We got this picture at Christmas at my mom and dad's house north of Edmonton. We still had our old dog Titan. My wife had Titan when we got together. I ended up spending a lot of time with him. My wife doesn't like the cold but the dog loved the cold. He was made for it. I think winter was the only time of year that Titan was really comfortable temperature-wise. Even though he was always her dog, he kind of became our dog over time.
Titan spent most of his life living with us and never really seemed interested in playing with other dogs much. He was fine meeting them in the off leash parks but he would avoid any kind of playful behaviour. If the other dog got too playful he would try to leave. If that didn't work he'd give them a growl. He was totally fine with them if they just wanted to hang out but wouldn't tolerate any kind of play. He reminded me of a grumpy old man.
He did enjoy walking with other dogs. One time in the off leash park he joined a little pack of dogs and didn't want to go home with me. He totally would have ditched me for that pack of dogs that day. I literally had to drag him away. He even jumped in the woman's mini van trying to go home with them. I always wondered what that woman must have thought about how we cared for our dog that he wanted to get away that bad. Really Titan was just independent like that. It was part of his personality.
When he first moved in we really had to watch Titan. He was famous for getting out of the yard and running away. The first few years we had to be really careful not to give him an opportunity to escape. I started walking him more. My wife has got a bad leg that gets aggravated if she walks too much. Over time I got him to stay close to me when we were walking. I started taking him to off leash parks and letting him walk off leash beside me. I never let him get far from me at first and eventually he didn't care to run away any more and I was able to let him wander a bit. Even when he jumped in the van it wasn't so much he was running away from me as he was just leaving.
The greenhouse next door to our house ended up getting sold and the new owners ripped the old fence out. We ended up losing our fenced in the backyard. That meant Titan couldn't be turned loose in the yard. We had such good progress walking him, I decided to see if I could train him to stay in the yard. I let him loose and watched from the window in the house. Whenever he got close to the edge I'd run out and call him back. After a couple weeks of that he was fine alone in the open backyard and would not run away. You let him out to do his thing and ten or fifteen minutes later he'd be waiting at the door.
There were a couple times we forgot him in the backyard and he left out of boredom. It always worked out pretty well actually. He never ended up getting picked up by animal control. We always got phone calls from people that found him. Titan was a charismatic dog. People always seemed to like him. Our number is on his collar and people seemed happy enough to hang out with him until we came to get him.
One time he ended up ten blocks east of us near a hotel. The hotel isn't far from the off leash dog park that we go to. Titan must have went there and just kept going. An older couple picked him up. They saw him walking alone on the sidewalk and when they opened the door to their vehicle and called him Titan hopped into their truck. They found our number on his collar and called us to come pick him up. When we got there they said they let him stay in the truck because they were worried he might be cold. I laughed to myself a little bit. It was only -20 °C (-4 F). Titan wouldn't even catch a chill until at least -30 °C (-22 F). He was just sucking up the attention while he was waiting. Honestly, I think the old couple got more enjoyment out of it than Titan did.
Another time we put him out back and forgot about him he went to the nearby train station. We live a few blocks from Edmonton's passenger train terminal, VIA Rail. There was a snow storm that was so bad you could hardly see your hand in front of your face. The guy running the counter at VIA Rail said the automatic doors opened up and the dog came walking in. They said he walked in, saw the TV and walked over and curled up in front it. It was like he was making himself at home. The guy got our number off of his collar, left the dog in front of the television and called us. That's where we found him when we went to pick him up. The guy mentioned that at first he thought a wolf was coming in the train station and it freaked him out a bit. I guess not everyone knows that even an average size wolf would be more than twice Titan's size.
Every year for Christmas we go out to my parents place about 150 km north of Edmonton. Mom and Dad's dog Jelly was older and wasn't really a playful type of dog anyway. The two dogs more or less ignored each. Titan was exhibiting some dominating behavior at first, trying to tower over her with his chest out. Jelly just calmly flopped onto the floor and exposed her belly. We hardly had a chance to tell him to leave her alone. The dogs didn't really interact other than that. For the most part they kept their distance from each other but never too far away either. Both dogs were kind of loners but you could tell it was comforting for them to be in each other's presence.
Mom and Dad put out an old dog bed they had around. Titan was getting pretty old too. It was hard on his old bones to lay on their hardwood floor all the time. We were hoping it would stop him from trying to steal Jelly's bed too. Jelly's bed was way to small for Titan but that didn't stop him from trying. The whole bed stealing thing was more about exerting dominance than the desire to have a bed. Regardless, Titan needed a bed.
The afternoon of Christmas eve we were sitting around in the living room watching TV. Titan was laying on the loaner bed on the floor and Jelly was up on one of the couches, probably with my dad. Jelly must have been getting hot or uncomfortable and hopped off the couch. She walked over to bed and flopped down beside Titan. Titan didn't move a muscle. I think Jelly missed having the other dogs around. It was nice for her to be part of a pack again even if it was only for a few days.
This picture was from Titan's last Christmas. He ended up having prostate cancer that spread to his lungs. Looking back there were some early indications but we never knew at the time. We had to put him down in the spring of the following year. This picture of him is one of my favorites.
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