Did you know dogs can be superstitious?

Did I mention that I was going to take yesterday off?

I seem to recall something about a day of rest after the long 19 days on the road traveling around the country delivering puppies.

You didn’t REALLY think I was going to take time off, did you?

Day off? What’s a day off??*I exclaim looking around the room to find anyone who can answer me.

I don’t know about no stinkin’ day off!

Ha! No way.

I worked my butt off from the very moment I woke up yesterday at 8am to 2am this morning!

So much for Hogwarts Legacy… that’ll have to wait. The dogs ALWAYS come first!

But I will have to describe all the progress Jay and I made on the ol’ homestead another day.

Today, I want to share Narissa’s story and explain the very real reason why transitioning to her new family did not work out.

Do you go around the outside of a ladder instead of under it,?

What about knocking on wood when you say something presumptuous?!

When you see the first star of the evening, do you possess a strong desire to make a wish?

According to Ranker.com’s crowdsourcing website via survey, superstitions are still quite prominent in our society today.

But, were you aware that dogs can also show superstitious behavior?

We can tell when a dog has associated a superstition when they react in an overly emotional way to an otherwise common item, event, or place.

In her beautiful book, Bones Would Rain From the Sky, renowned dog relationship-based trainer, Suzanne Clothier, describes a particular incident of a dog’s powerful reaction to a particular fence. Every time he would approach this fence, the dog would bolt away in fear and not want to return. After speaking with the overwhelmed owner, Suzanne Clothier determined that he associated pain from a misused e-collar with that fence. Even when the e-collar was not on, the dog mistakenly continued to associate the previous pain he felt to that area.

Superstitious association is sometimes used in dog training to our advantage. Let’s take the case of not wanting a dog to jump on the kitchen counter. You can place pots and pans on the counter that make a loud clatter when they fall. When little paws land on the counter, they move the pots and pans causing a loud bang. As a result, the dog may always associate the intense sudden shock of the unforgettable noise with jumping up onto the counter. If the dog associates this event with the counter from then on, we call it a superstitious association.

Well, unfortunately for Narissa’s potential family, Narissa associated an accidental sudden jolting pain with her new owner. From that moment on, Narissa wasn’t willing to remain.

Here’s how it happened.

I arrived north of Detroit sometime late afternoon with 11 puppies, Narissa, and Baluster.

I was eager to begin transitioning Narissa to her new person.

Narissa was assigned to a lovely woman who lived alone with her sweet Lab/Rottweiler mix.

Narissa was brave from the moment she entered the unknown backyard.

The woman put her dog in a crate and came to meet Narissa as she explored her new outdoor surroundings.

Narissa smelled the other dog’s scent in the grass and on the outdoor furniture. She also looked at the chickens in their backyard coop and the deer on the other side of the fence in the greenbelt beyond.

It took a few minutes before she allowed the woman to pet her. But eventually a few strokes down her back comforted her in this new evironment.

Narissa hesitated at the back entrance to the house. The laundry room was full of smells from the woman’s life. She hung her head low and sniffed the air around every nook and cranny; exploring the intimacies of this new human in her life.

We spent an hour helping Narissa feel comfortable invading this new home.

When I said my final good-byes to Narissa, she looked markedly perkier and content than at the initial introduction.

After one last kiss on the lips and a head touch, I turned from the black beauty with the amber eyes. Closing my heart, I walked out the front door, got into my car, and drove away.

Looking up toward the heavens, I spoke a little prayer for Narissa’s continued successful transition.

If you don’t know, adult American Dirus dogs don’t always have an easy transition to a new family. This is because they are often extremely bonded to Jay and me. The quiet forest life is a happy life for a dog. While we don’t have the fanciest facilities, we do have lots of land dogs love to explore. We take them out with us every day on little forest adventures. ALL dogs love adventures!

But giant companion dogs have close ties to their people. This means there is usually a grieving period that occurs when an older dog is rehomed to a new family.

Another hour passed and so I breathed a quick sigh that all must be well.

Then, a text came through.

It was Narissa’s new person.

My heart leapt when I read the news:

“I let Pepper out and am just sitting in the dining room and Narissa keeps walking around and then coming back to me and setting her head on my lap and she just slowly looked up at me and gave me kisses and she knew I was happy and started wagging her tail!”

Awesome! Great progress.

Then, a few moments later, the phone rang.

My heart sank as I read the name on the call. New owners who call instead of text are never a good indication. I prepared for the worst.

Unfortunately, I had to return right away and collect Narissa. In the moonlight on the back porch, Narissa growled and snapped at the woman in a ferocious manner. Nothing like the sweet kissing, tail-wagging girl just moments before.

What changed?

With utter confusion and disappointment coursing through my veins, I rushed back to collect Narissa and find out what went wrong.

As it turns out, I strongly believe Narissa developed a superstitious association toward the woman after a terrifying fluke accident occurred.

After placing the brand new collar and leash around Narissa’s neck, the new owner led her to the backyard for one last chance to potty before settling in for the night.

Though willing, Narissa moved with some caution through the new environment.

The moment the back door opened and the new owner stepped onto the porch outside, Narissa brushed passed her with unexpected force. The new 6-foot leash snapped out of the woman’s hand. It was at that moment Narissa abruptly turned and growled at her with her head low. flashing amber eyes looking up in new-found fear.

The woman then corrected Narissa for growling.

Narissa snapped back with gleaming white teeth glistening in the porchlight glow.

This aggressive behavior is contrary to anything I know of Narissa. She has never responded like this to anyone and is quiet and appropriately accepting when meeting new people.

In fact, it is out of character for any of our dogs to react this way. They prefer to flee rather than stand and fight.

What I surmise is when the leash snapped out of the woman’s hand, it hit Narissa on the rump with some force. The metal piece on the end of the leash careened into her side causing quite a bit of unexpected pain. This would explain Narissa’s irrational sudden response to turn back toward the woman and growl. And as the pain was sharp and startling, Narissa mistakenly interpreted the leash snap as physical abuse.

Then, when the woman verbally corrected Narissa for the growl, this was conformation the woman was not to be trusted.

From that moment on, Narissa no longer wanted to remain and made her intensions known.

Of course, a superstitious association like this is no one’s fault. The human could not have predicted it, and the dog could not have understood the woman was not to blame.

When I arrived, Narissa happily greeted me as if nothing had happened. She gave no indication of the Kujo reaction just moments earlier.

I loaded her into the van.

Sadness overtook the woman and me.

I hugged her.

We agreed that dogs can have a say in the decision on where to live out the rest of their retirement days.

In this case, Narissa’s choice was clear. Because of her mistaken assumption from an unfortunate series of events, she decided that home wasn’t for her.

Remember: we don’t sell dogs; we sell relationships.

We will find the right dog that will form the perfect relationship that fits within this lovely woman’s lifestyle. It will be the right dog at the right time.

And Narissa will find the right family at the right time.

As it turns out, we received Narissa’s bloodwork from the vet while on the trip. She has low thyroid function and will require medication. Once Narissa is feeling better and recovered from her excessive shedding, we will look for her perfect family. In the meantime, we are happy to have our sweet Narissa home.

As you may know, we bred Narissa and kept one puppy, Lock, as a future stud. With Narissa’s new diagnosis, we must alter some things about our breeding plans. In tomorrow’s email, I will discuss how we move forward in light of this health news.

If you would like to see our current dogs and puppies for sale, here’s the link:

https://direwolfdogs.com/dogs-for-sale/

Jennifer Stoeckl is the co-founder of the Dire Wolf Project, founder of the DireWolf Guardians American Dirus Dog Training Program, and owner/operator of DireWolf Dogs of Vallecito. She lives in the beautiful inland northwest among the Ponderosa pine forests with her pack of American Dirus dogs.