Today was prompted by yesterday... bear with me on this one... The last week has been spent trying to develop a rapport with Kin and for him to have confidence in me. Now Newfie pups at eight weeks spend most of their time, eating, sleeping, pooing, and a relatively small amount of time playing. Walks are a thing of the future (unless the walk involves carrying the little chap). Well Ingvild and the Madster came around yesterday (Madster= Maddie= Rhodesian Ridgeback bitch), and Kin was just annoying her. She ignored him, walked away from him and even growled at him. Once when she laid down he even jumped on her... now to translate from dog into human, this would be like going into a bar, finding the biggest person in there, drink his pint, snog his girlfriend, and pinch his bum... Maddie jumped up, did an impressive growl, and moved away. I was surprised that she didn't even mouth him... Point is, that he shouldn't have done this.
Thus today had us heading to Åsen (
http://www.stavanger.kommune.no/Tilbud-tjenester-og-skjema/Kultur-idrett-og-fritid/Friluftsliv/Bandtvang1/Bandtvang/). Now generally I don't like Åsen for the following main reasons:
- part of the point of having a dog is to walk; at Åsen owners stand around, pretty much waiting for the dogs to fight.
- folk who can't be bothered to walk their dogs, just take them to Åsen. If you are going to go to Åsen with anything other than a miniature breed you need to take them for a walk first to calm them down and drain off some of their energy, otherwise fights will occur.
- many folk who can't control their dogs take them to Åsen. I'm guessing here, but as it's fenced in they figure that they can relax as their dogs crank up the well trained/good natured dogs and invariably start fights. Karma was attacked by one such dog whilst I was at my father's funeral. The dog was a 16 month old French Mastiff that the owners couldn't control, he was larger than Karma and Karma was getting old. The dog jumped on Karma's back, knocked him down and Karma laydown, the the evil ffffffker bit him. He had a similar experience with an oversized Great Dane at Bråstein. This dog was also 16 months old, jumped him from behind, he lay down and it stated to close it's jaws around his neck. I grabbed the dog by the scruff of the neck and held Karma down so that he would not aggravate things by trying to bite the dog. The dog didn't even register. The owner freaked out. I had to punch the GD in the nose before it snapped back into 'real time'. Fortunately (for me) it was so surprised to have someone discipline it, that it didn't turn on me. Karma got up and walked away. The owner's friend took the GD, and Karma and I left.
Unfortunately not enough breeders vet the people that are getting their dogs. Norway is not a dog friendly country, and irresponsible dog owners do not improve this situation. Dogs have to be brought up correctly, especially the bigger breeds, and breeds that were developed for guarding/fighting. It does not do any dog owner good when a dog attacks another dog or a person.
Anyway back to Åsen. When we arrived there was a beautiful 18 month old St Bernard's, that had a lovely temperament. A couple of boxers that had too much energy, but responded correctly when pushed away. A black lab, also way too hyper, a mix that looked like an Alsatian/border collie mix, that was completely out of control and a few other dogs.
Kin and the St Bernard's.
Then a girl arrived with an AmStaff (American Staffordshire Bull Terrier). Her relief of letting this dog 'free' was almost palpable, as she stood back and let the chaos commence. To put it kindly, this dog was a little sh_t. This woman had no control over it, and she really was just bringing it to Åsen hoping that it would burn off some of it's abundant energy. I had to stand with a leg on either side of Kin and bat this evil little fkkkker away several times. I would say it's owner, but the power dynamic definitely wasn't in her favour between her and the evil one. This gormless woman ignored these proceedings; and as it wasn't the dog's fault (this dog was only a puppy!!!), I resisted the urge to see exactly how far I could drop kick it, instead I picked Kin up and we headed for the car (Newfie's at this age don't walk further than the next puddle that they can fall asleep in). I'm trying to socialise my puppy, not give him a bad experience and make him nervous of other dogs.
{For the record Sørmarka, is a much better place to go walking, and this pales into insiginificance against Bråstein which is a happy place, for both dogs and people. In nine years of taking Karma to Bårstein we only had two bad experiences with other dogs, and only the one dangerous one with the above mentioned GD}.
Second part of the plan was to take Kin to BogB (
http://bokerogborst.com/). Which is a friendly place for people and if your dog is behaved they are quite happy to have you outside. I want him to get used to 'cafe life', as a single person this is important for me.
Now Kin was getting sleepy and thus it was much easier having him in the car:
On arriving at BogB, I asked a couple if they could watch him whilst I got a drink (brought water and a bowl with me for Kin).
He charmed them:
(sadly I didn't think to get their names - but thanks!). Now Karma would never stay still in a place like this, and if you asked someone to hold him, he would just wonder off with them being dragged behind. It took considerable strength, but mainly resolution to stop Karma from wondering off.
Ingvild and her sister, Monica joined us. By this time Kin couldn't keep his eyes open and I was worried that with his puppy coat he might be getting cold, so it was off back to the car.
Where there was no sound of crying... only snoring!
Back at the house we met a chap who used to have a lovely Golden Retriever that Karma used to play with, called Gia, sadly she died from cancer last year. Now he has a four month old Goldy called 'Holly'.
Holly and Kin liked each other.
Now on getting in the house Kin was now in 'turbo' mode. So it was off to Matt's place for Kin's first home visit and because the kids really wanted to meet him and I want him to meet kids.
Now here's a note for all those parents who's kids say that they want a dog and that they (the kids) will look after him/her:
Please notice the 'adults' playing with Kin whilst the children are enthralled with the tv behind... in fact one of the kids even asked us to make less noise!!!
Kin slept when we came home!
And I'm trying to get him to sit and be calm before feeding him... with the end result that he sat in his water bowl! Some work needed here!
Last night I managed 2 hours sleep in my own bed. At 04:00 I had him out, and then slept on the sofa... until 11:00!!! Now I know he can do it... I have big plans for tonight!!!
