Nanuk came to us in April of 2003. He was almost two years old at that time. He had spent most of his life on a 20 foot chain in front of his first owner's home. He was re-homed to a sheep farm for a few months, but not having any prior experience with sheep or other livestock, he kept a sheep mom away from her lamb so it froze to death. That was the end of his career as a livestock guardian and he was offered to me as a pet.
Contemplating his new home, while Simba watches
It was a rocky start with Nanuk. He had some major fear issues. He also had no clue about being partner with a human. Whenever we were out for a walk he would become totally oblivious to the person on the other end of the leash. He would not take any treats. How do you train a dog that doesn't want to be trained, is scared of a million things, and ignores you and the treats? All he wanted was sniff, sniff, sniff and take it all in, while dragging me along.
Checking out his new home
I tried a Gentle Leader, but that made him shut down; he didn't want to move. I tried a Halti -- that worked better; at least I wasn't dragged around anymore.
Nanuk
What I ended up using as reward was sniffing. I taught him sit, down etc. at home first. He did take treats at home. Then, when we were out, I would restrain him with the leash to keep him away from something he wanted to sniff, then I asked for sit or another cue. I would wait until he did what I asked then released him to go where he wanted to. Once he understood that concept he learned very fast.
Yes, there's snow in the desert
He has also learned quite a few very cute tricks. My favorite one is "Who is hungry?" He sits and raises his left front paw as if to say "I am hungry".
We have also worked on his fears. He has greatly improved, but after a year or so it became clear that some of those fears will always be an issue, so we manage and continue to work on them. Just recently I took him to a new vet's office and much to my pleasant surprise Nanuk took treats right away, and he didn't growl when the vet, whom he had never met before, entered the exam room.
Out and about
One of the very cool things about Nanuk is that he has learned to tell me when he finds something interesting that he wants to check out. And he just loves it when I tell him "show me where you want to go" he takes off in the direction he wants to go.
Nanuk is my much loved hiking buddy; the two of us just love to go on little trips to the surrounding wilderness areas where we go for one to two hour hikes.
Out and about
At home he is vigilant about his guardian job. He can rarely be convinced to come inside; unless it rains or gets too hot, he prefers to be outside where he can see and hear what's going on in the neighborhood. But no matter what, in the morning around 4 am he comes inside and climbs into my bed where he stays until I wake up, then he puts his big head on my shoulder and gives me a gentle nudge on the nose.
Happy at last
