Lulu is Short for Lucifer

Ha! While I loved both the book and the movie, Marley has nothing on Me and my Lucifer (Get it, Marley and Me?). OK, her name is Lulu, and she's not really the world's worst dog, but after countless grocery items stolen from counters, neighborhood children casting her distrusting looks and two unfortunate biting incidents, she's not that far off, either. It seems I've become somewhat of an expert on some of the less desirable Husky/Shepherd behavior. So, if you're looking for a dog, have just adopted one, or you're living with one now, read on and learn from our mistakes ... er ... experiences.

We did almost everything wrong. An ex-girlfriend and I walked into the SPCA after a brief search for a Lab or "Lab-mix" in the classifieds and on grocery-store bulletin boards. We were just going to look. JUST LOOKING! And walked out two hours later with a 10-week-old, black and white husky-shepherd puppy. But really, I thought, how hard could raising a dog be? I say this now as -- 4 1/2 years and five trainers later -- she again barks menacingly at a passing delivery truck a block away.

The advice that came later, I learned, was to research your lifestyle, not just the breed. Dogs shouldn't be impulse purchases. Don't rush. How active are you? How long will the dog be home alone? How much time are you willing to invest in training? Dogs are life-changing choices. I had friends say bringing home a baby seemed like less work than a puppy. At least children don't chew shoes or bark ... and they wear diapers.

What that really means is, if you want a dog with built-in instructions, be careful. Huskies and German Shepherds are both working breeds that require hours of activity. Labs are people pleasers, but can easily develop obsessions with tennis balls or chasing sticks. Terriers aren't always great with kids (or vacuum cleaners). Rotweillers and bully breeds may send some neighbors running.

Mixed breeds don't follow any pre-set guidelines, but there's research to suggest you can predict behavior. Jackson Laboratories in Bar Harbour, Maine, studied mixed breeds and determined you can predict behavior based on what the dog looks like. Simple, really. Have a husky-shepherd that looks kinda like a husky? Well, mush on.

"It won't be 100 percent accurate, but it should be close," accomplished animal behaviorist Stanley Coren writes in his book, Why Does My Dog Act That Way?

Time to find a good trainer. Sure, not every dog needs one, and many dog owners are great, natural pack leaders. For the rest of us, well, time for puppy kindergarten. Lulu still remembers commands we learned in our first class all those years ago. It was a clicker-training class, meaning we used a small noise maker to mark positive behavior. When Lulu sat on command, I clicked and gave her a small treat. We use Tidbits, Pet Botanics Training Rewards or Rollover (cut into small chunks). If you're handy in the kitchen, there's numerous recipes on the Internet for homemade treats.

You'll find great debate in the training world over treat training. Many trainers bristle at the idea, and one even threatened to kick us out (and keep our $300) should we bring food to the class. But it's never that simple. Lulu is extremely food motivated, and if it wasn't for our first trainer, I'm not sure what I would've done with Lulu. She's can be very fear-aggressive ... unless you smell like bacon.

If your dog doesn't care about treats that much (there are some out there), you can use special training toys that only appear when the dog does something positive. Praise works, too. In fact, it's best to use praise more and more as you train your dog, since you don't always have pockets big enough for your average dog toy, and you don't always want to smell like bacon. Most importantly, find a positive trainer. This is supposed to be fun, and I've run into one or two who treat it like basic training -- in the army.

"I've evolved into a YES teacher rather than a NO trainer, using anything and everything to encourage good behavior," Sarah Hodgson writes in her book, Dog Perfect. "And everyone seems to be enjoying the process even more!"

Lulu could power a car battery. When the sun rises, so does the dog. A stretch front and back, a shake of the collar and she's ready to greet the world. No coffee needed.

I was active before the dog arrived, but I couldn't imagine how active I needed to be after Lulu arrived. I play soccer and I love team sports, but I've yet to find one with canine teammates (not yet, anyway). But Lulu demands at least an hour of exercise every day, and lately 90 minutes seems to satisfy her, more when she was younger.

So now we hike every morning for about an hour before breakfast. Thankfully (for Lulu) my job as a freelance writer and editor has me working from home. My wife, Erin, is more of a 9-5er, so Lulu gets lots of chances to work out her kinks. I can't imagine leaving her home all day.

Now we're trying dog agility with Lake Country Jumping-Agility-Mutts (LC JAM). The training and the movement are great ways to exhaust her both psychologically and physically. And, since we have such a small class, it allows her to socialize over long periods of time, which is exactly what she needs.

As Cesar Millan says on TV and in print, exercise is paramount to a dog's happiness.

"The formula is simple: In order to have a balanced dog, you must provide three things: Exercise, discipline, affection ... in that order," The Dog Whisperer writes in his book, Cesar's Way.

Two warning signs presented themselves early in Lulu's life. She was very vocal, and seemed to shy away from visitors, not even letting our extended family very close. I remember Lulu on the landing barking her little fuzzy snout off as a friend climbed the stairs. Hmmm ... I thought, that doesn't sound good.

The Dummies Guide to Raising Puppies suggested a simple test to determine your dog's aggression level. Watch your dog play with its toys. Does it pick up stuffed animals by the neck and shake them vigorously? That could be a sign of an aggressive dog in the making. It was then I moved the book from my nose, looked down and saw Lulu breaking "Piggy's" neck like a true alpha wolf. Uh, oh. It was then I prepared myself.

A short time later, at about three months old, she was in the park when she noticed a group of kids coming near her. She barked and barked as usual, but then grabbed one little boy's jacket sleeve. It's a behavior not uncommon to shepherding breeds, I've learned. Children can intimidate and confuse dogs. They're small, wobbly and tend to stare dogs straight in the eye. They don't listen very well, either. That kind of chaos is too much for my Lulu.

It happened again at a dog park a few months later. The dog park was great for Lulu the puppy, but we always walked the other way when kids came into the park. I always thought there should be a sign at the gate that asked parents to unleash their dogs, and leash their kids. I was never very good at telling people Lulu wasn't good with kids. But I learned quickly to give everyone advance warning.

A quick note on guide books and dealing with problems. I've yet to find a book that's nailed dog behavior. For every one book with an opinion, you can find two to refute it. A perfect example came between the Dummies book and the Keep It Simple Series Guide to Raising a Puppy. One book admonished dog owners for playing tug-o-war, saying it promoted dominant behavior. The other was quick to suggest 10 minutes a day was an excellent outlet for aggression, but just make sure you win the game. If that's not confusing, well, what is?

Right now, she's sitting patiently at my side, dutifully keeping the house safe from marauding bandits. Either that, or staring at my pasta hoping for a taste. Either way, she's rarely far away. In fact, the devotion your dog displays is unmatched. It doesn't matter if you believe wolves and man formed an unlikely bond 15,000 years ago, or 150,000 years ago, we can prove that DNA from a chihuahua and that of a Grey Wolf are 99 per cent similar.

Wolves "adopted" us, or at least tolerated us, because humans waste a whole lot of food, and wolves saw us as an easy meal (or at least our garbage). In exchange, they acted as early warning devices against rivals and predators. Being as clever as we are, humans adapted our new furry alarm bells for all sorts of purposes, including pulling sleds, hunting companions and guardians.

Fast forward a few thousand years, and our dogs are still looking for work. Lulu and I never tried cross-country skiing, but undoubtably she'd happily gravitate to pulling a sled or a skier the way some of her ancestors from Northern Ontario (where we believe she was born) did. I wouldn't be saying anything outrageous if I told you so many behavioural problems originate out of boredom. 

Finding a method to channel instinct is vital. Obedience training is a great place to start. Agility, flyball, tracking ... it doesn't matter, as long as your dog has an outlet. Otherwise, prepare for a whole lot of energy exuding from your pooch in all sorts of ways.