Meet Shyka, the best dog in the world!
Just like most good posts, this one was also inspired by a fellow steemian: It was @farmstead who wrote a post introducing her dog, which I really liked a lot. I decided to follow suit, since talking about my dog is one of my favorite topics after all. (I remind myself of a Latin teacher I once had, who would literally talk more about his dog than about grammar. Back then it seemed funny, but now I can fully understand him.)
Was it a good idea to get a dog, living in a city apartment?
Normally my answer would be a vehement NO! And I still feel quite passionate about it: cities are not made for living life. Not for us, let alone most other creatures. Sure we can all accommodate, but why would you? So even today I am completely against forcing a dog to adopt the same horrible lifestyle that we chose to submit ourselves to. But in Shyka's case she was already here, only that her living conditions were much worse than now.
From the streets of Mexico City …
It was in November 2009 that my wife (then girlfriend) met a hungry little dog waiting outside her door. Apparently what had happened was, a lady from one of the neighboring apartments used to feed stray dogs, and this one must have gotten the wrong door. Determined as she was, however, she managed to persuade my girlfriend to invite her in, at least for a shower. This soon turned into a complete cleanup, including a visit to the vet. Unlike her neighbor, my girlfriend wanted to provide more than just the minimal support. So she went out of her way to try to find her original owners, which in this city was more than futile. Next, she tried to find some loving people who were willing to take in this dog and offer her a good home, but even this turned out to be rather hopeless. Finally Shyka ended up staying with her.
Is there a meaning behind this unusual name?
Sure there is! It is pronounced just like 'chica' meaning girl in Spanish. I know, I know, not much uniqueness there. Some of my friends have dogs called 'dude' or 'buddy', which is pretty much the same, except for Shyka features a 'ch' sound, which dogs can supposedly hear well. The story behind it is just as simple: Since my girlfriend didn't want to keep the dog at first, she just called her 'chica,' which both soon got used to. So later on, once it became clear that nobody would adopt her, she didn't want to start calling her by a different name. She changed the spelling though, making her seem way more exotic than she really is.
Her size, shape, and especially her long ears put her clearly into the Cocker Spaniel race. However, her snout is narrower and more pointy than what's typical for spaniels, making her a pure-bred mutt, though the spaniel is still her strongest feature. The vet estimated her age to be somewhere between two and four, back in 2009, so today she would be an old lady by any measure. Still, her personality is very much that of a youngster, happily barking at the neighbors, running after her ball, and making friends with handsome male dogs in the park.
Clues to her past
At first I was not thrilled of my girlfriend getting a dog, though I must admit, it didn't take too long for Shyka to conquer my heart. She has a very friendly personality, and there are certain traits distinguishing her from other dogs. One of the things I never liked, for example, is how dogs tend to lick your hand, even as a sign of gratitude. The only time Shyka does that is when you have some food residue on it. Otherwise she may smell, but not lick. Also, she respects shoes, furniture, and electronics. So if you leave your laptop on the couch, for example, she'll make sure not to go near it. Another big plus is that she is toilet-trained, waiting until she's outside (or up on the roof, which constitutes outside) to relieve herself. All these nice traits suggest that she must have had a home at some point, or at least an owner who took the time and effort to teach her these things. How she lost them remains anyone's guess.
Teaching an old dog and new tricks?
Of course even the best dogs (and people) have their shortcomings, and Shyka is no exception. In spite of her mostly lovable demeanor, she can be a real bitch sometimes, an Alpha Bitch to be exact. Whenever we meet another dog on our walks she wants to get to know them a little, which of course is fine, though caution is always needed. Not surprisingly, it is other females she feels she needs to be dominant with, especially smaller ones. Bigger dogs she usually treats with respect, but we've had to break up a few fights with smaller bitches, and realized some training may be necessary. For this we used thin stripes of doggy treats, cut up into really small pieces (like 10-20 from one stripe), and rewarded her whenever she was being friendly with another bitch. We kept this up for a few months, after which we declared her to be a much friendlier dog. Today she may still start a fight on rare occasions, but mostly she's learned to control herself.
The other thing we must pay attention to, which we haven't managed to get her to stop, was to look for discarded food in the bushes. Quite obviously, this is how she had to fend for herself back when living on the streets, so it makes sense that she would have a hard time to unlearn something so important for survival. Instead, I'd like to blame the general populace of our neighborhood (as well as the city and the country in general) for discarding food so commonly. It's no exaggeration that on a 30 minute walk, especially on weekends, one will find pizza slices, quesadillas, bread-rolls, chicken legs, not to mention all the candy, thrown away in the streets. Not even the garbage, mind you, because that would be wasteful, right? So much for the starving locals, but that's another story...
Hope you enjoyed it!
There are not many 'introduce your dog' posts on Steemit. So if you like this intro, I encourage you to post a similar one. (Cats, birds, rabbits, iguanas, and other critters are also welcome, why not.)