Yellow faced girl

Tundra went to take a big whiff of the flowers and got a face covered in yellow pollen.

The last year with our girl has been very rewarding. The puppy years were a test and the "teenage" puppy years were a challenge too with her constant digging of holes, escaping the yard not once but TWICE (nearly causing heart attacks for me because she loves to chase traffic).

Digging

The first time Tundra escaped the yard I was calling for her... thankfully she circled back on the OPPOSITE side of the fence only to give me a saucy look and sauntered off to play in the vacant field near our place. Thankfully there is a fence surrounding the area around our home that was around the busy roads. Jason got in the car and was lucky enough to see her pop her head out at the main road only to cut her off and get a hold of her to get her in the car. We were not pleased with her first Michael Scofield - aka Prison Break - attempt.

The second breakout she managed we were lucky because she dug a hole to our neighbors fenced yard. After an embarrassed knock on the door we retrieved our bad digger.

She did escape a third time but after the last two close calls we decided to invest in a 50' leash in order to keep better tabs on her and be able to empty the dish washer or keep an eye on dinner without worrying about our little escapist; she only needs 10 minutes. 

Our lil wolf grew bored of the new backyard surroundings and the consequence was digging. The solution? The only way, like a dog, you can discipline a wolf-hybrid is to catch them in the act. Just telling her no, a smack on the noes and a kennel "time out" a couple times and she learned not to dig. I feel like a back-stabber every time I let her out into the yard as I'm digging up weeds, catching her eyes starring at me like she's saying "wth, Mum? You're allowed to dig but I'm not?!" 

Pulling / Aggression towards other dogs / Walking Nicely

Another thing we've battled with this past year is walking. Not just walking but her constant tugging, throwing Jasons back out with her sporadic "SQUIRREL" jerk out of nowhere... we needed a good solution to walking.

We purchased a choke chain to initially train her. It was good for initial training but slacked a bit in the colder windy snow covered months and when she grew her tugs became more violent. The choke chain doesn't work on her anymore, she'll pull until she is choking herself and she will keep marching on.

We then purchased a harness to mix it up and to provide a better way to take the pressure and jerking from her neck. She wouldn't listen with the harness one bit. 

We then resorted to buying a halter for her. This worked like a charm! We did purchase a size too small so upon returning several times to multiple pet stores we found the perfect size and color for our girl.

(not Tundra below)

The control over her is amazing. It's easier to make her sit at road crossings, keep her close when there are other dogs/bikes/SQUIRRELS ... once she got used to wearing it she's been a complete angel. Be prepared to have the temper tantrums at first and off and on until your fur baby is used to wearing it but it is wonderful! The lady at the pet store said this leash works exactly like it does for horses.

Enjoy the blog update :)

For Ted

Thank you to all who have sent me words of encouragement to keep posting. Will blog soon!

New blog to follow! I had a lady write in asking questions about how to determine if she had a wolf-hybrid pup. Her Adorable little guy can be followed below:

Thank you so much for your help! We now think Riddick is six weeks old but severely under weight. From reading your posst I had found out raw hides and human milk is not good wolf hybrids...so thank you for that I'm now doing a blog about our dog raisingriddick.blogspot.com if you are interested! Samantha

My girl on a walk for her 2nd bday

She loves her walks!

Snow Angel

Tundras 2

For her second birthday we bought her a new toy! She sure loves it! Yes.... I know these pictures aren't rotated properly. I apologize.... Mobile uploads don't give me that option :(



Sorry... blogger = dumb and won't let me rotate the pics

Tundra is evil old

Well I was posting picture updates when I noticed how many days old she is by the calculator I have on the site. Tundra is 666 days old today!

Although I have to say she's been a lot better since our move, I think she was probably more evil last night than today (:


Our girl has gotten used to people and now looks forward to when we have guests over so she can meet people. She's still very impolite when it comes to sniffing areas that make people annoyed and she unfortunately begs but overall that is the only thing I would have to complain about with her bad habits.

A couple times we caught her digging in the garden. After a tap on the nose and showing her what she did wrong combined with watching her activity outside to catch her in the act, she's been really good.

Tundra was not used to all the loud noises when we took her for walks in her new home. We bought a halter for her and can't believe the difference in her walking!