Theresa Lewis

Nikka’s journey continues

I thought that after having Samoyeds for seventeen years that I knew just about all there was to know about dogs, but I sure didn’t. Every day with Nikka was a new learning experience. Dogs are like children …no two are alike in their personalities and in their likes and dislikes.

Nikka was a Giant Malamute who had only known extreme brutality at the hands of her previous owner who beat her with a two by four to control her. As a direct result of her brutal treatment, Nikka walked with a limp.

The first time she experienced kindness was at the animal shelter where the attendants were patient and gentle with her. After our first few weeks with her, I noticed that Nikka would think up games for us to play with her. I was amazed by her intelligence. She was a frisky fourteen month old who enjoyed playing, especially when she changed the rules of the game.

She loved to play fetch the ball at first, until one day when the ball rolled under the sofa and she couldn’t reach it. My husband got down on his knees and shoved his arm under to get the ball. Nikka stood back and watched him as he grunted and struggled to reach it. Finally he got it and again tossed it to Nikka. Instead of throwing it back to my husband, she purposely pushed it under the sofa. When he got down on his knees again, she observed his position then she assumed the same position beside him. He had his butt up in the air and his head and shoulders down to the floor so he could reach under the sofa. Nikka also stuck her butt up in the air and put her head and shoulders down to the floor and reached under the sofa. It was so funny to watch her mimic my husband. When he laid his body flat on the floor, so did she.

Playing ball with her was a lot of fun for us too because she could throw the ball incredibly straight. If the three of us were playing together, she would decide who she would throw the ball to. Once in a while, she would toss it in the wrong direction and watch my husband run to get it. When we played Frisbee with her, it was the same thing, back and forth tossing with accuracy then she would toss it up a tree. I never knew if that meant that she was tired of playing, but I assumed it did mean that, so the game would end.

One day, in the middle of the afternoon, my husband spotted a raccoon in our yard. He ran up to the patio door to watch it. Nikka ran up to the door and stood up on her hind legs beside my husband to watch the raccoon too. I was behind them and noticed that my husband looked dwarfed beside Nikka. He’s six feet tall and Nikka was several inches taller than he was. She seemed to take her cue from whatever my husband did and she would try to do the same thing.

According to the guidelines we were given, we fed Nikka two cups of dry dog food twice a day. I noticed that as soon as the food hit the bowl, she inhaled it within seconds. I told her she didn’t have to do that because there was plenty of food and she could take her time eating it. The next day, I put four cups of food in her dish and told her to save some for supper. To my complete surprise, she did. She didn’t save half, but she saved about a cup for later. After that, I only put food in her bowl in the morning and she would pace her eating to make it last all day, instead of wolfing it down in one stop by the dish. It may sound weird, but Nikka had the uncanny ability to understand whatever I told her.

Nikka even had her favourite television shows that she loved to watch. Animal Planet was one of those shows. Another thing she loved to watch was car commercials. She loved them because she was fascinated with cars.

If she was in another room, all I had to do was tell her that Animal Planet was on and she would come running into the parlour to watch. She rarely ever barked, but from watching Animal Planet, she learned to roar like a bear. She thought she was cute every time she did it because I would always laugh at her when she roared. Not only did she roar like a bear, she also rolled her head like a bear did when it roared.

Nikka loved to mimic sounds. I often thought she had some parrot blood in her. I was surprised when she learned to mimic the sound of a fire engine siren and a police car siren. Most of us think they sound pretty much the same, but there is a difference and she could do both perfectly and as loud as the sound she heard.

I remember one Sunday afternoon when a police car went by with its siren blaring. It was normal in the rough neighbourhood where we lived. We would hear either police or fire sirens almost daily. That particular day, it was suppertime and the sound of a siren set Nikka off. She was outside. Once the police car passed, she let out her siren sound about ten times before I had a chance to stop her. So many of the neighbours came out of their homes; half expecting to find that the neighbourhood was under siege. No one could believe that those siren sounds could have come from a dog.

It is one thing to hear a siren out on the street, but it’s quite another thing to hear it in a closed room. One day as I was on the computer, Nikka lay sleeping on the floor behind me. I heard a fire engine siren approaching. Just as it was passing in front of the house with its siren blaring, Nikka let out a heart-stopping siren of her own. I never saw it coming so it raised the hairs on the back of my neck and nearly deafened me. I really wished she wouldn’t do that. Stereo sirens in close quarters gave me chest pains.

Nikka’s favourite place to lie down outside was between two huge cedar trees on the front lawn. Behind the cedars was a chain link fence that separated our condo community from the apartments on the other side. Nikka habitually lay quiet until people walking on the sidewalk had just barely passed where she was laying then she would do her bear growl and scare the bejeepers out of unsuspecting passing people. Because of her markings, many people, especially children thought she was a panda bear. It always made me laugh to see people’s reactions. Most of them would scream and run for their lives.

More adventures on Nikka’s journey to follow

 

The End