O'Zone Fidj a.k.a. "Madame Nonsense"

F-Litter (*20 Mar 2007)

::Who is Laika::

We visited Laika for the first time when she was three and a half weeks old. All the puppies were essentially little bounce around fur balls with very sharp teeth. From the beginning we knew that we need a dog who - even as a young puppy - has to be able to withstand our Henna. So we needed a dog who had the self confidence, firmness and courage that would allow her to grow in the relation with Henna and not turn into a nervous wreck. Fairly soon I knew it would be the little black female fur ball with the small rust markings and the conviction that my left toe was a chew-toy. She wasn't a terribly "cuddly puppy" but she had the character I was looking for and remarkably that was obvious even at this very young age.

 

One really amazing thing about Laika is that she has no prey drive at all. A flok of birds flying up in front of her will make her raise her head and look where they are going but pretty much the way (most) humans do: they think it intersting but have no desire to chase the birds. Laika does the same with other wild animals and also with people on bikes or jogging. I could now go on and on and use the "standard terminology" for doberman, them having good drive and so on. But Laika is first and foremost Laika and not "a doberman".

When I started training Laika I felt like smashing her into a wall about every five minutes (of course I didn't actually do that). For one thing she believed to be a human and consequently exclusively walked on two legs rather than four. Eventually however we had established some general communication method and from then on she was (and is!) a dream of a dog to train. While she is not particularly interested in food or toys it was a bit tricky but eventually we found that dry fish was an acceptable method of coercion. Laika definately likes Obedience training but only if it goes her way. Retrieving for example is a very stupid thing to do in her opinion and she seems to think that if a person throws something away then either they don't want it anymore or if they do they better get it themselves and learn not to do such stupid things in the future.

Her wish for tracking ins't too pronounces. She simply thinks it is a better idea to sleep than walk around hoping to find some food or toy she doesn't care about anyway. She will search for lost objects with excellent success and even if the object has been in the forrest for over a week in very wet and muddy weather and after some agricultural vehicles have driven over it. She will look for lost people but in general she thinks people hiding themselves don't need to be looked for. For some reason she has an excellent understanding of when a person is "only" hiding and when a person is in fact seriously lost.

Recently with Laika growing older it became apparent that, really, she has no strong urge to "work" at all. She enjoys some agility or obedience "for fun" but anything serious is stupid in her opinion. She also can't figure out this trait I often see in other doberman I meet during training - the desire to obey. Either some command makes sense to her, then she will do it. If it makes no sense to her than nothing in the world - least of all brute force - can make her do it. Her complete ambivalence to punishment is also a notable feature of her personality. She thinks punishment is evidence for weakness of leadership abilities and/or fear and hence persons doing such things ar to be ignored and not taken too seriously. The only way that can be used to convince her of leadership abilities is a calm, controlled demeanor without any kind of outward physical aggression.

I have often found general advice on training dogs (and training doberman in particular) by very experienced trainers and trainers for the breed are useless to her. Her mind simply doesn't work like most dogs do. I have had to come up with many more or less ingenious methods of training her to somehow overcome all her "resistance" to conventional training methods. Sometimes I wonder if my relative inexperience in training dogs is helpful or harmful in the process.

Lately I have decided to leave her her will in so far as I am not going to force her into working trial quality obedience or tracking or anything. It simply isn't for her and I would find no joy or fun in doing something I know she dislikes. I suppose I could get her to actually do either of those things but then - what's the point? I want a happy dog first and foremost and it seems to me I will have that more easily without insisting on the usual dog sports. Laika seems to be convinced that first and foremost she is a dog and not a type of "sporting equipment". It is this reasonable indepence I like about her so I will not try to "get rid" of it. For her sake and for my sake. For me "breaking" a dogs will can never be the answer to such situations and the only solution is to develop mutual respect. This doesn not mean I believe in laizze fair or anti-authoritarian dog training because that is programmed to lead to disaster. To me the way to go is to accept and respect that dogs, too, have their own personality and their own character.

The amazing thing about Laika is that she loves everyone and everything. She likes the extended families cat (and shares her food with the strange creature, if necessary by dropping a mouth full of food in front of her), she likes birds, wild animals, all people, even "strange" ones like people moving in an unusual manner, she was deeply troubled when finding her "friend" the hedgehog run over on the street and got so upset I had to drag her away. However, she will only play with some specially selected few. However, she can get a bit cross with small dogs who bark incessantly and continuously. She will go there and growl at the dog or bark. Usually the dogs will shut up then. She will observe all other dogs behaviour and when necessary plays with a dog who is a bit timid when in the "dog park".

Laika has no single aggressive streak to her personality. Even when kicked or hit by some **** she will just stand there and watch. She will observe and put herself between her people and the attacker. She will stand there calmly and wait. Laika is extremly protective. She will not permit anything to happen to her family but at the same time she has amazingly good judgment for what is dangerous and what is not. She is in general very laid back. She will just sleep in one corner for the day and enjoy the calm. At one dog show a thunderstorm was approaching and she just lay back in a comfortable position outside in her wire crate and watched the other dogs get nervous. She likes to stand at the window at new Year's Eve and watch the fireworks. When something like a clattering metal tin falls down next to her onto the tiled floor she will slowly turn her head to look what it was. She will certainly not move away or do any such thing. She is who she is. And she has excellent nerves. She would probably do well with IPO or Schutzhund but because of her neck problems we have not further pursud those intentions. The little girl has very strong attachment to me, Urs and Henna. But she is also able to deal with separation very well. In the end Laika is the most wonderful friend a person could wish for. She has a very strong, balanced character with a nice temprament.