Welcome to the August 2022 edition of ZENFUL Dog of the Month featuring Lumi! While Lumi is a young Pomksy, his pet-parent—Christine—warns people not to let his looks fool them as he is also known as a land shark!
Lumi
Age: 11 months
Meet Lumi’s Family:
Christine (Lumi’s helicopter fur-mom): Lumi means the world to Christine and she always goes above and beyond to help him succeed. They are companions who learn from each other every day.
Cory (Lumi’s calm yet defiant fur-dad): Lumi and his dad are best buds and they love to play fetch with Cory’s rubber duckies.
Papa Claude (unlimited treat dispenser): Claude’s eyes light up every time he visits Lumi and he loves to spoil him!
Christine Describes Lumi: Lumi is a stunner—white/beige and fluffy! He is shy, unpredictable and has a protective instinct. Lumi needs a slow introduction and time to warm up to strangers. He does not appreciate over-head pets—he prefers chest and chin scratches if he gives you the okay.
Lumi is a very thoughtful dog. He never does anything without assessing the situation. Lumi is very smart but very curious about his surroundings. Lumi pulls to see squirrels, rabbits or other small animals. When all his needs are fulfilled, he becomes calm and shows affection by cuddling.
Christine adds that Lumi is also highly energetic and needs his brain occupied at all times. He tends to ‘talk back’ to refuse to perform a trick, get his way or issue demands.
Lumi's Favourite Treats/Foods According to Christine: “Lumi loves blueberries, pumpkin, Benny’s Beef Liver, small pieces of hot dog and, of course, Peanut Butter.”
Lumi’s Favourite Activities:
Lumi absolutely loves being outdoors. He loves nature-watching and digging holes. His favourite activity is a nature walk because he can chase squirrels, birds and butterflies. Being outdoors means parkour and he absolutely loves to do tricks when the moment is right.
Indoors, Lumi loves to play with his puzzles and duckies. He has every colour of ducky but the red one seems to be his favourite.
He also loves car rides and sniffs!
Christine Describes The Most Unique Thing about Lumi: Lumi is basically a miniature wolf. He will start howling when he hears a certain pitch or sound.
How Lumi Unwinds After a Full Day of Activity: Lumi unwinds with chew time—he loves his deer antler.
If Lumi Had a Human Voice: Christine thinks that if Lumi had a human voice, he would sound most like Joe Pesci—going from 0 to 100 really quickly!
Lumi’s Training
Christine Tells Us How Training has Shaped Lumi: “ZENFULdog training is a truly non-judge zone. ZENFULdog has helped us in so many ways. Kendra helped us break down his little character to better address his issues at hand in her private sessions.
ZENFULdog helped Lumi build his confidence to face everyday challenges. Kendra also trained us humans. She showed us patience is key with a reactive/fearful dog like Lumi. Persistence, structure and dedication really helped Lumi grow. These may seem like easy and common sense practices to apply but are difficult when you are under constant stress and defeated. When Kendra is there, she reminds us and brings us back to reality mode!
Kendra was hands-on with Lumi and was brave enough to get down and messy. This is when I knew I found the right trainer—she was NOT: all talk, no action! She was all action and then talk! As simple as her helping us find techniques to put his harness on, treating his eyes with drops, to meet and greet, jumping on A-frames, benches, etc... She was positive and encouraging and helped us want to continue on this journey with Lumi.”
Christine Describes Lumi’s Biggest Training Challenges: Lumi’s family has many training challenges to face—training Lumi is a daily struggle. Kendra helped them to see that it was okay. They are still working on his resource guarding, putting his leash on and off without biting, on-leash walking, separation anxiety and building Lumi’s trust with humans and other dogs. Making Lumi feel safe is very important to his family.
Christine Describes Lumi’s Biggest Training Success: Lumi’s biggest training success is building confidence through parkour jumps and walking in noisy atmospheres. Confidence-building has helped him approach humans with sniffs thanks to being exposed to this in socialization classes.
Christine Describes Lumi’s Most Rewarding Training Moment: “The most rewarding moment was when I was able to pick up Lumi without any struggle or biting. Lumi also goes and lies on his blanket on command.”
Kendra adds: “I first met Lumi, Christine and Cory at their home for a private session. Their veterinarian had recommended training with me. The instant I walked into their home, the most beautiful little dog was most unhappy to see me. His behaviours demonstrated fear aggression. I gave him space and time to choose to come to see me. I got to know Christine and Cory while Lumi built up a little more confidence with the choices I gave him. All three of them won my heart pretty quickly.
Christine is such a sweetheart and Cory was equally kind and gentle. Both loved their dog but also felt a little overwhelmed about how to help him. While he was fearful he became very confident in the behaviours that kept people away. He also had some very unwanted behaviours when it came to handling and guarding behaviours. It was a lot to tackle! On one hand, he needed time and space to build his confidence around people, dogs and food and on the other, he was obnoxious, confident and inappropriate with something as simple as putting a leash on.
Thankfully, Christine and Cory were up for the task of building his confidence when needed and teaching him appropriate behaviours to replace unwanted ones—and knowing which behaviours were which (fear VS obnoxious). They have been amazing in this journey helping him! They joined puppy classes and are doing a fantastic job learning the proper socialization for a dog who does not want to be friends with other dogs.
Lumi continues his journey with his amazing family by enjoying parkour training through private sessions and adventures on trails with our Cani-Trail friends—rocking obstacles, water games and hiking!”
A very special “Thank You!” goes out to Christine for providing the content for this feature! Don’t forget that you can follow ZENFULdog Training on Facebook to stay connected to your like-minded dog-loving community every day.
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