back and bonded.

so osman and i have returned from a week-long trip to visit my sister, niece, and brother-in-law in california. while we were gone, the puppies spent a few days with my family and then a few days at a kennel in greensboro called Camp Bow-Wow (look out for an upcoming guest post by my mom about her time with the dogs). i missed them so much, but knowing they had each other was very comforting.

osman and me having a lovely time at venice beach:

after a grueling day of travel and traffic, we made it back to carrboro with the dogs in tow. much to my surprise, i really think that the week away from us was good for the dogs. lady finally seems to fully accept sinka! they got along well from the start, but getting used to having sinka around permanently has definitely been a transition for lady. the good news is that i think the transition period is coming to an end–the girls seem to have really bonded with each other while we were away. they act fully comfortable, playful, and loving with one another. they are adorable puppy sisters!

i was also worried that we would have a lot of ground to make up training-wise after a week away from them (my family is much more lax with the dogs than osman and i). however, this was totally not the case. both dogs seem to have really gotten into the pack mentality. this is most noticeable when i take the girls for a walk by myself. when i do this, i use the (amazing) double leash. osman doesn’t like to use it when he’s just taking them out to pee, but for our daily long walks, it’s been an excellent thing to have. it’s essentially a four foot nylon leash with two short extensions attached by a rotating swivel doohickey. see below:

(note sinka peeing)

the double leash is great for several reasons:

1. it lets me control both dogs with one hand.
2. since the dogs are connected to each other as well as to me, it strongly emphasizes the pack mentality.
3. because the dogs are connected, lady helps pull sinka along when she’s dragging, so i’m not doing all the work by myself.
4. as the above pictures demonstrate, the dogs have plenty of space to do their own thing when they need to. the leash allows an adjustable 4-8 feet between them.
5. as the below pictures demonstrate, the double leash is also great for keeping the dogs close while walking (which is really important when we’re crossing a busy street or walking somewhere crowded).

they are doing so well! they have both learned that they need to walk beside me and osman rather than in front of us. whenever either of the dogs (but usually sinka) pulls to get in front or pulls in the direction of a squirrel, we correct her briefly, but sternly. the most important part of this is to give the dog some sort of warning before she has misbehaved or pulled. the earlier you let them know that chasing after a bird or running across the street to sniff another dog is not an option, the more easily they will let the inclination go entirely. keeping them in line during walks translates to how they behave in the house. because lady and sinka understand that they are the beta to our alpha, they are much more willing to listen to us, obey commands, and behave well in general. we just have to do our part by making it clear that we are the pack leaders and they are not. so far so good.

lades has even started sharing her cool spot on the tile with sink. cuties.

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