Tama

Relaxed and easy going

Like most heading dogs Tama is always looking at me as if asking "What's next". Now that he's my last puppy I think he will be easy to train, without all the others to distract him.

Tama is not as clever as Fuego, but with a bit of incentive he too soon learned how to open the front door, but unlike Fuego he hasn't twigged that he can do it to get outside also when I haven't put a treat there.

chews everything

I stopped off to pick Aroha up for his daily walk with us as he really enjoys being part of our pack. These dogs need a good run off the lead every day. Aroha is pretty good at coming when I call, while Lucy and Tama will loiter behind, reluctant to go home.

Kate (Aroha's owner) came out and invited me to share some lunch with them. I hadn't even had breakfast yet so I put the dogs in my car and accepted her invitation. There was a big bone for them to chew and I thought they would be content with that, but arriving back 20 minutes later I was horrified at the damage that had been wrought (see gallery). I'm confident neither Lucy, nor Aroha would do that, so I'm blaming Tama. As a puppy, Lucy might have a nibble here and there and loved chomping on toilet rolls. I am told that when male hormones kick in, dogs are much more difficult than bitches, but Tama takes it to a new level of total destruction.

Tama has shredded the underlay in the living room. He is so strong that he can rip the hessian backed carpet and he quietly chewed all my duvets to pieces while I slept. I've been told it's not safe to put a muzzle on a dog when left alone. I'm going to have to shut him in a crate and maybe he will calm down when he's neutered, but he's not coming in the bedroom again in the near future even though he loves to cuddle up at night.

He can get out for a pee at night, but when he finds a hedgehog he starts barking. That won't be pleasing my neighbours so I have to get out of bed and evict the hedgehog to reestablish peace and quiet.

Kate says "He's a bloody dog, not a person! You are far too soft!" and I realize that what worked for Lucy is not going to work for Tama. Maybe he takes after his father, who had a smiden of huntaway in his breeding. Heading dogs are intelligent, stealthy, cautious and silent. Huntaways are loud and full on action, like Tama.

2022-10-07 An affectionate, but clumsy oaf

This morning Tama jumped up on the bed and instead of licking me, decided to truffle me out from under the duvet. I was very unhappy with him as it hurt and he narrowly missed my eye. He needed an instant lesson never to do that again, so I smacked him! Unlike with Fuego who would learn instantly, I don't think it even registered. Should I have hit him harder? No it's not to make him suffer, it's just to communicate that he did wrong.