Making progress

Working on separation anxiety issues is a test of patience. When Cane failed obedience class, he couldn't stand to be by himself for 30 seconds. Little by little and thru individual classes, Cane has been working on his "stay" and his ability to be alone for a given time without going completely crazy.


Several months ago, a 20 minute trip to the store resulted in a wrecked house. A month ago, Cane howled so loudly at the vet that he had to be picked up early.

In the beginning the only thing that could bring sanity to the house was the crate. The crate was a life saver. Quite bluntly, it kept Cane from going back to the pound. But the goal is to have a good balanced dog that can be trusted alone. Over the course of the past few weeks Cane has had the run of the house. It began with 5 minutes here and 10 minutes there. Soon the elusive 20 minute trip to the store was possible.

Eventually Cane was able to be all by himself for a few hours. In fact, his new record is 4 hours with no destruction. He almost hit 5 hours but an accessible leftover Easter basket ended the new streak.

More practice and “Cane-proofing” to come.

Seatbelts taste good

I need a new seatbelt in my truck. What seemed like a quick and painless trip into Lowe’s will probably end up costing a couple hundred bucks.


I went in for a few small items and was in and out in less than 15 minutes. As I walked back out to the truck, I could see Cane was in the front driver’s seat. As I opened the door, he opened his mouth and my seatbelt fell out. It was only connected by a thread.

Needless to say, it was probably the closest Cane came to going back to jail since we had him. It happened back in December and Cane has since learned to keep his butt in the back where he has a bone to chew on and water if needed.

I did what I believe is a pretty dang good job of sewing the belt back together, but for safety sake I really need to get a new one. Maybe soon…

Have a seat.

Cane knows he’s not allowed on the couch. Just laying down would be too much to ask, so to rest his legs he just backs his butt up to the couch and sits like the humans do.


If you tell him “off”, he just looks around to figure out who you’re talking to. “It can’t be me” he says. “My front feet are on the ground."

Springer

You can walk a husky for miles and miles. They will use just enough energy to calm them down for a little while. If you don’t have the time for a usual walk or you want a thoroughly exercised husky you may have to resort to exploiting the most common breed trait – pulling!


Anyone who has ever walked a husky knows they WANT to pull. Why not give them what they want? We put a pretty good amount of research into what would be the safest and most durable set-up for Cane to pull a bicycle.

What we found was http://www.springeramerica.com/

Cane loves going for bike rides now. He will pull the bike almost as fast as traffic. He Springer works great and he took to it like a natural.

So now for those times when Cane needs a little extra exercise or we’re pressed for time, we have an alternative to the usual walk.