New Guinea Singing Dogs

Comments

• BradA1878

  July 2011

  That's a sad song he/she is singing in that video. Reminds me a lot of Loa!
  
  Very cool pics and videos, thanks for sharing!
  
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  Side note - At first I felt bad for them being in there w/o any access to humans, but then you gotta remember NGSDs are barely domesticated, so they probably prefer that setup... I'm sure they interact with the staff several times a day too...
  
  Then I though to myself "actually, I bet a few of our Kai would dig that setup", not all of them, but certainly some of our Kai would dig it. Most of our Kai seem to like our company, but they aren't begging for it either...
  
  So, @jan3t does that help explain the "wild" comments you read sometimes? It's not that Kai are not domesticated, or even less-domesticated, it's just that they have a "I got this covered if your busy, it's cool" attitude. Cat-like I guess. It's like they can make it on their own but they dig you and you dig them, so, hey, lets hang out!
  
  Ayu and Haru are a little less like that, they seem to prefer to be with us more than without us. Ritsu too, as far as the boys go anyway (the boys are more aloof IMHO). But the rest of them are pretty independent.
  
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• jan3t

  July 2011

  Thanks @Brad!
  
  
• sukoshi_mom

  July 2011

  The singing kind of reminds me of a solo coyote sounding off, w/o the "yips."
• dlroberts

  July 2011

  @brada1878 - Interesting you should say that. I find Tyson completely attached to me. If I leave the house and leave him out with Candice and the Shibas, he sits at the gate and cries softly for 30 minutes (when he was a younger puppy, it used to last 2-3 hours). When I'm home, he follows me from room to room, and if I leave him inside while working in the yard, he sleeps at the door waiting for me. When I let him out of the bedroom in the morning, he waits at the top of the stairs to make sure I'm following him down.
  
  I guess Tyson is a bit weird in that sense. :-)
• BradA1878

  July 2011

  @dlroberts - Tyson is closely related to Haru, Ayu, and Ritsu so (based on my experience with them, as mentioned above,) his response appears to follow the trend of his bloodlines. So, no, from that viewpoint he seems pretty normal for the line of dogs he comes down from.
  
  Perhaps he is a bit extreme of an example when you consider his sex (and my comment above regarding sex)... But, again, that was just my opinion. Obviously environment plays a big role in "clingyness", our environment is unique and may promote aloofness in our dogs, I dunno. Also, I'm sure there is a big difference when living with one Kai Ken vs. living with 10+, so YMMV (or YM-will-V).
  
  Also, Kona used to have some separation anxiety, but he's one of the more aloof dogs we own (maybe even the most aloof dog). So it may be the case that separation anxiety and aloofness/clingyness doesn't have much to do with each other.
  
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• tjbart17

  July 2011

  That video sounds like mei just not as sad. She loves to sing and howls when left alone.
  
  Mei is extremely attached. But that may be because she was alone tied up for so long that she's just happy to have humans.
  
  Koda is really attached too but sometimes he just wants to be by himself. More likely than not he's right by my side or somewhere he can see me.
• Heidi

  July 2011

  Sosuke's pretty attached. He follows me into whatever room I'm in. When he first came home and was being housetrained, we would only give him access to one room at a time, and he really hated it when I was running around the house doing chores and he was stuck in one room. Even if everyone else was in that room with him. He used to whine when left alone or crated, but he doesn't do that anymore.
  
  Sometimes I feel bad because he'll be sleeping, and then I'll leave the room and he'll spring up and follow me. Then he settles down and gets cozy, sighs, and closes his eyes in the new room, but maybe I was just in there grabbing something, so as soon as he gets comfy, I'm gone again, so it's the same thing over and over, especially when I'm busy. Oh well. No one's forcing him!