#aeron talks

[astraeaaeron]

I'm bored , any request??? .3.

[glqwberries]

To me, it's odd how alters can have pre-alter memories. I think of that frequently, and I've really noticed that well... my memories aren't great, which if anyone wanted to know them they could probably go through my name tag.. but.. it's just odd.

[kita-the-wolfdog]

Hey! I wanted to ask if there is anything you wish you knew sooner with getting Kita. I’m getting a puppy from my brother she’s only a month old so far so I have a month to go before taking her home. The mom is at least mid level wolf. I absolutely adore her and how almost human like her personality is and I’ve been around her a ton. Both parents are amazing dogs and the dad is a malemute German Shepherd mix. Any toy or enrichment ideas? Thank you in advance!

I’m not sure how much research you’ve done on wolfdogs, so forgive me if I say anything you already know.

Honestly I really lucked out when I got Kita, so I haven’t had a ton of behavioral issues with her. However as they grow up they definitely go through personality changes, just like a human child. And just like human children, they’ll test boundaries and sometimes it seems like they annoy you on purpose but if you give it a month they’ll go back to being as well behaved as they normally are.

You won’t find a toy that the dog won’t be able to destroy, so I wouldn’t waste money on expensive things. At least until she learns not to tear everything up. Kita is perfectly happy with a plastic bottle or cardboard box just as much as a $10 dog toy. There are lots of ways to make puzzle toys for fairly cheap, if you look online. Even just drilling some holes in a bottle and filling it with food can work, or using some tennis balls and a muffin tin. Also, save the squeakers if you can and put them inside homemade toys to make it more interesting. I once filled a doubled-up sock with plastic shopping bags and some squeakers and Kita loved it.

The concept of personal space doesn’t exist with these dogs. If they’re comfortable with you, they’ll usually climb all over you and do their best to lick inside your ears, mouth, and everything else.

Obviously they’re incredibly smart and love to figure things out, however they don’t really cooperate just for the sake of cooperation. If the reward isn’t worth it in her mind, she probably won’t listen. I’ve made jerky treats out of various meat (salmon, beef, chicken, etc) and that mostly does the trick.

And as I’m sure you know, socialize her as early as possible to everything you can. It’s not impossible to fix later on, but the older the dog is the harder it’s going to be. You can even use a checklist for socializing service dogs to get ideas for miscellaneous things you may overlook.

Let me know if you have other questions! And I’d love to see a picture of your girl!

[kita-the-wolfdog]

I’m trying out some paw print art with the girls. Kita really wanted to step in the same spots and Dany just tried to step around her canvas 😆

While trying to coax Kita onto the canvas she decided that my nice, clean jeans would make better art

[kita-the-wolfdog]

I’ve discovered that Dany doesn’t like raw vegetables but she loves them if they’re cooked.

And Kita just doesn’t like most of them either way.

[kita-the-wolfdog]

So it looks like I’ll have two dogs for an indefinite amount of time. My friend’s dad is really trying to push for euthanisation of Dany, so my friend asked if I can foster her for like a year. He’s going to continue paying for everything she needs, but he can’t have her at home right now.

Hopefully everything gets worked out and she can go home after a bit. She’s great and Kita loves her but I already have a lot of pets to care for.

[kita-the-wolfdog]

Getting Kita has been the best decision I’ve ever made. And that’s not hyperbole.

I’m a bit tipsy so I can’t find the words to describe why but she’s made me happier than anything else in the past three years. Maybe even my life, honestly. And it’s still crazy to me that she’s 100% mine. Not my family’s, not sharing her with a partner, but completely and totally mine.

[kita-the-wolfdog]

We’ve officially started training Kita to interrupt my skin picking and provide deep pressure therapy.

She’s not really sure what to do when I pick at my face and she’s not comfortable putting her full body on me yet, but she understood the arm picking very quickly and she’ll lay her front half across me.

I think the main issue we’ll face is getting her to pay attention enough to actually notice when I am picking.

Either way I’m super proud of how much she was able to learn with just working on it for 45 minutes.