Enzi

Gender: male
Birthdate: 02.04.2014
Origin: WSC
Related to: Panya
Meaning of his name (Swahili): strong

He got this name Enzi (Swahili: strong), because he was the heaviest and longest puppy when he was born.

... appearance

Enzi and his siblings look different than the other pack members because of their long legs. Like his mother Layla, Enzi is mostly dark coloured. The dark colour shows on his torso and his head. On his chest and his belly he has some white spots and you can find light-brown marks on his legs, chest, snout and cheeks. Like his siblings, he has long ears and a long tail.

… with conspecifics

Enzi’s interactions with conspecifics are very diverse. He acknowledges Layla’s leader role and submits to her, but he is often fighting with his siblings, which can sometimes become quite rough. The “victim” is always someone different - Enzi, Panya or Pepeo - it does not seem too dramatic. If one of the female dogs comes into heat, though, we have to be very attentive to prevent the males from getting into a serious fight with each other.

Even if a rough fight happens, Enzi is not resentful. After a rough fight with some minor wounds, we already observed Enzi and Pepeo standing next to each other, licking each other’s wounds.

... when learning and in interaction with us

Enzi is a fast learner and with his friendly and frank character, he makes the trainers very happy. Enzi is a bit calmer than his siblings which enables him to learn new things a bit quicker. For example he loves to work on the touchscreen and scores well on it. Enzi also loves to run on the running belt, although he is sometimes hesitant to step on it, we can always motivate him to do so and once he is running, he enjoys it.

If he does not like a test, however, it is not easy to motivate him. Due to his calm character, it can happen that he sits down in a corner and can’t be motivated to work with us anymore - with or without food.

… with strangers and unknown people

With his friendly character, it is easy for Enzi to get to know new people. He draws their attention quite quickly and therefore gets the - so longed for - strokes. When confronted with unknown objects, he is only a bit insecure in the beginning. After a short adjustment period, he gets used to it quite quickly and works eagerly.

… in puppy age

As a puppy, Enzi defended resources. He protected food and sleeping places and did so, even if no one wanted to eat or use them. He was a small troublemaker who always managed to be involved in a fight - especially with the three puppies of the other litter.

When he had been fighting enough, he often fell asleep right inbetween the other puppies and tried to have as much body contact with the others as possible.

Already as puppy, Enzi liked humans a lot. Although his intelligence was apparent in puppy age, he was often not very motivated to participate in the tasks we asked him to solve. This resulted in average test results. When we wanted to motivate him to work harder, the best reward was not food but strokes.