Thursday, April 7, 2011

Level 5? Nah....


As most of you know, Nyxie is a very protective girl.  When there is a stranger nearby, or a door is knocked, she’s the first to alert about danger.  And in her strict, militant German Shepherd mind, danger lurks everywhere!  We understand this about her and each day brings new opportunities to separate high alert, Level 5 dangers from minimal, Level 1 & 2 dangers.  The poor girl used to respond to all perceived threats with a Level 5 reaction, sending every one of us climbing the walls in surprise.  There’s nothing quite like the alarm bark of a large GSD to send you leaping into the air just as you were drifting off to sleep for a nap on the couch.  Thankfully, the new calm, assertive approach is paying off.  Consistency is key!
 
The girls are fed raw, and we feed them in turns.  First Arwen eats while Nyxie waits patiently in her crate.  When Arwen is done, which is uber-fast, Nyxie Noodle has her turn in the kitchen for dinner.  She gets so excited, she drools waiting for her bowl to be set down.  It’s positively adorable. 



Several days ago, we decided to order pizza for dinner.  As luck would have it, the doorbell rang just as Nyxie was leaning over her bowl to sink her chompers into her chicken.  Can you imagine what happened next, Gentle Readers?

A split second decision was made by my highly protective dog.  Nyxie came flying around the corner towards the front door, chicken thigh in her mouth.  She was growling, but not barking.  Clearly the level 5 threat of another day is merely a Level 0.5 when chicken is involved. 








Rationalizations. 
My dog is a genius!

25 comments:

  1. we say keep chicken on hand..
    Benny & Lily

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  2. Thank goodness it was a man delivering fried chicken. :0) Congratulations on finding her pacifier.

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  3. Ha ha ha ha, few things are terribly important when you have a mouth full of chicken thigh ;)

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  4. Of course the clever girl knows what is more important!
    Would be terribly scary for the pizza man though :)

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  5. It seems to be all about "C" words: calmness, consistency...chicken!

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  6. Way to go, Nyxie. You sound just like my sister.:) She's a great protector too.:)

    Love,
    Teddy Bear

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  7. I am thinking a German Shepherd with a chicken in its mouth while growling can still be quite the intimidating sight. Can you imagine the story the delivery driver told when he got back to the store?

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  8. BOL! Yeah I'm with Nyxie. Nothing tops the level of a good raw meaty bone ;)

    Roo

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  9. Sounds so much like my house! Nothing like a lab bouncing at the window trying to bark scream in excitement, with a chicken back in her mouth. CB always wins.

    Jen and the Black Dog Crew

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  10. Nyxie is so lucky! I can't take my eyes off that chicken!

    Woofs & hugs,

    ~Bailey

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  11. We are laughing at The Herd's comment and thinking how scared that pizza guy must have been if he didn't understand the concept of raw feeding.

    Love your alert level codes:)

    And of course, that IS one very intelligent pup.

    Woos ~ Phantom, Thunder, and Ciara

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  12. Hi Y"all,
    Gees you feed raw????????? Tell me about this??? I have not heard of this??? How do you do that??? I have heard that raw chicken is full of germs??
    I am very interested, please tell me how you do this !!!!! Please!!!!!
    xx, Bambi & Fern

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  13. I might drop the chicken, but if it was a turkey neck? No WAY! :)

    Mom has a funny story about packaging up some beefheart when salesguy came by...hee hee...

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  14. Hi Y'all,

    BrownDog here. First chance I've had to stop by and say thank y'all for stoppin' and visitin' when I was doing my week long allergy series.

    I've got to tell my Human that other dogs get to eat in the kitchen! I have to eat in my crate and I'm an only dog...not fair!

    Y'all come back now,
    Hawk aka BrownDog

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  15. She needs to meet Morgan!

    The two of them would protekht THE WORLD!

    Hugz&Khysses,
    Khyra

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  16. Hee hee hee! We understand the level five threat level SO well here at our house! I'm impressed that our Schwann's man keeps coming back to the door, because Morgan sure likes to try to scare him off. She hasn't figured out that we buy her ice cream from him yet! :P

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  17. Chicken is a much higher priority than scaring the pizza man!

    Thanks for stopping by our blog today! We appreciate it very much! I have to share my blog with my kitty sisfurs but I do what I can to make sure I get the most exposure I can since we all know dogs rule no matter what cats say!

    Woos,
    Sadie

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  18. Yes, she is a genius - no doubt about it!

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  19. I SO agree with you about the pet food industry!!! I don't feed Bambi anything that was made for a dog!! I cook for her. I am cooking right now. She gets buckwheat that is gluten free with fresh herbs and swiss chard and gluten free soy sauce. Sweet potatoes, green beans, broccoli,
    lean ground beef or turkey. She loves fruit and hard boiled eggs too. She loves her homemade diet!! I applaued you for thinking outside the box!! I work hard for my animals,, they are my babies now!!
    I am glad we are friends!!
    xx, Bambi & Fern
    PS, I had a GSD that I lost to cancer at only 7 years old!!

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  20. Attagirl Nyxie! She deserves a guard dog-in-training badge for being such a good protector! I can not imagine what the driver thinks either - I can just see the warning across your address in the system now! They will be "tossing" your pie to your doorstep next time around!

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  21. Wonder what the person at the door thought of a charging dog with the leg of a cow hanging out of her mouth? "This could be YOU sucker!"

    My boys would drop everything for pizza.

    Mango Momma

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