Dogs!

"Throw the ball. Please, throw the ball! Throwtheballthrowitthrowitthrowit!"

I figure it's been a while since I posted about my dogs, and you were probably losing sleep, wondering what was up with them!

It's been pretty rainy here in Northern California, so the dogs have felt pretty cooped up. Cabin fever was definitely in the offing! On Monday, there was a break in storm fronts, so I took them around the corner to a local neighborhood park, ball launcher in hand.

Those of you who don't own German Shepherds (you poor, poor dears!) may not be aware that the vast majority of them are ball-obsessed. It's what happens when you have dogs with high prey drives, which is what many, though not all, of the Shepherd lines are bred for. It's what makes them great K9s and Military Working Dogs, along with their keen minds and natural sense of protectiveness towards their families.

My Sam and Coda are no exceptions to the ball-obsessed Shepherd stereotype! Sam is always on high alert, and when he takes after the ball, he pins his ears flat to his head and tears after it for all he's worth! Coda is a bit more relaxed about it, but still does a darn good game of fetch.

Although, they do things a bit differently when they're fetching together versus when they're just one on one with me or Mr. ShellHawk. 

As you can see in the below pic, Coda just wants to chase the dog who chases the ball, in order to be a noodge. She's really not all that worried if she gets the ball or not, as long as he doesn't have it. Kind of like that unwritten Dog Law: All balls are my ball, even if I don't want them!

She's a total nag. And even if he gets it, she'll often just take it from him, and he lets her!

Hopefully, the video will play alright, even though it's not the best clip in cinematic history!

They came home happy and tired, just as it started sprinkling again. That evening and all the next day, it was pouring! I'm so glad I got them out of the house!

Sam is four, and will be five in April. Coda is two and almost a half. I can't believe how quickly they've grown and how fast the time has gone!

Five weeks old and adorable!

All grown up. D'aww!

Face-hugger: GSD edition!

I still can't believe she was this small! She's 91 pounds, now, and
bigger than he is!

How could you not love the German Shepherd head tilt?

Dog snuggles are pretty much the best.

Dogs are just the best, aren't they? 

Fur Kids

So now that I've written an utterly depressing post, I feel compelled to give you guys a little happy from my life.

As you know, we lost Josey last year, just before Hallowe'en (which was extremely inconsiderate of her!). Coda, our "new" black German Shepherd, came to join us shortly after, from Westside German Shepherd Rescue. I posted a couple of pics when we got her, but not too many since. Here's a collection of them, celebrating her becoming a year old and a month more...

On the way home from Los Angeles.

German Shepherd: Face-hugger edition

 She was a very girly love-bug from the start, I have to say. Cute and knows it!

With partner in crime, Sam, who is still my tiny little puppy, even though he's 85 pounds!

I happened to walk by this photo op, and couldn't resist taking this shot.
How darling is our girl? :)

"Of COURSE I'll smile for the camera!"

 She is definitely the apple of our eyes. Always happy and smiling, sweet and loving. We really scored with this one!

Oh, and? We're guessing she's around 100 pounds, now. She's about 1 1/2" taller than Sam! And still clonking her head on tables because she's not used to being so tall and keeps trying to run under them without ducking her head! Totes adorbs!

Yes, I DO Torture My Dogs

One of them, anyway.
I was taking down the Christmas decorations the other day, it being the first day I felt slightly better from my cold, and the wreath went so well with his black fur. I couldn't resist! Yes, this is the dog that blew his knee out a few months back, but pity doesn't play much in this household!

 He is not the sharpest tool in the shed, but he knows when he's being made fun of. (He also is not a smart man, but knows what love is.) Below, he refused to look at me for the second shot. Seriously, I kept calling his name, and his ear would flick towards me, but he would not look at the camera! In the background, our Shepherd is concerned that she will be called upon for similar humiliations. After all, when he gets a bath, she gets one right after, so what else could she expect?

Because I am utterly insane, it looks like there will be a new addition to our family towards the end of March or early April. No, I'm not pregnant-that passed me by and I'm kind of relieved it did. Nope. We're going to get a puppy.

Our girl, staying warm in a patch of weak winter sun.


Both my current kids are rescues. My shepherd was about a year and a half or so when we got her from German Shepherd Rescue in Orange County. Some jackass had tied her up in the backyard and then moved away, leaving her without food for around ten days, give or take. She was still lactating, full grown and only thirty-eight pounds when we got her. Now, she's around nine years old and weighs in at a healthy 70 pounds.

Mini-rant: Please, people, would you do your research on your dogs before you adopt? DO NOT have a couch-potato lifestyle and expect a high-energy dog to match your energy level. You'll make the dog and yourself miserable, and you'll probably get rid of the dog. Of course, you could say the dog was crazy, but what's crazy is expecting a dog to act against its breeding. If you can get Animal Planet, there's a series called "Dogs 101" that will give you all the info you need to make an intelligent decision about what dog is right for your life. You can also go here, here and here for more info on dog behavior and how to pick a dog.

Our shepherd is smart, funny, and full of personality, she is convinced that our Lab mix is her dog toy. Since we're still rehabbing him (no, we did not go for the $3800 surgery for his knee, because he's eleven and a spaz who will only tear up the surgery, anyway), he can't play with her without undoing his healing. So, she needs a pal. We had planned to get another shepherd, anyway, because they're so smart, and this way, we get her help in raising our new little guy, and we figure our Lab (a.k.a. The Dog) will be less threatened (and less likely to hurt himself) by an eight-week old male coming into his territory than a full-grown dog he'll feel the need to fight with to assert his dominance.

I want to point out that this idea was originally my husband's. He's mentioned getting another dog several times since The Dog or El Doggo (not his real name, either) was injured, but I refused because I was so busy. Mr. ShellHawk works some very long hours, so the responsibility for training and assimilating a new pack member would fall to me, and I just couldn't add one more thing.

Who am I kidding? I still can't, but I will. I can't let our girl's talents go to waste, and she will be a big help in teaching the new dog how to behave. Since she was a mommy, and also is very social with other dogs, I'm sure she'll enjoy her new role.

I went back and forth with the rescue vs. breeder thing. We got lucky in some ways with both our rescues. Neither one of them came with food-aggression issues, they're both great with kids, and they're both very patient, sweet dogs. (Note the earlier picture of the wreathed and lit black dog... I still have all my fingers!) But there were some issues with El Doggo because it seems that no one did a damn thing with him before we got him at around age five or six.

He's stubborn, clingy, and pushy, and (for instance) even after having worked consistently with him for the last six years, he barks furiously at the door when the doorbell rings (like we have never corrected him for it, ever) and will not stop when corrected for more than a few seconds. Oh, and do you think that after consistently letting him know that it is not o.k. to charge the back corner of the property to get at the untrained Rottweilers, he would stop? Hell no. Did I mention the back hair coming up every time he meets another adult dog, and the fact that before his injury, we couldn't let him loose at the dog park because he's both an asshole and an idiot? Don't get me started on the barking, either.

I know that Cesar says that the behavior can be corrected when the human knows what to do, and I really agree with this. Clearly, I'm missing something.

There! I admitted I'm not perfect. Please don't tell anyone, o.k.? Thanks.

 Admittedly, he is much better than he was when we first got him, but he's still a hell of a lot of work. We figure he'll settle down three weeks before he dies, if we aren't forced to put him down because of catastrophic injury due to his low I.Q. (He's one of the few dogs in the world who may stupid/stubborn himself to death.) It's just who he is, and we still love him. No dog in the world sits prettier or snuggles cuter in the morning, after all! Shepherd has her own little quirks, but we're better able to handle them because she's smart and not stubborn.

So when the new dog idea came up, I began to think longingly of a dog that didn't come with a load of behavioral issues. With rescues, you roll the dice and hopefully come up with a great dog, like we did with our girl. But I wanted to be more sure this time. I want a dog that can hang out with guests at a party and not try to climb into their laps and breathe in their faces. I want to have a dog that I can leave the garage door open while I'm working and have him calmly in my shop with me while I work. I want to be able to leave the house for a few hours without coming home to the execution of every paper product I own. I'm also looking forward to taking the new pup camping, like I do with the rest of the pack.

I'm willing to work with a dog to make that happen. I'm not one of those people who thinks that the dog should just magically know what it's supposed to do. Though I have a couple of Cesar's books already, I downloaded a couple of his newer ones to get prepped for the upcoming changes. (Because I really needed more to read, LOL!)

I started some research into local breeders and came up with Sprague's German Shepherds, and was very impressed with the training they do with their pups from birth through eight weeks, as well as the research they had clearly done for early dog development. They also have hip and elbow guarantees, which was also a concern of mine. I took a look at their dogs, and fell for Hutch, a very handsome stud. I talked things over with Mr. ShellHawk once more, and then gave Sandy a call and e-mailed her my application form.

Long story less long (holy goodnight, is this post long!), Sandy and I talked for a bit and I found out there are two potential litters to pick from (she's waiting to make sure the girls are pregnant before she makes promises), both due around February 14th. Her prices are very reasonable (though I'm sacrificing a projector I was going to buy for my haunt this year :o() , and there are a few very minor details to iron out, but I think the new Hell Hound will join the pack in April! Maybe he'll look a bit like his daddy.

Hutch at 14 weeks

I can't wait to find out!