Dogs.....

Guten Tag!

I have a song stuck in my head....its called "Dogs". It is a preschool song, stuck in my head because I was substitute teaching in the developmental preschool all last week. Let's just say after the same song, "Dogs" is picked 3 days in a row, it will be stuck in your head. It also reminded me that I have been meaning to write a post about dog culture in Germany.

Dogs in Germany are a beloved animal and treated with a lot of love and respect. Much more than in the United States, in my opinion. There are some animal shelters, but most dogs in Germany are purchased from breeders. The breeders are very picky about who buys their puppies and interview all potential owners and their family members. Most Germans do not spay or neuter their dogs and this can be a challenge when everyone walks their dogs off leash.

Did I mention, everyone walks their dogs off leash here (at least in the farm/vineyard areas). In fact, if your dog is on a leash it usually means there is an issue for example, they might be in heat or have behavioral issues. Germans see a dog on a leash and avoid them. Sometimes, owners will put their dogs on leash to meet initially, but then take them off after they smell each other.

Because of all these cultural differences, it has been an interesting transition for Misty here in Germany. Misty has never walked off leash before. One, it is illegal in the United States (and in Germany, I have come to discover, but no one pays attention to that law here) and two, she has very poor attention and the nose of a hound. So, when I first started walking Misty in Germany, I got a lot of funny looks. Eventually, there was a group of women who I met and they said I could walk with them and Misty would learn from their dogs how to walk off leash. After months of daily walks and lots of tasty treats, Misty now walks off leash with great success.

Another issue we had with attempting to walk Misty off-leash, was how she approached dogs to meet them. Misty would see another dog and take off running full speed into the dog, which is a very agreesive approach and did not help her make any friends. Eventually she figured out that she needed to slow down, and let the other dog approach at the same pace as her. In fact, now she doesn't go up to all the dogs and knows which ones she does not get along with and avoids them.

So now Misty is walking off-leash, knows who her friends are, and can introduce herself appropriately to other dogs and people. Woohoo, progress! But, there are still bumps in the road for Misty here. Since Misty is a rescue dog, she has some issues. One of those issues is with farm animals and, unfortunately, we live in farm country. It wasn't a big issue over the winter because the animals were quiet or tucked away where Misty could not see them. Now that Spring is here, she can see them and hear them, and they bother her. The two types of animals we see most often are sheep and horses. Misty once ran away from me to try and get to the sheep and now I have to distract her with treats and sometimes, put her on the leash for the short part of the walk by the sheep. She has mostly gotten over her issues with the sheep and will listen to me if she sees them.

The bigger issue is with the horses. There is one horse farm near our house which we pass daily. She can see the horses across the stream and sometimes barks at them. They also ride the horses by our house sometimes and Misty gets very agressive and barks incessently. She shakes and just cannot get over the fact that the horse is next to our house. I don't know why, and I cannot stop her barking when she starts. The cats hate it too and will come and attack her to try and stop the barking. Needless to say, it disrupts the calm, quiet house we have.

The horses also recently moved to a field across from our house. Misty can see the horses all day long and she can hear them too. Oh boy, has this been a fun issue to deal with. I have to cover the windows in the room where she stays during the day when we are not home and block the bottom of the gate by the door so she cannot crawl under. We are hopeful that the horses are being temporarily lodged by our house, so that Misty can not be a barking nuisance every time she sees them. Maybe someday she will get over it, only time will tell.

I hope you are all enjoying the Spring weather. It has been beautiful here with all the green leaves popping and flowers blooming. The vines are starting to get a few leaves too which is fun to see! I got my first sunburn of the season this weekend at a wine fest (in my defense, I have a head cold and Mike was responsible for me thinking straight and forgot to remind me. In his defense he says, "You always put on sunscreen!" haha).

I am working 3 jobs right now, with only one actually paying me, so it has been very busy. There are changes for my job coming up this summer and they are exciting, but I will leave that for a post later this week. :)

Until then, have a wonderful week!

~ Katie and Mike