Dogs and Kids

Volk and Bobik on arrival at 2 months

Bobik and Volk are over 5 months old now and still provide endless amusement and affection (for only $40 per month in puppy chow and treats). They have three “kennel rooms” in an outbuilding plus the side yard to run in. We have a crew here doing repair work on the outside of the house. Yesterday the dogs stole and ate their lunch. Later Tanya could hear growling from their one “kennel room”. Volk would not let Bobik in where the food was. It was hilarious. He sat by the two dishes full of dog food and growled if Bobik so much as moved to come through the door. So I put a dish in each room. They both ate out of one dish then they went to the other room and both ate out of the other dish.

One of our walking routes takes us beside a commercial pipeline; three large pipes all above ground, except to go under roads. There is a pedestrian crossing at one point consisting of seven steps up and a platform across and seven steps down. I taught the puppies to climb up and down the steps about a month ago. Bobik had no problem. The first day he went up and over like a pro. And every time thereafter. Volk balked the first day and went under the pipes. Second day he climbed the stairs but was not happy and after that he went back to going under the pipes. Last night there were two strange dogs under the steps and they were not going to let Volk through. So he went over top like the rest of us.

Some dogs take naturally to the game of “Fetch”. Not these dogs. Throw something and they look at you like “What? You didn’t want that anymore?” I bought a ball for them to play with and they tore it apart, which is what they did with their rubber pig and rubber duck. What they really like is beef bones to chew so I buy them at the market on occasion. Mostly they try to tear each other apart. Volk rules the “kennel rooms” and the yard. Bobik challenges Volk every step of our daily walks. The other day Bobik had Volk by the leg and Volk had Bobik by the lip. Lip hold won.

As my oldest daughter can attest, I have no idea how to raise dogs to be obedient and all that stuff. Mostly I just want the dogs to come when I call and not play in traffic. If I had it to do over, I think I would have settled for that with my kids as I had no idea how to raise them either. The kids turned out pretty good in spite of my best efforts. Maybe the dogs will too?