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I will share some of the lessons learned with you and how our bond has developed. Even though we have three acres of land to play on we
also live on a busy street. Our
house is 100 feet back from the street so that gives us a nice front yard
to play in, but it also means that we can see all of the joggers and the
other neighbors walking their dogs. Duke
loves people and other dogs and we have had some scary moments as he
suddenly takes off towards them, it is scary for us to see 170 pounds of
dog running at 200mph towards you and for the uninitiated it can be heart
stopping. Twice he leaped the
fence and ran across a fairly busy street to meet the dog across the way.
He avoided being hit but I panicked as I saw him go. By the second
occurrence I knew that this could not continue I did not want to lose his
life prematurely nor did I want the liability of what damage he could
cause to the vehicle hitting him. |
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| I have only got really angry at him once before; (when he snatched the pizza from Stevens’s mouth who then needed several stitches). I ran across the street barefoot to grab him, the traffic had stopped in both directions, luckily no accidents. I dragged him back by the collar and leashed him on short leash while I rigged up two long leashes 50 foot in the back of the house and 50 foot in the front of the house. I instructed the kids that where ever they were playing he could not be left off the leash in the yard because of the last incident. He is a smart boy our Duke and he soon learned that restricted movement is no fun especially when the kids are constantly roaming the acres. We would wait until joggers and dog walkers past our house and then watch his reaction at first he would want to run off and join them, but after a few weeks of positive verbal commands he would just sit and watch with head cocked high. This actually was a turning point his development and our puppy was becoming a well-trained obedient dog. It still amazes me how he will listen immediately and 4 children find every excuse not to. Maybe puppy school will be good for them too! |
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| Over the year my wife has come to love him too and he is her constant companion out in the yard as she tends to her many gardens. Whilst preparing the veggie garden for the summer planting he joined her feverishly digging as she pulled weeds. There is no fence between our neighbors and us, they do not mind him but sometimes his wanderings into their yard have caused a little tension, I left a narrow strip unmowed between the two properties and this became the fence. As he crossed it a quick tug on the collar and a stern “NO” and a point at the boundary, soon he was aware of his territory and would stop right at the border – another victory! |
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| During the year we had kittens and the two that we kept have become good buddies with him as well as the targets for his stalking. I have eagerly read the posting about cats and Irish Wolfhounds as I have watched it all in action. The cats just play dead and Duke leaves them alone but waits for the next move. With 4 cats there are plenty of targets and lots of opportunities for the cats to escape. I am aware of the damage that he could cause them if he wanted to so that is why we have started chasing rabbits. His gentleness with the cats in the house is quite unbelievable as they have made a ritual of butting heads when they see each other and at 5am when I get up I have no peace until the 6 of them have their milk. |
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