Saturday, January 07, 2006

Nikita's Birthday!




Today is a special day at our homestead - it is Nikita Blackwolf Lupole's 8th birthday. She is the smartest dog I have ever come across. I was never a dog person, always preferred cats. But when we moved to the country, we decided we needed a dog. We didn't live here at the time. And Larry was driving a over the road truck so he wasn't home too much during the week. He was afraid that she wouldn't even know him and would really be my dog. But he was so wrong! She bonded with him immediately, and would get so excited when she'd hear the big truck back in the driveway. I wouldn't let her out until I heard the truck turn off.


She is so smart, she always knows what we are talking about. Sometimes, I'll just tell her that something is on the coffee table, and she will look right at the table. Or if I mention one of our others animals by name, she will look right at that animals. If I see her out in the road, and I'm talking to someone, I'll just motion to her to get out of the road and she does. She is not a barker, unless there is some reason to bark. And even though she has Lab in her, (her mother was a registered Yellow Lab), she does not wander away from our property. The most she will do is to sneak down to the creek, which is just a tiny bit down our road, and grab a piece of deer, some hunter might have left there when he gutted his deer. She loves to do that.


She goes with my husband when he walks to the mailbox to mail my packages for my eBay buyers. It is one mile there and one mile back. Nikita loves those walks. She'll get so excited when he gets the packages ready to go! When the horses go out for a ride, Nikita always goes right along with them. She has always been around horses and is good with them.

If anyone gets mad in our house or raises their voice, Nikita goes right upstairs to her bed. She is always afraid of getting in trouble. And if she ever did anything wrong and got in trouble for it, she will never do it again. Unless, it is when my husband is trying to put a halter on the horses and they don't want him to. So he ends up chasing them, and they always give before he does. But Nikita will run out there to help him, and I am always afraid of her getting hurt. She always feels like she has to protect him and sometimes will put her own life in jeopardy. If someone comes to our door, she will stand between me and the door and will not let me let them in or go out the door.

She is a fantastic dog and I love her dearly. I hope I can keep her around for a long time. My pet chicken, Lil' Red died last April and she was Nikita's playmate. They hung out together all the time. And if another dog came over, she would stand between them to make sure that Lil' Red was safe.

Talk to you tomorrow!

Copyright © 2005  Kathleen G. Lupole

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