Mooka, our Husky mix, is considerably more attached to my wife, Laurel, than she is to me. Laurel does the dog training. Laurel takes Mooka for her favorite morning walk. Laurel takes Mooka to the dog park, another favorite place.
I feed Mooka in the late afternoon and give her a pre-dinner walk most days. But I'm under no illusion about who is the Alpha in Mooka's mind. It's Laurel. So when Laurel left last Friday for a four day trip to Indiana to see her relatives, I knew that Mooka wasn't going to be thrilled about being left with me.
This has been a familiar sight the past few days: Mooka lying in the entry way by our front door. This is where she tends to be when Laurel is away from the house and I'm home. Except usually Mooka just has to wait for a couple of hours for the Pack Leader to return to the den. It's been three days in this instance.
I'm pretty sure that Laurel has only been away from home without Mooka once, or maybe twice, in the seven years we've had Mooka, after adopting her from a Texas shelter and having her shipped to Oregon in a semi truck with other Lone Star canines destined for our dog-friendly state.
I consider it a positive sign that it didn't take all that long for Mooka to decide that she'd be more comfortable waiting for Laurel's return on the dog bed that I put in our living room close to the front door, since she has to lie on stone or a thin rug in the entry way.
She still lies in the entry way, but not as much as she did last Friday, when her dog mind probably had more hope that the Pack Leader would be returning to the den soon. Now Mooka seems to have settled into a sort of grudging acceptance that she's stuck with me for the time being.
Not that I really know what is happening in her canine consciousness. I just suspect that Mooka came to feel better about her Laurel-less situation after she experienced that I was capable of walking and feeding her twice a day, along with providing her with a toy filled with dog kibble that she rolls around to get the treats out when I have to leave her alone for a few hours.
Laurel left an index card with Mooka's breakfast instructions, which I've been diligently following. Her doggie dinner that I usually give her is considerably less complicated.
A little under 1/2 cup kibble, 4 Doggie Dailies, and 1 glucosamine chew.
Then mix 1/4 cup raw with warm water in blue bowl.
Add 3 each fish oil capsules and 3 mussels tablets.
Add about 1/4 cup chopped broccoli.
Add large spoonful canned food.
Fill water bowl!
The last exclamation mark from the Pack Leader got my attention. I keep Mooka's water bowl so full, she could almost go for a swim in it.
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Got that T-shirt 🙂 My wife is very clearly the alpha dog in our household. To be fair, she was the one who got our Labradoodle, Morgan, as a tiny puppy almost 14 years ago – when I was still just the newish boyfriend. She was just in France for a few days. As is Morgan’s won’t, he carried around a rolled-up pair of her socks to keep himself company!