Wet Feet

Walking with Tilde on the beach is a wonderful thing.

Kenzo's Song

Sweethearts have songs. Me and Merete have one. And yes, me and Kenzo have one too. It usually is a song from when you first met, but theirs came later, first after Viva taught me how to chase sunsets and Kenzo showed me how to live from day to day.

My Dogs Are My Gurus

"They changed your life" my old friend said the other day. With "they" he meant the dogs. Kenzo, Viva, and Tilde.

He called me up to hear how I was doing. I hadn't spoken with him for a decade. I can imagine his surprise to find me on the other end of the phone, not doing business or developing a new tech gadget or application, storming through board-rooms with new ideas. Instead, he found me in a cabin in the middle of nowhere, self-employed, which allowed me to work from home, and I talked about the dogs a lot.

Tilde's Moment

It is just a moment. Tilde being Tilde. Tilde being silly Tilde.

Or is there more to it?

I want to get to know my dogs. I want to understand them as good as possible. Who are they? What defines their character. What makes Tilde, Tilde?

That Day To Day Stuff

"It's benign", the vet said over the phone, and the longest exhale in my life could start making its way to freedom. In fact, I had to call her back the next day to recite the whole report she gave me, as I couldn't remember a lot more of what she said, other than those three words.

Nine days of waiting, pondering, worrying, pacing, and some more worrying, it all came to an end in one exhale. Live from day to day, they teach us. Dogs that is. And didn't Kenzo gave me yet another lesson in that department when we returned from his surgery, when he tried to make a high-five. I am a lousy student of dog life-lessons.

Feeling Thankful

We return to the West-coast coming Friday. There is a lot I have to look forward to. Kenzo is fit enough. It will be Tilde's first visit. Viva will be there, waiting for us. And this time, also a first, we'll have our own little place to share.

I Am So Really Happy To Meet You

Tilde is so happy to meet people. Really happy. When I took her out to walk in a small and not too busy shopping street, her excitement went sky-high.

There were so many people to meet. And then they were on the left, and then they were on the right, it was hard for her to keep up, if she hadn't missed and disappointed somebody.

A Renewed Friendship

This photo was taken 4 years ago. Viva hadn't joined the family yet, and Kenzo was still an adolescent.

On it are our youngest grand-daughter, Lucia, only 1 year old, and her mother.

It made me happy Lucia was growing up with "a dog". I hoped, it would become a just as important and large part of her life, as it was for me, growing up with the dogs of my own childhood.

It was not allowed to last, it seemed.

Her parents, witnessing several incidents with other dogs, although not involving Lucia, became mistrustful of dogs in general. Including Kenzo. The blooming friendship between him and Lucia, was abruptly canceled.

You might not expect this, but I thought their newly found distrust wasn't a bad thing at all. Even if it meant I had to keep Kenzo - and later Viva - physically separated from them and Lucia, I had to give them their own time to learn and get to know how to let kids and dogs safely interact.

They asked me for guarantees, which I never gave. But I offered help and repeated what I always felt was best. Never leave them alone together, supervise each interaction, and teach (y)our child how to interact with dogs.

Time passed in a status-quo, until Viva, with her outgoing nature as a cuddle bear and her calmness, was the first to de-ice them. She was a great help in teaching Lucia that a dog is not a toy, but a living creature with its own personality.

It made me sad that Kenzo, unlike Viva, was still looked upon with distrust, as they thought he was dangerous, with all his barking and guarding. They never understood, he was merely protecting them too, as he did for the rest of his family. I never shared my sadness with them before now, as I realized they needed to find their own way.

Lucia in the mean time became fascinated of Kenzo and Viva. Both became equally important to her, and one of the main reasons why she enjoyed her visits. Even when she could only see Kenzo from a distance behind a baby-gate, or gaze in awe at him during a walk.

Slowly, step-by-step, Lucia's parents learned to appreciate Kenzo more, by small "incidents" like the next. I remember how Kenzo once sneaked up behind Lucia, when the baby-gate was left open by mistake. She felt someone was sniffing the back of her head, and when she turned around, stood nose to nose with Kenzo. She put both hands in front of her eyes - an inventive response to what we told her never to stare a dog directly in the face - and said "Hi Kenzo!". Kenzo licked her face, and settled down right in front of her. I could see how everybody exhaled, and Kenzo just earned a new installment to his "trust"-fund.

When Viva passed, they witnessed the unexpected impact it had on Lucia, now 5 years old, and realized what an important part in her young life, Kenzo and Viva already had become. I was grateful to see how they allowed Kenzo to step in, and support Lucia in her grief over Viva. Words were not spoken, but I knew this was the moment, Kenzo was granted the benefit of the doubt.

No need to tell you, it went very well, and a friendship was renewed in the blink of eye.

And so I leave you with this recent photo of Kenzo and Lucia playing.

It warms my heart, all our hearts, seeing those two finally together again. I say it with a huge sigh of relief too, that patience finally paid off and ensured all involved felt comfortable with the situation.

Lucia makes me proud when I see how she interacts with Kenzo. As we taught her, she waits for Kenzo to initiate contact and doesn't impose herself on him.

Most of all I am thrilled on Lucia's behalf, to experience the blessing of a dog's companionship while growing up, receiving unconditional love, learning empathy, responsibility, respect and understanding of animals.

Viva Sunday #2: Shark Bait

On a normal day, my wife would make herself an "ostemad" for breakfast, the Danish version of a cheese sandwich, with cheese on rye-bread. She would sit down, eat it together with a cup of coffee, and try to wake up. Both Kenzo and Viva would beg, as she occasionally would drop something "by accident". It is as uneventful as it sounds.

We also have a tornado version. When my wife wakes up to a busy schedule ahead, she hits the ground running right out of bed. While I am downstairs waiting with coffee, we can hear her dash down the stairs, already talking, and giving orders suggestions.

Viva immediately spots the upcoming opportunity and makes herself ready. I turn my chair, to ensure an unobstructed view of the spectacle to come, although I have seen it many times before, how Viva earned her nickname, the Shark.

A woman in full multitasking mode is an impressive sight. While holding the cheese sandwich in one hand, she uses her free hand to pick up bags, open cupboards, scramble with papers, you name it. In the mean time, her temper is rising, as I fall behind more and more and are unable to guess what she wants me to do next. Her arms join in on the talking, and start pointing the cheese sandwich in all kind of directions in a rapid pace.

Viva is following the movements of the cheese sandwich with every fiber in her body. Waiting for the moment in which it is being pointed in her direction. Or, when my wife bends over to reach something in a low cupboard and the sandwich is on eye height. Or, when she needs both hands and temporarily lays the sandwich down on the edge of the kitchen counter. Or, when ...

It just took a fraction of a second. Viva always wins. With two bruised fingers, my wife shouts, tramps angry on the floor, and just before I expect all hell to break loose this time, she sits down, exhales, and starts laughing.

Viva never let my wife start a day in stress.

That Guy With The German Shepherd

I guess every neighborhood has at least one. The talkative dog walker that you seem to run into whatever time of the day you go for a dog walk. Ours is like the local-dog-gazette and seems to know everybody that walks our trail, and I knew she would be happy to hear we just made some new friends.

"Really? Did you really met that guy with the German Shepherd?". Now she made me feel uncomfortable, and I stumbled: "Eh, yes. Why? Is that bad?".

There were some red flags. The guy didn't made a lot of effort to initiate a meet with Kenzo. And he did say his elderly German Shepherd girl could "protest", as he described it. I always walk away with red flags like that. And why I didn't do exactly that this time, I really don't know.

The GSD girl was a bit of a loner. She didn't seem very eager to meet us. She wasn't nervous or aggressive either. And as Kenzo didn't perform any calming signals - he just wanted to come closer - I thought there was not too much to worry about, and hoped we wouldn't regret following my feelings on this one.

It went very well. The GSD girl did interact a little with Kenzo, and like he said, "shouted" a few times at him. The guy seemed to be a little surprised too, the "shouting" didn't scare us away. But Kenzo loves that, and is used to that from home - with Viva. It just motivates him to do an even better peacock impression.

"You better be careful when you run into them. Many people had problems with that dog". I could imagine that, but it didn't necessarily meant the guy and his GSD were doing anything wrong. Still, I only met them once, who am I to know, and changed the subject to something else.

Occasionally we met the couple again, and when I didn't have Viva with me, we let them meet. With Viva around, we just nodded to each other or raised our hands as a hello. Kenzo was still always happy to meet her, tried to impress her and invite to play. But she always stayed reserved - she didn't even accept a treat from me - although she always had a smile on her face when we met again.

One day I was rushing home with Kenzo because I was late for work when we noticed them going on the far end of the trail, slightly off it, like they usually do. It was months ago we had seen them last, and I was in doubt what to do. I just waived, and felt bad I really didn't have time, and Kenzo and me picked up our pace again.

The GSD girl had noticed us as well and her head got higher while she saw us passing by in the distance. Just when we passed them at that 90-degree angle, where she realized we were not coming over, she decided to drop all her reservations and took a sprint towards us, as fast as her old legs could go.

She greeted Kenzo loud and jumped up as much as she could. Then she pushed her body against my legs and just stood there. She wanted a rub. Our first rub. It just took a minute and off she went again, back to daddy, who was still standing there with his jaw-bone dropped on the floor.

I always thought she was special. And now she made me feel special. The local-dog-gazette is not going to believe me.

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Keeping Viva Safe

We started off on the wrong foot on the beach. Within minutes we were surprised by no less than three off leash dogs.

One after the other they seem to come down from the sand dunes, although I never saw any owner they might have come from. Of course, Viva's stress levels skyrocketed as a result.

Viva and Kenzo were still leashed - from April 1 dogs should be leashed on the beaches - although we were looking for a quiet moment to enjoy some off leash play as well as the others, we are no saints either.

With the third dog, I had to drop the leash on Kenzo as he or she was very persistent in wanting to meet Viva, who thought that was not a good idea at all. Kenzo send him or her packing. Further down we finally found some more space, and we could enjoy some play and getting our feet wet.

Other dogs approached from the horizon, and in an attempt to keep Viva as calm as possible, I retreated with her to the sand dunes, while my wife played some more with Kenzo in the surf. We just sad there, and returned to the surf when the dogs had passed by.

Murphy must have traveled with us that day, as most dogs did make an attempt to run up to Viva, even from that long distance. Every time Kenzo followed them, made his point that Viva is off limits, and herded them back to the surf. Kenzo played with them without any problems, no hard feelings. One abducted his ball, and he didn't care. Yet as soon as they ran towards Viva, he drew a line in the sand.

One person looked surprised at Kenzo herding the next dog away. "Wow, he really protects her". I thought it was team work. But true, Kenzo's role in keeping Viva safe is so much more then what I could achieve by myself.

Don't Ignore Too Much Bad Behavior

May I jump up on you? Please?

This is a post inspired by - and you might like to read that instead - "You Cannot Punish Love".

If you are still here, I only want to share why it was an Aha!-moment article for us.

We have always been your average "responsible" dog family and learning Kenzo and Viva not to jump up on people was on our shortlist, among others.

It didn't totally work out. Actually it is quite easy to train, you just ignore the behavior and they stop jumping. It was working quite fine if I could have resisted those wagging tails and cute smiles when I come in the door. But I can't. I like it when they jump.

So I admit. Kenzo is a jumper. It is entirely my fault. I look forward to the ritual that is going to go down as soon as I open the door. I just love to have his paws on my shoulders and get my ear nibbled while he bursts my ear drums with loud barks.

Viva is not a jumper, but that is because of her back issues, but she sure bounces. I come down on my knees for her instead so she can make a tiny jump and she loves it too.

Luckily for me they first start jumping up on other people after they have already had a couple of earlier good meets with them, so they will not jump up on just anybody right away. But all our regular house guests know, they will probably jump. If they don't like it, they should just ignore it by turning away, I told my guests. I know, it is not my finest hour.

Other behaviors, like coming over for a kiss and a hug, while leaving fur and slime on my guests' clothes, I told them to just ignore those advances too if they didn't liked it. Some didn't care, and actually let them jump and had a blast with Kenzo & Viva like I do. Others just did the ignoring by turning away.

And then there were the middle-way people. Ignoring the behavior, but making sure they were giving love in some way to Kenzo & Viva, in an other way. Like giving them a belly-rub when they asked for it. In hindsight: they were the smart ones.

Kenzo in particular started to develop a non-relationship to the guests that were ignoring him. He even returned to some of the typical behavior we know when he meets people for the very first time: he became suspicious. And that made things worse, as now these guests started to feel he didn't liked them. And in fact, he didn't. Not anymore.

It always puzzled me why that happened, and what I could do about it. And that's when I read "You Cannot Punish Love". According to the article, jumping up is one of the genetically hardwired tools a dog uses to bond with us humans. My poor guests were not ignoring his behavior and thereby shaping it, they were refusing his love. And as a result, Kenzo loved them a little less, too. In the words of Prescot Breeden, the author:

"it is the product of an entire evolutionary lineage that survived through cooperation and the building of strong social bonds through reciprocity, trust, play and affection. Thus when a dog is being social with us, it is essential to reciprocate their play and affection."

Dogs are complex social beings like us. Probably my biggest mistake was to see it as just another training exercise, without acknowledging what the root cause is that makes them actually jump up in the first place. So it is back to the training of the jumps, and this time in a way to make sure they get the love they are asking for in another way. I imagine my guests now having to perform a mandatory belly-rub or tug-of-war game as soon as they entered the door. At least, if they want Kenzo & Viva to bond with them.

I think I never stop learning, dogs are truly fascinating.

Christmas Tree Confession

It was a while ago since Kenzo joined me at work in our Danish office. As I had no appointments that day, and only boring paper work to look forward to, I imagined it would be a perfect opportunity to bring Kenzo with me once again. We could take some breaks playing in the snow and add some fun to a day that otherwise had a very pale outlook.

The reception area of the office building was ornamented with a Christmas tree, positioned right by the entrance door in an attempt to add some seasonal inspiration to the armies of office workers passing through each day.

While wrestling with two computer bags over my shoulders and Kenzo's leash in one hand, I opened the front door. Two people approached, and in an empathic moment, I stood still and kept the door open for them, while we exchanged good morning hello's with a smile. Love that about Denmark, where people are so polite, and you even greet complete strangers in the mornings and afternoons. It gives such a good start of the day.

Continuing into the hall, the leash suddenly tensed. I looked back in surprise, as Kenzo usually just follows me, and what I saw next made my heart skip a beat. Kenzo stood by the Christmas tree, with one leg lifted, his sprinkler system already in the "on" position. I jerked the leash in some kind of automatic emergency response my brain fired into my right arm - sorry Kenzo - to interrupt the image that now is imprinted in my memory forever.

Nobody else was in the entrance hall, which softened the total embarrassment of the moment a little. I quickly dropped off Kenzo in our office and returned with some cleaning agents. My mind was working overtime. He never did that before. It was so easy to teach him as a pup that a Christmas tree in the house doesn't mean he just acquired an inside potty service. I was baffled.

When we went for our first walk, I kept Kenzo on my side that was opposite to the Christmas tree just in case. I knew that for a dog, no cleaning agent in the world could have covered up the odor, and it would have been a magnet to Kenzo despite my cleaning attempts. Two men were standing beside the Christmas tree, looking at two small puddles. That can't be, I thought, I just cleaned it.

"Some bastard just let his dog pee on the tree", one of the men said. "Really?", I replied cowardly, realizing that other office dogs had of course picked up the smell, and every male dog now passing by the tree, went on a mission to drop off their own business card. "You couldn't do that, could you?" the man said smiling to Kenzo. "Eh ... no ... nee", I stuttered. I felt a glow rushing up to my cheeks, something I hadn't felt since high-school. I am such a bad liar.

The man, still looking at Kenzo, concluded, "You are a good boy". We really had to move on now, as this was becoming too embarrassing, but that meant making a risky pass of the Christmas tree. This time with a full bladder. And the men would also see the letters G.U.I.L.T.Y. that someone must have painted on my back in the meanwhile. Taking a deep breath, a leap of faith, and three steps later, we made it passed the tree. Kenzo The Merciful didn't punish my dishonesty. "You are, you absolutely are, a good boy", I whispered to my partner in crime.

Leave Me Alone

Sometimes, not often, Viva puts up her "leave me alone" face. Maybe it was the hot temperatures during that particular day. Or maybe she just had a bad hair day.

It is difficult for me to leave it with that. A Facebook friend wrote, after seeing the photo: "She looks as though she knows a thing or two - I have read about her on your blog. Glad she has found her home. Dogs come to us for a reason - often to teach us something we didn't realise we need to learn... The eyes are the mirror of the soul - one of my favourite sayings."

Viva does know a thing or two and according to Stanley Coren, it is possible dogs do have a memory of things that happened in the past. And if eyes really are the mirror of the soul, it is not looking good in Viva's case. Was she dwelling in the past during these "leave me alone" moments? We will probably never know.

Whatever it is, Kenzo picks it up too. Viva means the world to Kenzo. He always looks after her and protects her. I saw him change after we took Viva in, now 3 years ago. Taking care of his big sister has become his number one priority. And when Viva has a "leave me alone" mood swing, Kenzo always charms her back to her happy self:

Kenzo making himself cute ... Viva ignores his attempts

Getting closer ... ignoring becomes difficult for Viva

Viva lunges ... "get away!"

Now Viva is standing up, maybe a play-bow?

Teasing by stealing her favorite squeaky toy?

That worked! Viva is playing.

I am investing a lot of time and effort in Viva's well-being, but I am not on top of the pyramid, with the responsibility to make everybody happy, healthy and fulfilled. Certain things I cannot fix or understand. Taking care of each other is team work. We all need each other, to be the best we can be.

A Week Under The Wings of a Guardian Angel

Soon after our Norway trip we unexpectedly found ourselves traveling to Holland and Germany again.

On such short notice we could only rent a tiny cabin in a very busy park with a lot of off-leash dogs. A perfect scenario to totally freak-out Viva, and I didn't want to find myself in a situation where I had to have her locked up in a car and a cabin for a week or more.

Unable to arrange something that would accommodate Viva's reactive needs, only me and Kenzo therefore left for the trip.

I thought that some serious one-on-one time would be excellent, and Kenzo would enjoy my undivided attention. At least in the evenings, during day time he would come with me to the office. Of course, that was not how events unfolded.

When we arrived at the busy park, the tiny cabins were almost build up against each other. Luckily we had the last one in a row giving us a forest view on the rear of the cabin. Our direct neighbor had two dogs that barked continuously. The paths between the cabins, campers and trailers were a myriad of excited kids and the occasional off leash dog - not allowed but nobody seemed to care about that.

Keeping an eye on the path at all times

Normally Kenzo would have marked the cabin as his territory and barked at anything approaching that I could have missed. In stead, he looked curious at his surroundings, kept a good eye on the two barkers next door - which even barked more because of that. In the late afternoon we went on a trip to the beach. While navigating through the park, dodging kid's toys and passing lunging dogs behind fences I was proud of Kenzo. He was on his best behavior, and ignored all the disturbances.

He bullied a couple of off-leash, "in your face", adolescent male dogs, that made a rude attempt for a greet, accompanied by the obligatory "my dog is friendly !" from an owner somewhere. Apart from these instant lessons in dog etiquette, he kept stiff on my side and ignored all the park could throw at him. How differently would it have turned out, I thought, if Viva would have been with us.

When we made it to the beach I started to worry. It seemed he didn't want to play fetch or swim. Which is very odd as he usually goes ballistic when we are on a beach. This time, he didn't seem to seek his high. When I sad down on the beach to look at some kite surfers and waiting for the sun to set, Kenzo laid down as well - picture on top - and kept his place. Again unusual. He didn't seemed depressed, or sick for that matter, at all.

I was puzzled. We done this before. He can handle new places. We just returned from Norway, where he seemed to find so much pleasure in exploring his new environment. Continuing our beach walk, while trying some fetch again, I noticed he did play when the ball was within approximately 5 meters from me. Any longer and I could get it myself. I went for a swim. Kenzo followed.

So those were the new rules. Kenzo, recognizing that the family not being with us was odd, decided to keep me under his wings. Keep an eye out, not to leave my side whatever the temptation, and make sure I was safe. He appointed himself as my guardian angel for the week. And he would keep on doing that until we got home again. Nothing I could do about it. When Kenzo decides - like a Hovawart -, he takes his own decisions in situations like this and is determinant as well. The Born Protector.

Stranded in Germany

Fate was not finished with Kenzo and me. Driving back home after a week in Holland, we stranded with car trouble in Germany - so much for the new Hovie Cruiser but that is another story.

Suddenly my newly self-appointed guardian angel was driving on my lap in a tow-truck with a strange driver next to us. Found himself in a car repair shop with loud noises, visited busy hotel lobbies and stayed in a hotel room with lots of sudden sounds on the hallway and adjacent rooms. Kenzo just got very busy.

I helped him as much as I could, "It's Ok", "Nice person coming". And when he is alert and vigilant, I better make sure to tell him that, or an unavoidable arrest would be carried out - fast and accurate.

So far, Kenzo hadn't barked the whole week. That's a first. Neither did he make an arrest. The "It's Ok" kept him re-assured we had everything under control. But it meant I had to be as alert and vigilant as Kenzo at all times. And that my friends, is wishful thinking.

I crashed together with Kenzo on the outside restaurant of the hotel. A nice couple came in and sat down on the table next to us. They had a Dachshund that barked a couple of times. We don't know of what. Kenzo remained balanced, sniffed a little from a distance, and ignored the Dachshund. We were having a conversation in German and I was so excited with this opportunity to brush off my German I got carried away.

The thing is, for Kenzo a waiter has always been a little like a mailman. They come straight at us, he barks, and they go away. At least he thinks. Who can resist such a reinforcer? I knew that of course, so the first times the waiter came at us, "It's Ok" had the expected effect. After a couple of times he accepted the waiter. Talking with the couple, I let my guard down. Kenzo barked, and came forward about 1 meter, although I had him leashed. The volume of the Hovawart bark silenced the whole restaurant and I noticed from the corner of my eye, another waitress with my appetizer's was standing behind me, now shaking and looking very worried. Kenzo seemed to have a proud smear on his face like he was saying: "There is one you missed dad!".

Doing my best impression of a responsible owner, I took Kenzo to our room and returned to the restaurant without him. Made a couple of jokes to the persons with the most worried faces, to diffuse the situation, and made an apology to the waitress - plus she got a huge tip, that instantly returned a big smile for the rest of the evening. The waitress took it good, "He takes good care of you". She was spot on, and described my week in a nutshell.

That was the only time he barked that week. Still amazingly well done. Especially for a Kenzo on high alert. For me it was a whole new experience to see Kenzo so focused on his task. It is kinda nice as well, to be appointed the center of the universe, by your dog. Albeit for a week. We closed the week off with a reunion coming home. It was heart-warming to see how Kenzo and Viva greeted each other with excited squeals and ear-nibbles, and first when they were done, they said hello to my wife and me.

I wonder how that would have made Kenzo feel of himself. Not wanting to give him human feelings and reasoning, I do think he must have been pretty proud of himself. Bringing dad home and reuniting the family. The first thing we did, was play some fetch, and indeed, the 5 meter barrier was broken.

A Perfect Moment

Start rubbing your eyes because .... this is Viva swimming in the ocean, not Kenzo:

When you have seen our video Postcard from Kijkduin, it seemed like Kenzo was having all the beach fun, rumping around with his pals.

See how Viva is taking the opportunity to pretend she has no issues with her back, and it is merely a matter of re-discovering the "on" switch for full-throttle:

What is it that makes a beach magic for a Hovie, or any dog for that matter? Between runs, Viva found ample opportunity to harass wrestle a little with Kenzo in the freezing cool water:

We played a lot of fetch with her fav toy. Kenzo wouldn't dare to swim for that toy, it's Viva's:

And we had breaks, so Viva wouldn't overdo it, and have a sore-back-hangover the next day - which we unfortunately couldn't prevent completely:

Usually we don't take Viva with us to the beach due to all the off leash dogs. But I have to rectify the postcard. As evenings were getting longer while at the same time it was still cold, the beach was almost empty just before sundown at 9:30 pm. And since Viva is starting to behave better around dogs, I worry less if she will only meet one or two.

So there I sat. With both my wet Hovies on the beach at sundown. Their joy is contagious. What a pair they make. It made me glad Viva could join Kenzo's beach trips. It made me even more glad she joined in the way she did. A perfect moment.

The Fearful Dog Therapist Strikes Again

Do you notice the little figure in the middle of the photo? It is Kenzo on the beach we visited in Holland. He is looking at a path that leads down from the sand dunes onto the beach. From this path his pal Joska the Viszla - and my dad - usually appear.

But they were late for the beach that day. Kenzo decided to sit down in front of the path and waited, in his best imitation of Hachikō. He sat down for 10 minutes, letting other dogs pass by, until they arrived.

They have not always been that happy to see each other. Joska is very competitive towards other males, but fearful of them at the same time. It is like his testosterone is pushing him to act in a way he doesn't feel confident about. When Joska and Kenzo first met two years ago, Joska was not amused and very nervous. He only allowed Kenzo to showcase a full display of every calming signal in the book.

Somehow, during some of those meetings in the past, Kenzo discovered Joska's soft spot. Joska and my dad love to play fetch above anything else. Even though Kenzo has a game of fetch low on his fav list, body-checking is still his uncontested number one, he recognized fetch as the key to forge a closer relationship with those two. And decided to favor the game's company over the game type.

At first Kenzo was calm. Trying to appear not interested, as not to annoy Joska. Nowadays he is a fully accepted member of the fetch team. It took Kenzo more than a year in the smallest steps possible to get there. Desensitization carried out in perfection.

To give you an idea of how they play today, in their own version of fetch, watch this short video:


Did you notice the mutual play bows - even my dad - and how they play with two balls in the game?

Watching the three of them greet when they reunite after a long period of living apart in different countries and see how they engage in their own private game is a joy. For Joska it is very special that he can bond with another male dog.

Kenzo does try to introduce the body-check into the game and he made a fine demo once. As soon as Joska was on his feet again he decided to avoid further demos, and give this new play concept some further thought.

Like before, Kenzo never ceases to amaze me how he can make any dog feel good. Even if it takes him more than a year to achieve it. But a year is a small prize to pay for obtaining a real friend, as I realized when I saw him sitting on the beach, waiting for his new BFF.

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Related post: The Small Fearful Dog Therapist

What can you do else than smile

I found myself in that vacuum right after the Christmas and New Year's events that we heard so much about. Even pork cracklings that turned out to be a very international thing after all, couldn't do much about that. As well as the thoughtful presents of our dinner guests, DVD's of "Marley & Me" and "Hachiko", in which I couldn't find a lot of happy endings. If you have seen them, you know what I mean.

Right after the New Year we hunkered down as a hurricane visited Northern Europe, which is very rare, leaving a trail of destruction, followed by floods due to the rain and the rising sea levels. Nobody was hurt and there was only material damage. But by now I was gasping after something upbeat.

When we went on our first dog walk after the hurricane I was looking at all the flooding and fallen trees, but Kenzo & Viva didn't let me dwell in those thoughts for too long. Where I see destruction, they see opportunity. Every flooded area was met with excitement to demonstrate the zoomies. Every fallen tree with jumping, hide-and-seek and some extra sniffing.

What can you do else than smile in the face of so much joy. Especially when you least expect it.

Viva observing Kenzo's Bambi impression

Zoomies!

Zoomie chase

Is it deep over there?

Howling Hovie Holiday Wishes

That's all you got ?!

We wish you a Merry Christmas and Howling Hovie Holidays! We hope you will have a couple of great days together with everybody and everything you hold dear.

As you can see on the picture, Kenzo & Viva are extremely disappointed as snow didn't visit for Christmas this year, apart from some pathetic snowflakes the other day.

We admit to envy all the beautiful white imagery displayed over at Lilly and Ginko in Boulder and Bajnok and Derria in Norway. They are so lucky with all that snow.

But Kenzo & Viva will enjoy their special holiday treat ... pork skin. Yummy.

www.flaeskesteg.dk

Danmark is one of the few places in the world where pork skin - "Flæskesteg" - is actually on the human menu as well. We are making a traditional Danish Christmas dinner for our family so there will be plenty of pork skin around.

As an expat, I had to try it. It actually tastes alright, but my Dutch mind cannot come around eating pork skin. There will be plenty falling off my plate for Kenzo & Viva. They love it.

On one of our holiday trips back to Holland, I promised to prepare it for my family. The Dutch butcher was horrified when I ordered a piece of pork with the skin still attached and telling him what I needed it for didn't help calming him down. He could only prepare it when a new shipment arrived, and after returning to pick it up, the entire staff was signaling each other: "That's him!". My Dutch family took it well, by the way.

So taking the menu and the absence of snow into account, me, Kenzo & Viva will launch yet another charming offensive for the family to migrate more up North. We want snow to go with our pork skin.

Happy Holidays!

Waiting for The Happy Days

Where is that tracking dude? We are tired of waiting

During some crazy weeks for the business in which we worked like madmen on a bid for three huge "call for tenders", life had to wait.

Walks were just sufficient. No tracking. No training.

Kenzo's activities suffered the most. I canceled his mental test in our show or neuter project, canceled ring-training, canceled mid-week obedience classes, canceled the tracking exam.

Viva's vet visits, the holiest of the holiest, were of course uphold. She is in thriving health, and the latest Cushing's test with blood work came back just fine. I even got her groomed, but that is a different story.

Kenzo & Viva seemed to quickly adapt to the new routine. Spending their time waiting for the happy days to return. I worked a lot from home, conveniently keeping my own guilt feelings at bay. Being the active dogs they are, I expected a lot more protests and new "behaviors". Apart from occasionally stealing some laundry and taking their self-invented guarding duties a little more serious than usual, nothing out-of-the-ordinary happened.

No need to say that the first thing we did today - now all work was "finished" - was to go out for some well-deserved tracking. After Kenzo finished jumping up on me and slobbering my face, he did his best imitation of a vacuum cleaner, while Viva provided a background barking choir, in anticipation of her turn to track. They have just been waiting. Politely and patiently.

Happy days have returned. And while I write you this short note on what we have been up to, Kenzo & Viva are laying at my feet, in a deep and fulfilling sleep from a couple of hours of nose work. Just how we like it. And how it should must be.

I know I'll have to do this smarter next time. On top of all I forgot, when you bid on a "call for tender", you can occasionally win. And that's what happened, we won one already. 

A decade ago I spent a lot of time on books and seminars about balancing work and life and postponed getting a dog. How ironical. All those lessons were in vain and I needed a dog to get the message across. Now I only have to act upon that.