Laika had a few close friendships with other pups. Most were based on goofiness, fun or annoyance. One friendship, though, was based purely on fear...Laika's fear of Speck, a Jack Russell-chihuahua mix cared for by my friends Chris and Jess.
Yes, this is kind of absurd, as Laika used to have a bit of a problem distinguishing small dogs from squirrels (which she was basically against in concept and in practice). Speck, however, was the exception. Why, you ask? The main reason was that she probably barked more times in a day than most living beings breathed. This is not an exaggeration in the least, either.
The first time they met, Laika knew immediately who was in charge. Speck was like a tiny drill sergeant that kept Laika completely in line, at least in the house. She was not vicious toward Laika, but did command authority. Usually, Laika would just sit at a distance, hoping not to be told what for. On walks, though, they kind of balanced each other out and, for some unknown reason, neither of them was on edge. They were able to walk happily like two chill pups, usually both sporting fashionable sweaters in the cold weather.
They did finally get to the point where they were good together inside, too. This helped, as Jess and Chris took care of Laika in the evenings when my mom was not well a number of years ago. Laika, apparently, got pretty comfortable at their place and was a giant lapdog for much of her time there. I was so glad Speck's reign of terror was over!
Speck lived to be over 16 years old. She was a fixture in Laika's and my lives for the first 6 years or so. Their friendship was good in general, but also because it actually gave Laika pause and a bit of control around smaller dogs, due to the lingering memories from their early interactions.
Without Speck, however, Laika was sometimes on the edge of panic on walks, even the time when I tried to give her a specific remedy for it...
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