Trip to PetSmart today
Nothing too eventful has been happening these past few days in the house. All has been eerily calm for the most part. Must be the weather bringing everyone down, haha. It’s been pretty humid the past few days, and I dunno about the animals, but I’ve sure been feeling the effects of it. So drained!
Today however, was a breath of fresh air. Humidity was gone, and there was a nice cool breeze. My mother had to take my younger sister to the dentist this afternoon around 4PM. The last time she had been to this dentist, Mom wound up stuck in the waiting room for upwards of four hours. To save her from boredom if this happened again, she asked if Kadan and I would like to accompany her this time, seeing as how there is a PetSmart in the same shopping center as the Western Dental we were going to. I said sure. I love being able to take Kadan out shopping to PetSmart. He enjoys checking out the fishies, birds, guinea pigs, and kitties for adoption in the store, and generally loves going down the toy aisle. It’s loads of fun.
So Kadan and I geared up for a trip to PetSmart. I bought him a Gentle Leader
head collar about a month or so ago.
The Gentle leader is amazing when it comes to keeping your dog from pulling on a leash. Kadan is a purebred Siberian Husky; his breed was bred to PULL and RUN, and do this for miles on end with a pretty heavy load. He may be 7 months old right now, but he’s at least 21″ at the withers and 48lbs now, and boy is he strong. He’s not too terribly hard to manage right now on a regular collar, but he’s the type of dog that will continue to pull no matter what I do. “Be a tree” and taking a few steps back doesn’t work. He’s dead set on moving forward, even to the point of nearly choking himself. Jake is the same way. The Gentle Leader makes walking him a breeze though. I eventually want Kadan to pull me. On roller blades, a mountain bike, maybe someday even a sled. But for now, I want him to walk alongside me nicely, and the Gentle Leader helps with that.
It looks a little odd though, I’ll admit. My dog pretty much looks like a little horse puppy with a halter on his face, and I’m sure a lot of people wonder what on earth I have on my dog. My grandma is one of these people. She calls Kadan my “little pony” when she sees him with it on. I get a lot of strange looks when I take him out to public places like PetSmart and Petco, too. Even after a month, Kadan is still not too used to the idea of wearing it either, so he goes through the motions of trying to pull it off his face with his front paws and dewclaw. While we were inside PetSmart and passed the checkout stand, he dropped to the floor after the cashier gave him a biscuit and proceeded to paw at the loop on his nose.
“Aw, he doesn’t like that thing on his face, does he?” she pointed out.
“No, he’s not quite used to it just yet. Just like any collar though, really.”
Which when you think about it is true. Most people don’t remember the first time their puppy wore a collar and leash. Some people don’t know what it’s like at all since they adopted a rescue that was already introduced to it before adoption. I remember Kadan’s clear as day. Unlike with the Gentle Leader, 12 week old Kadan thrashed around like a fish out of water once he noticed the sensation on his neck, and the tug of the leash when he tried to run away. The Gentle Leader reactions are merely lazy attempts to get the loop off of his nose. He doesn’t thrash or panic. He lifts his paw, gives it a shot, and “hey…it didn’t work. I’ll try again later when I get the chance to lay down.”
So Kadan and I made our way through PetSmart and were greeted by a woman with her two young children. She owns a female red/white, blue-eyed Siberian Husky that she rescued from the shelter before they were going to put her to sleep. She told me of how a neighbor called Animal Control on her when they thought she owned a wolf, and how the shelter had told her that she was taking a risk bringing this dog home since they’re vicious towards other animals and can’t be trusted with kids. Well, “Ginger” sleeps with her kids at night, plays wonderfully with her two small Yorkies, and has never showed an ounce of aggression towards anything.
It’s really disheartening when you hear about the bad rap some dogs get, even from shelter workers. Every dog is an individual, and Siberian Huskies, while known to have a high prey drive, are individuals, too. I have no trouble with Kadan chasing small animals or children, and he’s friendly as can be, and loves meeting new people. Ginger’s little kids came running up to him all happy and petting him as he smothered them with kisses. The little boy actually called Kadan “Ginger” at one point, probably because the two share similar Husky markings. I really dislike people that stereotype dog breeds =[ It happens with nearly every dog, but some of them get the rap worse than others..such as American Pitbull Terriers. I’ve come across many a friendly Pitbull, but there’s always that one idiot owner that ruins it for the rest of us. My nextdoor neighbors being one of them =/
Anywho, our trip to PetSmart lasted about an hour or so. We walked around, talked with other pet owners, visited with some adorable kittens, got doggy cookies from the store employees, and everyone commented on how beautiful Kadan is. “What a handsome devil you are,” I told him. “Getting all these girls to give you cookies just because you’re cute.”
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