oh to be a little black dog

@dazedpossum's dog blog Roka Aguara "Howl" the Mudi, born 10/18/22

[dazedpossum]

i love how his ears are a bit too big for his face right now

[mudihowl]

teef......

[mudihowl]

nearly forgot to post more pics of Howl in the snow! my worked opened/closed early for a couple of days, which gave us plenty of time to go out and enjoy it.

[mudihowl]

we got snowed and he loves it so much that i can't get a picture of him in it because he won't stop moving 🙃

[dazedpossum]

practicing "leave it"- his self control has gotten very strong, and i am so proud of him! immediately after this he did a 3-minute (or so) long leave it, even while i did other tasks/had my back turned. more impressive, but not very interesting to watch 😅

[dazedpossum]

buck teeth 🤓

[dazedpossum]

Jan 24th ➡️ Feb 14th

where did my little bean go 😭

[dazedpossum]

coworker gifted us a carseat that he wasn't using, so now little man has a special comfy spot in the car (it seatbelts in and has an attached tether!! exactly what i was wanting)

[dazedpossum]

he got even leggier. he's like 85% leg at this point

[dazedpossum]

big wet eyes (yearning for chicken salad)

[dazedpossum]

[dazedpossum]

Howl tried lure coursing today! he enjoyed it and was very upset when the lure stopped, lol.

[dazedpossum]

I haven't had the time/energy to do a full write up on Howl recently, so here's just a photo dump (ft. Cedar)

[dazedpossum]

[his-majesti]

did you know digging is a mudi trait? the AKC website even lists it

[dazedpossum]

week 2 with Howl!

this has been such a whirlwind of a week i am not sure where to even start hahaha. been back to work for a week now, he started off screaming the entire time he was in his crate in the office but has done a great job learning quickly and is now just whining a bit. we've figured out a very nice routine/rhythm, and it's helping a lot. he's started playing tug with his leash constantly, wants to dig every chance he gets, and picks up every stick, leaf and piece of garbage he sees. today while at the beach without me, he took off after some birds and would not recall off of them-- he's also not even 4 months old, so i am very much not concerned in the long term. we will just need to work on stimulation spikes & ignoring them (specifically with birds, but in general too-- I've noticed this in regards to him interacting with our cats too. he gets super super excited and gets the zoomies-- doesn't chase per se, but will run around/past them in an attempt to initiate play). he's super solid on sit, okay on down, surprisingly good on wait, and his leash manners are getting better every day. he's gotten great at settling and just existing if it's just him and I, but the moment anyone else is around us he's antsy and hyper-- Roxy will not listen to me in saying she needs to stop initiating interaction with him every single time she sees him/he approaches her, and Avis is awful at correcting him (will just let him misbehave, including jumping all over them). he's gone from being somewhat fearful/very unsure about big dogs to "egging them on" (sam's words not mine), lmao. he's in love with my boss's dog, Carlos (the English lab in pic 2). i know i personally need to be more consistent on corrections, need to not let myself make excuses to myself ("im tired of redirecting him, it's fine if i don't correct this one time"). i also need to listen to his tells when he needs to go outside to go potty; ive been catching them just a tad late mostly because i am awful at pausing tasks (i.e. i will tell myself "i can complete this task and then take him out" when i should be pausing to take him out, not putting it off). i am very ready to be able to take him more places (namely the off leash park our friend group frequents).

[dazedpossum]

Days 5 & 6 with Howl

i am back to work tomorrow and actually not looking forward to it. i just want to be home with my boy 🥺 but it's fine, he gets to come with me. i just know that he's going to fucking scream when i leave the back room though. not psyched about that.

we had a nice chill couple of days, we've settled into a nice routine. Howl consistently wakes up at 6am regardless of when we go to bed. we went to a hardware store yesterday and he was so chill about all the noises! also went on a big walk, he saw ducks for the second time and wanted to chase them sooooo bad. we might look into barn hunt, his prey drive seems to be fairly high. (he's also consistently been adamantly sniffing around areas with signs of rodents.) today we did a walk with a strange dog, a eurasier named Cinder (sp?). he was great when Cinder was in front, but kept stopping while he was behind us. his manners needed a "level up" situation though, so it was perfect. we also sat in a coffeeshop, and then on a busy street for awhile today. he's so resilient; everything that scares him at first seems to excite him instead the 2nd-3rd time.

big big problem we've been having/working on it him putting his teeth on things he shouldn't-- mostly his leash. he desperately wants to play tug with it, and doesn't give a shit if i try to replace it with a toy he's allowed to tug with. i have had to resort to physically removing the leash from his mouth multiple times now, and once even gave up and carried him. he also wants to sniff/pick up/chew on/eat anything and everything on the ground that even begins to interest him: leaves, twigs, lichen, pinecones, rocks. i have been desperately trying to teach "leave it", but he gives up on getting the treat/toy i am holding sooo quick that it's nearly impossible.

so far he knows sit and down with great success. we're still working on "eyes" (look at me). he's doing decent on stay/wait, but it heavily depends on context. he waits very well when coming in after potty breaks, he stays decently for a few steps when i have a treat, but he is a monster during meal time. well, he happily enters his crate and sits, but if I try asking him to sit-stay while he's on the leash attached to our coffee table so I can take him off of it (so he can go to his crate), he has a very hard time.

taking him to work tomorrow will be a rude awakening in regards to crate training, I just know it 🙃

[dazedpossum]

day 4 with Howl :~)

mostly all sleeping pics today lol. we had a pretty fruitful day, went to Lowe's and did a lot of "Wow That Was Weird Huh! Anyways" type socialization. spent a lot of the day doing very targeted training and socializing: bikes, kids, basketballs (VERY strange), all flavors of people, walking manners, "leave it", settling in car kennel, "wait", reenforcing "sit", small introduction to "down". i am finding that he's already generalizing incredibly well; i did next to zero work with him in his house crates today (though it was my intention), but just now when going to bed he offered to go into his bedroom crate before I even asked! and settled immediately! and didn't make a single peep or try to bolt when I went to close the door or put his blanket down. he just keeps impressing me. i swear, even though i know i am putting loads of work into him, it doesn't even feel like it because of how absolutely excellent he is. (i can hear him snoring right now oh my god he's so cute okay anyways) tomorrow we NEED to work on confidence in being crated alone with me out of eyeshot, and quite a bit more on "leave it". he loves picking up trash and just holding it in his mouth 🙃 or chewing on it 🙃🙃 or chewing on anything and everything he can find 🙃🙃🙃 but if those are the only problems im having, we are in phenomenal shape.