Wild Dingo

Many of Wild Dingo’s regular readers have come to know Juno to have a, um, “taste” for shoes.

“I have no idea what you are referring to, Mom. I found these shoes like this.”

“Ah Principessa! You’re the “naughty dog” for once! The shoe is on the other foot. Err,  rather its in your bellllaaaay! Tee-hee!”
“Stuff it big boy. Evidence is circumstantial. Nobody saw me do it. That is, if you ever want to see your favorite blankey again, then nobody saw me do it.”

Sigh.For all the shoes that Juno has eaten in our house (honestly, I lost count, but I’m down to 2 pairs of Danskos and I had 5 pairs of them), she really does have some redeeming qualities. And thank DOG for that.

You see, she actually is a rare Siberian. They don’t make Siberians like this one. She actually enjoys training. I swear to Dogs! You’ll have to just see for yourself!

THE FIRST SIBERADOR RETRIEVER

Here she is learning to retrieve! Yes, you read it here first: a Siberian Husky who retrieves! The truth is, Juno actually learned to pick up the dumbbell faster than the dumbbell himself, err, I mean the GS/FMD working dog himself, Loki. She put her mouth around it the first chance she saw it and never stopped learning to take it further. Again, I can’t tell you how hard it is to do a true retrieve with a dog. And to do it with a Siberian, well, it just makes me verklempt!  Here she is first learning to pick up the dumbbell:

Did you see her wagging her tail? She loves this stuff! And unlike Loki when he first learned to bring me an object he’d throw the object at me, Juno instinctively placed it in my hands, gently. One time, she even kissed me before her reward! She must have a bit of Labrador in her. Moosh would have loved her!

And here she is stepping up her game in her retrieve work outside. She starts to pick it up off the ground and bring it to me. Plus, she actually manages to walk away from me to get the item and bring it back to me. A true retrieve!

And finally, here is Juno doing some more off-leash heeling work. You can see the Siberian come out in her here when she decides to offer up other behaviors.  She’s so playful about it, it’s hard not to giggle along and reward her for it!

Hmmm… I wonder if I can get her to retrieve my Danskos? What do you think Internet? Should I be so bold to teach her to put my shoes in her mouth? Or do you think she’s already mastered that part?