived in the great wide open at least three times before being picked up by “The Man”.


However, it’s the items not found in nature that are puzzling. Cane eats the stuffing out of his toys. He loves napkins and toilet paper so much that the TP rolls had to be relocated to high shelves in the bathroom. He has swallowed an entire woman’s style dress sock and munches on rubber hair ties.

Aside from the obvious possibility of choking, there is the problem of digestion. So far there have been no obstructions. Everything other then the sock has passed straight thru Cane to be deposited in the back yard. It makes for colorful and sometimes fluffy poo. And if you’re wondering what happened to the sock; vomited at 4am.