Our friend left his dog under our care while he and his family went overseas for the summer holidays...the dog (F) is quite a handful with three issues that I knew of.... so far.
We walked her twice already, my gosh! She is a major 'leash puller'...if there is such a word..haha...we have to resort to using the 'Gentle Leader head halter' that we used to train Happy with on F. She has such a major attitude while the Gentle Leader was put on her initially. She tried SO hard to dislodge it! No wonder the Gentle Leader advertisement said that it is 'a ten minute attitude adjuster'! Haha the more dominant a dog, the greater the struggle against it. F now knows that she is no longer the boss! She did walk a little nicer although not fully heeling yet, but it is a major improvement from 'before us'. ;)
Ooh another issue I found out this morning while feeding her was that she guards her food! She growled and bared her teeth at me when I accidentally went near her while she was eating. I went ballistic! I abhorred such bad attitude from dogs. I wasn't afraid of her, instead, I stood my ground and advanced towards her and very loudly and firmly said 'NO'. She was SO fierce! For a moment I thought she was going to bite! I growled back and stood over her and her food, pretending to claim the food as mine. It took quite a bit of courage to stand firm in this situation. (Caution: Please don't try this on your own if you are not sure of the dog, it will bite. Seek professional help!) I was so fierce staring and looming over her that she urinated and was trembling! (Note: Urinating in this situation is a submissive gesture that a dog shows.) She ran and hide under the table. After this whole episode, she kind of get the idea that I am the boss and she dare not touch the food. A while later, I coaxed her into eating the food, she did, but she did not dare to guard it anymore even when I tried to touch the food while she is eating. She is overall quite a sweet dog. All is well after that, after cleaning up the place, I left. What a morning! It is so important to train a dog well since puppy hood, or else, they will harbour all kinds of undesirable traits/issues that might posed as a threat to human especially to children. Lastly, sigh! I prayed that owners of dogs in the world will be more responsible and kind. I forgot to mention, she is a very vocal dog . Gosh! can she bark! She wakes up the whole neighbourhood! I would think that it is the responsibility of the owner to train the dog not to 'nuisance' bark. SIGH!
Happy turned two today! How times fly! She has been with us for 22 months. She's a big girl now. She weighs about 22kg, lean and muscular and she runs like a horse! It is such a joy having her although she can be a pain sometimes.... she has her moods.... but we still love her!! :) She gets to eat her favorite lamb shoulder raw meat for dinner tonight and also two big slices of brown sugar coconut cake that I have 'steamed' for her this morning.. hm.. she 
loves coconut and this is the only time in the entire year that she gets to eat cake... yummy... and as another rare treat for her on her birthday, we gave her a small piece of bbq pork, she loves it!! She is sleeping contentedly now... with a smile on her face...
