I noticed a few days ago that Odin didn't want to put too much weight on his right hind leg.  It got worse for the past couple of days.  He's limping and just wants to "carry" that leg.  He's in obvious pain.  I don't know what's wrong with him.  Hope it's not HD.  I'm going to take him in to have his preliminary OFA done and will have it checked as well..... Been in a really foul mood for the past few days because of this.  I didn't even walk him yesterday.  Even though he's limping this bad, he still wants to play ball!!!  Crazy kid.

A lot of people don't know whether to get a male or female dog.  So here it is:

 

1. Bitches do not lift their legs on your flower beds or shrubs

2. Bitches very rarely get dominant and are easier to handle and live with a house dog

3. Bitches are quicker to bark

4. Bitches want to please more and are more affectionate

5. Bitches come in heat twice a year while a male gets seriously disctracted EVERY TIME he smells a bitch in heat

6. If you want to do police work or advanced sports work, have a male

7. Usually bitches fight with bitches, males fight with males - if not properly kept, socialized and obedience trained

8. Males usually are harder, meaning they can take harder corrections without going down in drive.  Harder males are more tolerant and forgiving to new handler's mistakes.

9. The best combination of protection dogs are a thin nerved bitch that's quick to bark at the slightest noise to wake up the male that's not easily spooked by strange sounds...lol...AND a solid nerved male that's well trained in protection and OB and will actually bite

10. If you want to start breeding, think long and hard first!!! Still want to do it?? Then always get an exceptional female.  The chances of getting a male pup that will grow up to be a super stud dog are slim to none.

 

 

What do I have?  An awesome boy and I just can't love him enough!!

Wow, so I finally got a myspace account   But instead of using it to try to hook up with someone, I only got it to join a couple of doggie groups - specifically, "my dog rocks" and "german shepherd".  The German Shepherd group is quite quiet ...hmmm... good, and bad...lol... I met this lady in New York who used to trained in OC K-9.  She has a male and a bitch, both are beautiful working line dark sables.  They had just finished their tracking and protection training and been certified.  Kudos to her and her boy and girl   The My Dog Rocks group, on the other hand, is a HUGE place for drama most of the time.  Interestingly, there're way more females than males in the group.  I"ve come across 3 young girls who have LOTS of experience and really know what they're talking about.  I am glad to have them as my friends and that people like them have something valueable to offer - be it very useful knowledge and information or knocking on the heads of stupid people.  I can't help but laugh and feel sad about how ignorant a lot of people are though, especially the types who work as vet assistant or so-called animal "behavorialist".  Do people who advocate "haltie" or "gentle lead" and people who beg and bribe their dogs to comply ring a bell????

 

Oh, Oh, and remember the lady with the shepherds and fat goldie I was talking about in my last blog?  She was a shepherd breeder, for god's sake!!  When she asked me "why don't you start breeding Odin now??? You can.  And I would if I were you!" I almost threw "are you out of your freaking mind" directly at her face!  And guess what?  She said "oh, that's cool that you're doing that 'Gitsu' thing with him.  My 6-month old male here is going to be trained to do S&R" after I told her "schutzhund" 3 times!!!  LMAO!  Hmmm, a GSD breeder that hasn't heard of schutzhund??  AND she asked m e "is Odin purebred?"  Ok, first of all, being a GSD "breeder", you don't even know that they come in solid blacks and different sabled colors especially in working bloodlines??!!  I almost laughed and told her "no, you're right, he has quite some black lab in him"   And second of all, being "purebred" doesn't mean squat!  And lastly, give me a break - his male was timid at best.  And most importantly, he didn't seem to have any drive.  I haven't heard of any no/low/medium drive dog being trained successfully as S&R dogs - and we're not talking about food drive here!  My Chia has a DEEP nose, but she can never be trained to do S&R or narcotic/bomb work because she doesn't have drive.

 

Now Odin's out of the world famous Pohranicni kennel in Czech Republic.  He's 3...4 linebred on Titus z. Straze.  He has an impeccable working pedigree full of Czech border patrol greats.  His past 5 generations have been free of HD and other health problems.  He himself has a wonderful temperament, solid nerves, high drive, and loves to work.  AND I'm NOT planning on studding him, at least not yet.  The only reason I'm going to keep him intact for at least 3 years is because bitches and neutered males very very rarely make it to the top of schutzhund trials.  If he's OFA-ed good at 24 months and he's titled in schutzhund and everything else turns out great, I MIGHT consider studding him.  I'm appalled by how these so called "breeders" think and operate!  Irresponsible, unethical, ignorant are not enough to describe them.  To them, pumping out pups they can sell to make profits is all that counts.  I laugh at people who think spaying their bitches after they've had a litter will somehow make them better companions just because they've been mothers once   And i feel sad about the females that have to go through that for that reason and the upcoming/born pups.  Breeding is a science as well an art.  In Germany, a GSD cannot be bred unless he/she is stamped with A, A Normal, or Fast Normal with 2 xrays required at 12 and 24 months AND unless he/she is titled in schutzhund trials or has other equivalent European trial titles.  Now I'm not saying Germany is all good.  It has its own problems just like the US does.  I don't even care to comment on the SV's stupid shift and emphasis on conformation shows that has practically destroyed the breed.  For decades, this breed had been the embodyment of police service dogs.  But sadly, as a general trend all over the nation now, most police departments are opting Belgium Malinois as their first choice of police dogs, sometimes their only choice, because it has become very hard to find qualified GSD's that have the drive and temperament necessary to be trained to do the job!  This is happening both in Europe and the US by the way.  Granted titles in schutzhund does not necessarily truly reflect a GSD's breeding value because there are many excellent trainers in Europe who are experienced and skilled enough to title most any dogs even though the schutzhund exam was originally developed to evaluate the temperament, working ability and hence potential breeding value of this particular breed.  However, they at least have these two prerequisite for breeding any GSD's in Germany.  Without meeting them, pups cannot be registered.  Here in the US though, if you have an AKC registered bitch and your neighbor right down the street has an AKC registered male, you can breed them and register and sell the puppies, with papers, even though both parents are dysplastic, even though both parents have weak nerves and aggression problems.  Sadly, the public is way far from being educated on the subject and thinks having AKC papers means the world.....

I finally started Odin on tracking   I could've and probably should've done it 4 months ago, but never got around properly doing it.  He was antsy on his tie out when I was laying the track.  I took my time completely kicking in the triangle scent base and kicking in and triple laying a 100 yard track with lots of food drops within the first 15 yards to get him started on the right foot.  Considering this was his very first track, 100 yards of triple layed straight track shouldn't peter him out.  And it didn't!!  Upon giving the "suche" command, he buried his nose right down on the ground in the scent base triangle and fully soaked it up.  And he started out on the track without hesitation.  I was laying the track against the wind to make his first track easy.  But to my dismay, the wind direction had changed a little when I got done laying the track and we got a bit of cross wind   And of course, Odin kept wandering a feet left of the track every now and then.  I had a 20 foot long line attached to his collar, but didn't hold it - just to get him used to having a long line coming through between his legs under his belly.  I was using a 6 foot leash to prevent him from getting more than 2 feet off of the track.  He worked pretty methodically, considering this was his first track  I was glad to see that he was getting the idea down pretty fast.  At the end of the track, he was happy to enjoy and little pile of hot dog pieces and of course his favorite ball on a string   I am so proud of him!! 

 

We met this lay with two shepherds (an adult bitch and a 6 month-old male) on our off leash walk in the school.  I often see her walking her shepherds and a fat goldie.  I couldn't believe that she told me I could breed Odin NOW when I told her that Odin had just turned 12 months yesterday!  Anyone responsible will have to wait until a dog or a bitch is AT LEAST 18 months and OFA-ed to even start making decisions as to whether to breed them based on a variety of factors.  I think she's probably a backyard breeder or runs a puppy mill somewhere - that's so bad and sad!

This old guy, Bob, who holds up the stop sign at the school zone right down the street, and his wife got a collie pup a month ago.  Yesterday they invited me over to their house to see her.  Her name is Savannah Belle and she's soooo cute and wild at 3 months!!!  Although they had a few dogs before, they had no idea how to train her.  And Eileen was freaking out because she thought they had a wild dog and she was not going to turn out alright - she'd been attacking everything and everyone - hands, pantlegs, shoes, feet, stuff in the backyard...lol...she's a little alligator with sharp baby teeth and nails for sure!  They offered to pay me to train her for them.  I fell in love with that puppy right away and I told them I'd be more than happy to work with her when i had time, but I would not take money from them.  So this morning I went over to their house.  They said they had just let Savannah inside and she'd had a wild early morning.  But we got her out into the backyard again anyways - and man, they were wrong!!  She was a crazy, rambunctious pup - full of energy and just didn't know what "tired" was!!!  She was way way more rambunctious than Odin was when he was little!  Imagine that!  And she was not interested in most kinds of treats/biscuits Bob had!!!  She just kept running and jumping around and wanted to lick/kiss you to death.  I brought the special toy I had for puppies and I was glad to see that with a little bit of teaching and stimulation, she was finally properly displaying and developing her strong prey drive   And per my request, Eileen cut up a hot dog and yes ....she definitely loved that!!!!  I haven't seen a dog that's not interested in hot dogs just yet ...hehe... I worked/played with her for about 40 minutes and Bob was elated to see her sit for the very first time since he got her!  I was happy to see that by the time I ended my sessions with her, she had picked up "sit" quite well and was getting more consistent.  And she didn't jump on you as much as I first met her Eileen was sooo happy - she had thought that she had a stubborn, wild, and not so bright child ...lol... To me, the wilder a puppy is, the easier it is to train.  I was very happy to see the smiles and laughs on these old timers   Even though they had a few dogs before, apparently they are not raising her properly - they are free feeding her, putting her in the little kitchen when she's not outside and paper on the floor for her to poop on - a BAD idea for potty training, and quite a few other things that they are not doing right.  I should have Izzy meet her - she'll love her!

Sick of this life

Not that you'd care

I'm not the only one

With whom these feelings I share

Nobody understands

Quite why we're here

Searching for answers

That never appear

Maybe if I looked real hard I'd

I'd see you're trying too

To understand this life

That we're all going through.....

 

Lugh and I just went to this party hosted by a past client.  He wanted us to get our asses over there and get wasted!  I knew that wasn't gonna happen because I hate being stupidly drunk.  To all you alcoholics and drunks out there: it's not like you don't know how horrible it feels, why do you keep doing it??!!  We didn't know the party was for his gf's birthday and hence we didn't bring any birthday presents, of course.  We had to get out of there not too long after we got there because I could NOT stop coughing, damnit!  I hate being a party pooper! I sound horrendous  It's some sort of respiratory infection and my coughs are not going away for more than 3 weeks i think. 

 

A female friend asked me whether I listened to Tom Leykis Show - I do!  I like it, and so does she!  The guy is hilarious.  I mean, yeah, at first, I thought he was just a pompous women-bashing chauvinist/pig/prick/dickhead/asshole, whose positions on women include "hit'em and quit'em", "belong in the kitchen", "shut up or get out", etc.  Well, he IS all those, but he's indeed quick-witted, very articulate and funny as hell!  Most guys that call in are losers, no doubt.  But I'm always amazed at how ridiculously stupid the female callers are - and i'm telling ya, it's not because of the call screening!!   They make negative comments, accusations, and generalizations about him, yet can't even cite ONE specific example to substantiate them when asked to do so.  Most of them call in to bitch and moan and complain and try to put him down, but most of them don't have a sense of logic and can't argue for crap and in most cases end up agreeing with him or proving his points   And that is ridiculous yet very entertaining.  There're also a lot of women calling in to show their admiration toward him, which further reinforces his positions on women.  Women just love "bad boys" - the badder men get, the more attracted women are to them.  It's funny how "hate" and "love" are so closely related and intertwined.  Now I know the women who happen to be reading this all think that they're not one of those women .... And you're right, you're not

My friend in Maryland finally got her AKK - Alaskan Klee Kai!!  It's a new breed that only has less than 20 years of history - miniature Huskies!  There are 3 groups: under 5 lbs, 10 lbs, and 15 lbs fully grown.  They're just the cutest things ever!!  As i'm writing this blog, he's on her lap sleeping and farting - she's telling me that she's knocked out by multiple farts   He's 9 weeks old now and his name is "Lang Lang" - Wolf.  Well, maybe "stinky wolf" would be more accurate     Enjoy the pics