Interesting Meetings

Misha and I have a routine every morning. After I have my morning perusal of the internet, shower, and get dressed we set off on our morning walk to the park and lake.
We are actually lucky in the location of the house because we have some very nice walks available.
With a little walk through the cul-de-sac, across the road and down a gravel road, we cross the bridge over the canal and start walking the path. At that point I can take Misha off lead and allow her to trot ahead or linger behind to have her investigations.

She loves the freedom. If she gets ahead of me she will check to see I'm not too far behind. Sometimes she will stop and wait, sometimes she will just slow her pace.

When she lags behind there will be a sudden pounding on the pavement as she comes flying up behind me. Misha will stop and nudge my hand with her nose to tell me she is there.

If for any reason I feel I need her by me, a dog is coming, people or children, a call and a hand to the pocket grabs her attention and she flies to my side.
We will carry on and arrive at the park. Once there it's for certain Misha will meet all sorts of two and four legged friends.

I can say without prejudice that Misha is a very stunning dog. Her breed is one you do not see a lot of nowadays. Many times she is mistaken for a Chow or a Husky. Although those breeds and Samoyed share the Spitz breed genes, that's as far as it goes. So, it's usually up to me to educate people about her breed.
A groomed Samoyed is a thing of beauty. The longer guard hair has silver tips that literally shine in the sun.
So when a person sees a medium sized, gleaming white dog trotting along with her fluffy tail held high and curved over her back, ears erect, bright intelligent eyes taking in everything, and a smiling face, they have to stop us.
Their first instinct is to bury their hands in her fur. Of course Misha absolutely adores the attention. And if the person is walking a dog so much the better. Misha sets about making friends with the dog.

Up until a few months ago she used to want to jump on all the dogs to get them to play. Now she has matured a bit in attitude she is prone to nose nudging them and asking them to play. Over the course of the past year she has discovered the ones who aren't interested in playing so after a cursory hello she will move on.

Eventually we get to the fields. This is a place of great fun. Misha will chase her ring or a ball, or play with other dogs. This is a great meeting place for the dogs and a lovely chance to socialize.

We met a 13 week old Eurasier puppy named Dakota in the fields 4 weeks ago. He is such a lovely little chap. His is a breed that has no standing with the Kennel Club at the moment. It's a breed that is only about 50 years old. It was created in Germany, and is a cross between a Chow and a Keeshond. They found they needed to add another breed into the mix to control the personality and to add more to the gene pool, so a Samoyed was crossed with it as well.
The result is a very striking animal.

Dakota is all puppy. The tumbling, biting, running, barking puppy.
I've been working with Dakota and his owner for the last 4 weeks. We've been doing some off lead training. It's best to teach a dog to recall as young as you can. I made the mistake not letting Misha off until she was almost 4 months old. I had a lot of training to do with her. I am now firmly of the opinion the younger you start them off lead the better you will be able to teach recall. Any future pup will be off lead as soon as possible!

He has been so funny the last few days in his actions. Dakota is reaching the gangly stage - all legs and head. His little legs just fly over the ground. He is off to investigate every thing he possibly can in the shortest time possible.
The one trait of Eurasiers is they are very timid of people who are not their family. All this time I've known him and treated him when he has come or stood, or given me downs, he barely will let me touch him. He will take treats from my hand, he will lick my fingers. But if I stretch that little bit to pet him, he is off like a rocket!

Dakota has shown himself to be a quick study and very obedient. But, he is a pest to poor Misha! :)
I do have to say that she has shown the most amazing tolerance with him. She allows him to tumble over her, pull her ears and tail. He nibbles at her legs and paws and tries to jump onto her back.
Occasionally she will tell him off and put him in his place, but it's all part of the learning process for him. Today she took off after him, letting him have what for! He ran away with his tail between his legs whimpering. Misha never even touched him.
I think she is gentle and will make a very good mother.

There are so many other friends we've made on our walks. They too will have their stories.