My Life with Dogs cont'd (Introducing Nakita the Giant Puppy)

Nakita came to us ten days before Christmas 2008. She was eight weeks old, and cute as a button. Little did we know how fast she would grow, how big she would get, and how headstrong she would become. When we found her she was living in a tiny one bedroom apartment with a woman who could not control her large breed puppy exuberance. Nakita is a Husky/lab cross, a breed mix we were familiar with. We had just lost our Husky/lab mix Gabrielle the August before. We took this little puppy home, but she didn't stay little for long. Her first act when entering our home was to head straight for the long line of dog dishes in the kitchen. She went from one dish to the next eating her fill. This was to be her routine for the next few months. One dish would not do she had to sample food from all of them. Nakita grew very quickly weighing 50 pounds by the time she was 6 months old. As a puppy I indulged her need for attention, sitting with her in my lap while I watched television. Little did I know what a big mistake this would later prove to be. Nakita now weighs 80 pounds and thinks she is a lap dog.

Nakita's favorite playtime activity is to run and chase her fellow pack members in our big backyard. As you can see from the picture the backyard belongs to the dogs. There is no longer any grass back there. They have destroyed it with their joyous romping. We would prefer to have grass of course, but that isn't our part of the yard it is their exercise area. When you live with multiple dogs you look at life from a very different perspective. You also give up a lot of personal space to accommodate your pets. Nakita takes up a lot of space, and she has a tail that clears coffee tables when it wags, and it wags every time someone looks in her direction. It is not uncommon to hear my husband or I yell "watch your glasses", or "clear the coffee table here she comes" before letting Nakita loose in the livingroom.

Right now Nakita's best friend in the pack is Samson our latest addition. You'll meet him tomorrow and learn all about how Nakita is teaching him her bad habits.