lyra

It's Lyra's first birthday today! Here's a short little timeline: Here she is at 7 weeks, when we first got her home And at 1 year Still a lap dog, even at 50+ lbs.

Can't we all just get along? The kittens are getting big! Great Sand Bay in Eagle Harbor, MI Tethered to the log Playing fetch. Fellow Midwesterners - gotta love the shorts/sweatshirt combination. I love this photo Fast puppy

Honestly, we gave Lyra sedatives for the two weeks following her spay. I joked about it with the vet, because Lyra was soooo hyper at that point, but the vet thought it was the best way to ensure she remained calm so her stitches wouldn't pull, so she wrote us a prescription.

Banshee: [ATTACH]8812.IPB[/ATTACH] Darwin: [ATTACH]8813.IPB[/ATTACH] Both kittens were (unfortunately) from an unwanted litter one of my coworker's cats had. They're still young at about 5 weeks old. Lyra loves them. [ATTACH]8814.IPB[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]8815.IPB[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]8816.IPB[/ATTACH]

Lyra has only recently been allowed anywhere but the living room and kitchen. We have a really open apartment, so we use a baby gate to keep her in one area. We now let her in the living room, kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom as long as we're there to supervise. We never let her in the office, though, as that's the cats' domain. When we're not home she's in her crate. And regarding crates - try to think of it from a dog's perspective. A crate becomes a safe haven typically, as long as it's been introduced properly. Lyra now reliably puts herself to bed at night in her crate.

Just thought I'd chime in that humping isn't always necessarily about dominance. Sometimes it can simply be about releasing pent up energy. Lyra acts submissively towards Bauer, her husky BFF, by licking him in the mouth, and two seconds later she humps him. She just gets sooo excited during their play that she tries to direct it somewhere. Depends on your dog.

Congrats on the pup! We live about 5 hours away from Lyra's breeder, and the trip after we got her took about 8 hours from all the stops we made. I definitely second having another person ride with you in the backseat with the puppy. It makes it a lot easier and you can switch off drivers if necessary. We stopped with Lyra about every 30 minutes when she was awake and did not have any accidents in the car. Some dogs do get car sick, but it really depends on the dog. Lyra has never experienced motion sickness. She was really great on the ride home - we brought a few toys, a leash, and a water bowl with us. She alternated between sleeping and having tons of puppy energy. With a little bit of planning, your trip home should be fine!

Looks like a Mal/Husky cross to me - almost too heavy boned to be pure Sibe? I don't see any Akita in her. Gorgeous dog.

I also say it depends on the dog. Huskies tend to love other dogs, but from personal experience, we lucked out with one that doesn't do well with puppies. When Lyra was around 4 months old we jumped the gun and decided to get another husky puppy. It was just way too soon. She got really tense around him, was constantly growling at him and eventually pinned him to the ground and snapped at him. After a few days of that we decided it would be best for both us and the animals if he went back to his breeder. It was an incredibly stressful ordeal. Now that she's older she does play better with small dogs, but it's still really rough. She has always done really well with larger dogs, even when she was itsy bitsy. She'd ignore animals her own size and pick on the big ones. Hopefully others will have more positive experiences for you. I think Lyra is more the exception than the general rule. I guess there aren't any guarantees as to whether a dog will take to other dogs. (I should add that Lyra was well socialized as a pup, but it really didn't matter when it came to other puppies/small dogs. She simply doesn't really like them.)

This happens about a million times a day: Snuggling on the couch. Webster has to be involved in everything, so he joins the fray. Lyra then tries to eat Webster. Note Aaron's concern. Lyra gets told off, and Webster looks mighty pleased with himself. Webster successfully pushed Lyra out of her spot. But then Lyra decides using the cat as a pillow is more useful than eating him. So all is peaceful once again. For about 10 minutes.

I hope it works out for you and Embry, Jennet. We have a similar one for Lyra, but we don't use the caps. She really is a completely different dog now on the leash, both on and off her prong collar. It's a lot easier to focus her attention on us. I still think it's one of the best collars we invested in.

I honestly would scrap the newspapers/puppy pads and simply take her outside every 30 minutes to an hour, depending on her needs. You'll also want to take her out after playtime and when she wakes up. Praise and treat like crazy when she goes outside. If you catch her going inside, simply pick her up (even if it's mid-stream or mid-poop), say OUTSIDE in a firm voice, and take her out. Wait for a few minutes, and hopefully she'll finish outside. We also live on the second floor of an apartment building, and when we first got Lyra, we were outside constantly. She hasn't had an accident since she was about 4.5 months old... knock on wood.

I would also suggest consulting a professional if it seems to be getting out of hand. One thing you could try in the meantime, if you haven't already, is NILIF (Nothing in life is free) training. It sounds like you're already doing that with her food by making her sit and wait for it. The same principle applies to toys. Make her do something for you before you give her anything. When Lyra occasionally gets a little too uppity during playtime (sometimes it's almost like she demands to be played with and can get a little rough), we proceed to take away all of her toys and ignore her for a while.

Disclaimer: This is mostly in fun and a joke, but I'd be interested to see if someone has actually tried it! I read somewhere (I think it was in Siberian Huskies for Dummies?) that if a male owner is having dominance issues with his dog and he has a private backyard, he should follow the dog around outside, and every time the dog marks something, so does the owner. The trick is to make sure you outlast the dog peeing! Probably just a myth.

We've used Kongs with Lyra since she was a puppy. At first it took her a couple of days to "figure" them out, but now she LOOOOVES them. We have a normal, small-sized Kong for her, and anytime she sees it she automatically runs to her kennel because that's normally where we give it to her. We usually just fill it up with some peanut butter. We also have a Kong Wobbler for her, which dispenses treats/food if she knocks it over correctly. This also took her a while to figure out, but now we use it to give her part of her breakfast. She's pretty good at getting the food out. I'd say that at the end of the day, it does depend on the dog. Maybe you could try some different stuffers? Peanut butter, cheese, apples, etc?