Saved by the amazing Karen O’Connor, this poor little girl had
experienced a very sad life on a puppy farm in Ireland. We will never know how much she suffered, how
many babies she loved and lost, we just know that she did and as a result, she
was scared, very distrustful of humans and needed our help.
We became involved in her life courtesy of our role as
Fosterers for Siberian Husky Club of Great Britain (SHCGB). We had agreed to help this poor little girl
prepare for family life. A life where
she would learn to love and trust humans….
Our experience with Kobi had prepared us for the worst. I expected a petrified little girl. The reality was that although she was
obviously unsure of humans, I did not sense the fear that I had when I met
Kobi (Copper) for the first time. She was filthy and smelled terribly, but was curious
of all that was around her…
The boys all accepted her very quickly, she was not a threat to them and they trust me if I tell them it is okay…. Krofti was the most hesitant, but he soon accepted the new addition, after letting her know a few rules!
The boys all accepted her very quickly, she was not a threat to them and they trust me if I tell them it is okay…. Krofti was the most hesitant, but he soon accepted the new addition, after letting her know a few rules!
We renamed this lady husky “Lara”, for several reasons. She did not know her name was Kenzie and we
wanted to give her a name that did not begin with the letter “K”. That is reserved for permanent members of the
Huskies Running/ “K” Pack team. Lara would
only be living with us until she was ready to live a normal life. We also wanted her to be a companion for
Krofti when I was out running very long distances with the two brothers, thus
the reason why we opted for Lara - “Lara Kroft”…. ;-)
I have never lived with a lady husky and was looking forward
to the opportunity to learn how different boy and lady huskies are….
After one month, I can confidently state, boy huskies are
far more simple and straightforward than lady huskies. As long as you meet their basic needs, all
will be well. Lady huskies on the other
hand require a little bit more, ermmm “attention”..?? I should
perhaps add at this point that I do have nearly 20 years of living with boy
huskies….
The first week of Lara living with us was all about trying
to get to know her, well that and hiding all our valuable possessions. Anything not hidden or secured would
potentially end up in a muddy hole in the back garden. Those were the lucky ones, some other items
ended up in dozens of little pieces, beyond repair.
We had to leave a collar on Lara, to allow us to be able to “catch”
her when we went walking. She would run
away from us and only when cornered could be actually attach a lead to her
collar. Walking her was very stressful
as she walked with belly to the floor, spinning around on a regular basis. It was obvious that she had never been
walked. Cars scared her, people scared
her, in fact almost everything scared her.
However, within only few days she started to follow and copy the two
brothers. She developed a “crush” on
Kroi, and Kez developed a crush on her.
He was fascinated by her and for the first time in his life, he was influenced
by another female (honestly, I was not too upset, well perhaps just a little
but I soon got over it…)
Lara was soon following Kroi everywhere, much to Kez’s
disbelief. She followed Kroi as he tried
to hide behind me. At only 17 months, I
guess he is not yet ready for female attention…
Kez got grumpy, Kroi got upset and Krofti had to step in and make a few
points. Points well made, Lara then
changed her mind and decided that Kez was the boy to chase. Kez meanwhile had decided that he was not
interested in ladies after all and would prefer to be friends with his brother….
The complicated love lives of huskies, thankfully it soon
settled - Kroi decided that playing with girls was actually good fun and then
Kez decided that it was too – threesome playing around the house has now become
a regular feature of daily life…
One thing that I have been very aware of is the similarities
in behaviour between Kobi and Lara, the extreme reactions to certain stimuli
and the “shut down” mode when a situation is too stressful to deal with. The one noticeable difference is how quickly
Lara overcomes her fears, the most obvious one being the wearing of a harness.
The first time I put a harness on her body, she dashed out
to the garden and threw herself to the ground, refusing to move. Even when I approached her, which usually
sent her scampering for cover she did not move.
She completely froze and would not even flinch when I nudged her. It was a horrible experience and I felt
physically sick as I thought of what she had probably endured during her life
on the puppy farm.
I quickly removed the harness and she returned to “normal”,
bolting for safety as far from me as possible.
Several days later, once I felt that she was beginning to
trust me, I tried again. It was important
that she become comfortable wearing a harness as when I was running with her
she was pulling (as huskies do) and I did not want her straining her neck. This time she resisted, but was happy to take
food from me as I reassured her. She
happily ran around the house and from that point forth we have had no problems
at all when putting her harness on. If
fact it is easier to put a harness on her than all of our other boys! Interestingly, in my two decades of owning
Siberian Huskies the only huskies that have happily allowed me to put a harness
on them have been the ones with questionable “working attitude”. All the “workers” have run away from the
harness, but once on they are happy and enthusiastic…
Another time when Lara had a very extreme reaction was when
I was walking her with Krofti and she was being particularly stubborn and
flighty. It was late in the evening and
I had returned from a stressful day at work.
She struggled to negotiate the
numerous kissing gates and kept on barging into Krofti and being generally
quite unruly. She did not trust (or even
like me) and so discipline was not an option – she knew no rules and had yet to
learn respect and discipline. It was
late in the evening and I had returned from a stressful day at work. I could feel myself getting more and more frustrated
as I fought to remain calm. She spun
around, wrapped the lead around Krofti and I, nearly tripping me up. Just as I thought I could remain calm no more,
this poor little girl grabbed onto my left leg, holding on like a little
limpet. She had obviously sensed my
feelings and became fearful of what might happen. Needless to say, her actions were an instant
stress reliever and I was in tears as I held her and felt her relax and loosen
her grip around my leg. This incident
was also to prove to be a huge milestone in our relationship as she started
trusting me and became fascinated by everything that I did. Following me around the house like my shadow….
It was several weeks before we could bath Lara. She had to endure an emergency spaying
operation the day after we took responsibility for her life. Imminently due in season and living with
entire males was not a situation we could live with. It was horrible sending her to the vet as a
very scared little girl, knowing she would awaken in fear and in pain.
When I picked her up from the vet in the evening I was
advised she had reacted strongly to the surgery and the anaesthetic resulting in
a very sleepy and depressed dog, and to expect a very subdued dog for 48 hours….
Approximately 48 minutes later I realised that this was not
going to be the case. Back home with her
new friends she came alive again.
Bouncing around at 100 miles per hour, this was not a dog that let
something like surgery slow her down…..
She never looked back and it was with complete disbelief I would look at
her over the coming days and admire her phenomenal recovery.
Once her wound was healed, she had a bath. And what a difference, transformed from a
smelly dirty dog that made our hands and all our clothes smell, into a fluffy
beautifully smelling little girl that I just wanted to cuddle. However, it would be several weeks before she
was comfortable with cuddles….
Lara has been with us for less than one month and in that
time I have been amazed with her transformation. Whilst there are similarities between her
behaviour and what we experienced with Kobi, it is obvious that her issues are
very minor in comparison. Scared and
untrusting of humans, poorly socialised and badly treated by her previous “owner”,
I truly believe that over time this brave little girl will make 100% recovery
and will make a fabulous addition to a deserving family. Kobi had clearly suffered all of those points,
plus starvation and severe abuse.
Lara learned to feel comfortable using the dog door within
minutes. It took Kobi 6 months. Lara walked through a doorway where a human
stood within days of moving in. I was the
only person that Kobi trusted enough to do this in all the time we shared with
him. Lara ran up the stairs the first
day she arrived. Kobi never went upstairs
unless I walked with him, reassuring him on every step.
One thing I have noticed is that both dogs appear to show
gratitude, far more than the dogs we have raised since pups and have been “spoiled”
their entire lives…. Kobi was always
very vocal when he greeted me, his big smile and soft “whoo, whoo” every time I
returned home was a delight to hear. It
brought tears to my eyes on a regular basis and I miss his “whoo, whooing”
terribly.
This week I returned home and was greeted enthusiastically
by Lara and without any prompting, she “whoo, whooed” in delight at seeing
me. As you can imagine, the tears free flowed
and I reminded myself of why we are fostering Lara. Since that day I have trained Lara to “speak”
on command, taking advantage of her natural desire to do it.
All our dogs raised from pups are KC registered and so have “posh”
registration/ official names. Kobi was
not KC registered and therefore had no such name. I gave him the name “Olympic Spirit” for several
reasons and as I reminisced about them this week I realised that Lara had not
yet been bestowed another name.
She is not ours to keep, but there is no reason why she
cannot have a special name…
Therefore, this week I decided that “Kaliban’s Dream” would
be a very fitting name indeed. The only problem
is that I keep on calling her “LaLa” instead of “Lara”!!
For anyone that does not understand the significance…. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mec8GZkEpD4
