a temporary attachment to the pack

[Browning 9mm]

grandsons were away again this weekend, so LM was again added to the pack friday morning.

all went well till this morning, I'm usually very careful to make sure that while HB and CP have their dinners, which include left overs [HB loves veg and gravy in his dinner] I try to ensure that LM only has his puppy food.

until today when I had a senior moment 

HB didn't finish his dinner, which included roast potatoes, peas and gravy left over from lact night's human meals.

who need a food waste bin when you have a husky 

anyway, I picked his bowl up and placed it on the cooker top, on the hand towel there 

a short while later I heard the sound of a metal dog tag banging against a metal dog bowl. 

yes, LM had managed to pull the towel, and bowl, off the cooker and onto the floor.

potatoes - gone
peas - mostly gone
adult dog meal - mostly gone
gravy - all gone.

I do not relish the next few hours 

[Browning 9mm]

  LM just gone home, so I dodged that bullet 

grandson advised of the possible outcome and has sufficient towel roll to deal with it 

[Browning 9mm]

for those who follow the lives of HB and now LM, the last week has seen LM down during the day several times during the week, with his young master at school, and mum at work.
he continues to test boundaries, and I'm glad to say that in the same way that Coco 'educated' HB. he now is doing the same for LM.
LM is still being walked on his lead and collar so far, but this weekend Charlie and he are down for the weekend, and Charlie has been told to bring his [err LM's] check chain and long lead with him so we can start some training.

I hate it when people call them 'choke chains' they are not, at least when used properly. I was also both shocked and disappointed when I ordered his from fleabay that there are still sellers offering the ones which have prongs on the inside. I had always thought they were banned, but obviously not.
a normal check chain, used properly, was all that was necessary with our general duties dogs, so who would even consider using the things.

with the recent rain the meadows have been a nightmare, especially at the various choke points between fields, so HB and his 'trainee' have been walking the streets rather than the fields, an added bonus of course is that it also wears his claws down.

LM continues to put on weight, between his first visit to the vet, and his second jab two weeks later, he put on over 2 kgs, and his ears are both now 'up', though he does spend a lot of time with them together, which looks as though he has just one huge ear on the top of his head.

as with all pups, he continues to be inquisitive but shows no signs of fear around new things, just looks at them and seems to file away the info for future reference..  even walking past a guy using a nail gun to build a fence did not faze him, so I'd say he is not going to be gun shy.

he is already developing the trait of needing to check just about every blade of grass, no doubt learnt from HB  but he is happy to trot along beside HB, and sometimes in front of him, on their walks.

he certainly does not exhibit the Husky trait of being a picky eater, bowl down, and it's like a hoover, bowl empty  he has, however, very quickly learnt not to go the couch potato's  bowl, she will see even HB off.

as I've said before, he is likely to be a big lad when he finishes growing, so the plan is this weekend for Charlie to walk HB while I show him how to train LM, but as with all plans, this will be subject to HB's compliance.
but Charlie needs to know what he is going to be dealing with in the future.

as for my cunning plan ?
so far it's not working, and Charlie is doing all the tasks related to LM as he said he would. 

[Browning 9mm]

[Browning 9mm]

the top picture shows what I understand is known as a 'half choke chain' wher the 'check' part is limited in drawing in the larger, pronged, section of the chain.
even with the covers on the prongs shown, this poses, in my opinion, a serious risk of injury to the dog.
th lower photo seems to show an adjustable collar, rather than a contracting one, but still to me risks injury to the dog's neck.

personally I would never even consider the use of either of these.
a simple plain check chain is the most that should be required, and I use the so called 'fur friendly' ones for HB, and for previous dogs, which have large links and do not wear the fur coat around the neck in the way that some of the smaller link ones do.

we never worked the dogs with both a check chain and collar, when exercising them we'd use the check chain, when patrolling the collar.
it is possible for the check chain to snag the collar, and instead of running free can choke the dog is the two are used together.

when off the lead HB wears his collar, but when walking around the roads he wears the check chain.

LM [Little Monster], needs to be re-classified as YM [Young Monster], he is certainly no longer 'little'.
he has also, I've noticed this weekend, developed an intense interest in seagulls / pigeons / blackbirds etc, whether in flight / on roofs / ground or TV aerials.
he will sit for ages outside watching them flying around, or sitting on surrounding roofs etc.

the good thing is that he is beginning to learn things, and commands are starting to supersede what he wants to do. he has, however, some periods where he is too interested in 'his' priorities, and will ignore commands, but he is after all only 14 weeks old, and this will be addressed in the future.

in due course I will get another phot of him, when he actually sits still for a few seconds 

score for him at the moment, adjusted for his age, would be around 8/10, on a good day 

[dannyboy]

I can not get the mental picture out of my mind of 'YM' sat on a surrounding roof! 

[Browning 9mm]

oh dear,

@dannyboy
he is not a bird-dog,
he sits on the ground watching the birds on the roofs etc.

perhaps I need to take more care in what I write, and how I phrase it 

[Browning 9mm]

some time since I made a post on here, as many will know other events have interfered with life, and updating this has had a low priority.

however, and around 7 months now, YM has lost the majority of his puppy fur, and is the same size as HB, though still not a bulky as he is.
so an update photo



still got the huge ears, but his coat is now more like a GSD, though no sign so far of the 'saddle' marking most have.

still he is a handsome young beast, and is proving to be trainable, so obviously does not have too many of the husky genes.

[Newportnobby]

still he is a handsome young beast

That he is, Alan and, unlike me, he looks very intelligent!

[Browning 9mm]

@Newportnobby ,
as we all know, looks can be deceiving, both in animals and humans 

perhaps it's the diet of Bonios that makes the difference 

[TrevL]

He's a beaut Alan, unlike Mick

[dannyboy]

perhaps it's the diet of Bonios that makes the difference 

Don't know why, but I have a picture of Mick ( @Newportnobby ) sucking on a Bonio stuck in my head! 

YM certainly has the looks of an intelligent dog. 

[Browning 9mm]

@dannyboy
I think you do Mick @Newportnobby  a dis-service.

when he has his teeth in I'm sure he can gnaw on a bonio 

[Newportnobby]

He's a beaut Alan, unlike Mick

But I do have a healthy coat (thinning on top, though)

[Adam1701D]

He is a fine looking lad and probably a lot better behaved than my Romanian yobboes!