Teaching the Shame trick, trying anyway

Apart from training hard for competitive obedience, I also decided to do some trick training, I browsed through my trick training books and decided to go big, I will start with training “shame”, I mean how difficult can it be too teach, Blaez is definitely not a newbie when it comes to training and we do training sessions 5 days out of a 7 day week, he will catch tricks fast, I mean come on this is going to be a breeze! Well that was four weeks ago, we are getting there, slowly!

Before we started I did my research to decide the best way to go about teaching the treat, essentially the trick requires that the dog has to put his paw over his muzzle so that it looks embarrassed or ashamed. I found this video on Youtube that made sense to me"Dog Trick Tutorial: "Cover your eyes!!", you take a small piece of adhesive tape like Sellotape or Scotch tape and fold into a little circle, which you then with your dog in a down position and treats next to you stick the tape on top of the dog’s nose and the moment he rubs it off and his paw goes over his nose you mark and reward, sounds simple enough? Well it isn’t, first the tape didn’t want to stick on Blaez’s nose, and he kept thinking there was a treat in my hand so his head kept going the direction my hand went trying to put the damn tape on his nose, it ended up on his ear, on his head and finally on his nose where it just roll down and fell on the ground without him even noticing that I am sticking stuff all over his head, so day 1 didn’t go so well, but I laughed so much I had to end the session, it was so funny, imagine a dog sitting there all excited for treats and pieces of tape stuck all over him to which he is totally oblivious to.

                                          Piece of adhesive tape

                                          thicker adhesive tape and stickers

My enthusiasm was not dampened by the previous day’s misfortunes so I was back to it with my little roll of adhesive tape, it went relatively the same as day 1 and I got a bit frustrated with tape not sticking so I grabbed a roll of masking tape, yes the whole roll! Now I didn’t bother about making little circles or anything,  I just ripped a piece off that is about 10cm long and stuck it on his nose, well he just sat there with the tape on his nose, looking at me with the greatest anticipation of getting the treat, well that was me finished I just started laughing again, so I poke him where the tape is stuck to him, and he just sits, then I  wiggle the tape and he lifts his paw, finally, so now I stick the tape and after a bit of coaxing he will attempt a swipe, but we were making no progress, so back to the drawing board.

In the book 101 dog tricks by Chalsy and Kyra Sundance there was another version of doing the trick, she takes a big postid and sticks it on the dog’s forehead between the eyes, ok I thought that also makes sense, putting it where it will bother him (partly over his eyes) will make him want to take it off and voila he swipes at it, mark and praise, again not so easy, I found some stickers roughly the same size as posteds and fortunately I had a roll because 1 sticker lasted about three to four sticks then it does not want to stick so well anymore, so I would just move on to the next sticker, but I must say we didn’t really make any progress either, he could give paw before we started this trick and somewhere in the mix of things he decided giving paw is the right thing to do, now it started to feel like we are going backwards as he is starting to confuse tricks, I decided to give the trick a rest for a couple of days and try again the next week.

That Saturday at the dog club I mentioned my troubles with the trick to one of my friends there that said she started the trick but gave up, but she used a rope that she draped over the dogs nose, I thought I might as well give that a try as giving up is not an option! I have spent way too much time on this trick to quit now; I was more determined than ever to conquer the shame trick!

                                          Blaez waiting for a treat, does he even notice the sticker,lol

So Monday we are back at it, week 3 of trying to get this trick under the belt, I get a piece of rope and drape it over Blaez’s nose but that did not work at all, it just fell off especially when he looked down, so then I got the bright idea, something that will stay there, like an elastic band, but I didn’t want something to tight, a hair band will be perfect, I found an old hair band that would do the job.

So I gently but quickly slip over the top jaw nose and almost immediately he pulls his head down and brings his paw over his nose to rub the hair band off, I mark and take the hairband off and treat in mostly one swift moment, he did manage to bite right through the hairband while trying to get it off but at least we are making some progress, he really likes the hairband and gets all excited when he sees it, probably because there is a huge flow of treats that goes with it, but I got him to actually lift up his paw when I pretend to put the hair band on his nose, so yay for that, we are going slow but hopefully one of these days he will do it, I would appreciate some ideas or experiences on how to teach this trick J

Obedience competition doing A-test

As I said I felt it was time for Blaez and I to move up to the next level in competitive obedience which is A-test, the differences between Novice and A-test is longer stays, doing the down stay out of sight, scenting with no decoys and of course doing one heelwork course of lead no talking to your dog, the only time you may talk to your dog is when you step of from a stationary position and you may say dog’s name + heel, that’s it, the off lead is no problem but the no talking can be a bit tricky.

With all our hard work, training at home and at the club focusing on our heelwork I finally felt confident enough to try out a show, so off we went to our first show which was an open show, we had to be there really early to enter and after all the formalities was done it was waiting for the judge and steward to get there and get the heelwork course ready and then all the competitors had to draw a number to see in what order we had to go into the ring, I drew number 6 out of 7 competitors, second last not so great I like to be in the first few not, number 1 of course but 2,3,4 around there, but anyway we had to deal with number 6, by then I started stressing again, I can work myself up so easily, by the time it was our turn I felt my stomach turning, honestly I can’t say why I was stressing so much, the more I would tell myself it is just for fun the more I seemed to be getting worked up, I just took a deep breath and entered the ring, well I will tell you up to this day of competing in obedience I have never had such a disastrous  heel course, I mean it was a catastrophe from the moment I set off, Blaez just was all over the place, he went wide and lagged, at one point he was sniffing the judge then he left the ring and ran towards the car, I called him back and he came but it was not 2 seconds later and he headed off towards the car again and went and sat all nicely next to the car, I called him back again and decided I lost all my points I might as well talk to him, so the bit of heelwork where I encouraged him we did perfect, I was so mad at him but after I cooled off a minute or so later I realized he must have started stressing as well, not knowing what was going on, picking up my state of emotions and then I was ignoring him on top of it, he must have felt confused and needed reassurance, that is why he ran to the car, something familiar where he felt safe, at least that is what I think.

Anyway the stays went fairly well, the sit stay no problem but the down stay was out of site, I could see he was looking for me but he stayed down, we had a 5 min down stay and at 4:23 min he sat up still looking to see where I might be, but he didn't move or run off which is a good thing for his first time at an unfamiliar location, his scenting was almost perfect dropping the scent article just as he got to me but it was the right one that is the most important thing and the dumbbell was great, you see when we decide to stuff up we do it completely, go big or go home J

Just goes to show how our emotions can influence our dogs and I think with more competition experience we should be well on our way again, also practising more  at unfamiliar and different places can also only help, fortunately for me  there was no photo evidence of my embarrassing show moment this time.      

Training a dog

Dog training has so many different meanings to different people depending on what you want to achieve with your dog and there are so many facets to dog training methodology and then the terminology can be just as confusing if you are just starting out. Each training method seems to have its own set of terminology, wading through it seems daunting and each new training method comes with a set of books and DVDs that is if I might add quite expensive. I try to collect where I can to read or watch but there is just too big a variety.

Training a dog for home obedience is totally different to training for competitive obedience just as competitive obedience is totally different to IPO (International Regulatory Examinations) or Mondioring which in turn is totally different to dog agility and so on, you get the picture. Some of the training methods do overlap and those trainers can share and develop basic dog training methods that each can build upon, clicker training is one of the more recent methods the older methods were more rough as you might say.

When I adopted Blaez I wanted to start his training in the best possible way to hopefully one day reach Champion level in competitive obedience with him, big aspirations I know. I was never a big fan of clicker training I can’t really say why and out of experience I also knew that training a dog to do it out of love does not work either, maybe for home training but not competitively. For me food training was the way to go but where to start. There were some members of our club that did IPO sport with their dogs so after a very insightful conversation I was introduced to the Michael Ellis dog training method, I was lent some DVD’s and started watching the very same night, wow I was enthralled, I liked his method of training and it made sense to me and something I was willing to try with Blaez. I studied the first DVD, which was called “The power of training dogs with food” and the one after that “The power of playing tug with your dog” although Blaez does not really play tug I still learned a lot from that DVD, armed with my new knowledge and enthusiasm I started training Blaez.

                                                  Michael Ellis DVD from www.leerburg.com

With this training method which  in my opinion is a step above the clicker training method there firstly is a lot of groundwork to do, laying a good foundation in dog training for sports is actually very essential and if you have a puppy it is great because through it’s growing stages you can lay the groundwork, then at about six or seven months you can start with the serious training. I had an older dog though not an adult yet but 5 months old already and the great thing is this method can be used at any age. How it basically works is the same as clicker training you have a marker that marks behaviour you want, as soon as the dog does what you want  you mark it, but with this method not a clicker but a word, like “yes” you can use any word but I found “yes” to be the easiest, you work the dog up to react to this word and then you can lure him into doing what you want him to do, unlike the clicker where you mostly start of by waiting for the dog to sit etc. With this marker you can also work distances away from your dog and train send a ways over long distances, which is great, because Blaez was already 5 months old when I got him our training started late but I didn't mind and starting out slow and doing things right was more important than just blundering into every show. You start out by training with food and then as the puppy and you progress you start with the tug, only after the puppy has teethed do you start with actual heelwork but teaching your dog to stay engaged is fundamentally important so that by the time you get to the heelwork part your dog is so geared up to work.  

                                               Blaez happy as ever in the heel position

 I taught Blaez the dumbbell Michael Ellis’s way and it worked wonders, I must say I love this method, I do change here and there obviously as all dogs are different and if I see something that is not working so great with Blaez I change it a bit but most importantly he loves to train and I think that is where the main difference comes in, this is a very positive way of training and the dogs love it thereby giving 100%.

                                                         Blaez holding the dumbell

It took us a couple of months to get up to standard and I started Blaez in novice class as he was doing quite well and I didn't see why we had to go one class lower and do non-competition, if I pay then I want to compete full on, our first show Blaez received 94%, that was so wonderful, I was so proud of him considering it was his first show and in new surroundings and everything, this is the trend that we followed in novice always in the 90%’s and this year we moved up to A-test, so excited. We had a slow start and then a huge setback time wise when Blaez’s stomach was not at all well, but we are back on track now finally and hopefully a mean team!        

For more information on Michael Ellis's DVD's visit http://leerburg.com/ they sell a lot of dog training equipment and training books and DVD's, it is also a really great website in general to get tips and help with training, they have a lot of articles and a forum that is very helpful.

To dog agility or not dog agility

As I mentioned in my previous post Menchi has a habit of embarrassing me, actually going out of his way to do it, well that is what it feels like anyway and he always has this look on his face like he is the victim so you can’t really stay mad at him.

Menchi was also the first dog I trained and started dog agility with, we did quite well and he enjoyed it but typical terrier he also had a very lazy streak doing only what he felt like doing, so if he didn't want to jump then he would just refuse, this he mostly did  with the A-frame, for those not familiar with dog agility equipment, the A-frame is a big upright structure with two sides, usually wooden where the dog is supposed to go up one side and then down the other side, it is also a contact obstacle meaning that there are marked areas on the bottom of both sides where the dog must touch going up and down, the dog obviously loses points when he jumps over these marked areas.  Menchi did do the A-frame after a couple of tries where I had to run back shout Menchi A-FRAME!  He would just stop in front of it, I tell you some days it felt like I ran that course three times before we got to the end of it with him stopping at every second obstacle and we had to do it over and over before moving on to the next obstacle and other days he did a clear round and everybody was amazed, maybe he thought he needed to keep me fit.

                                     A typical dog agility A-frame photo courteously from http://agilityagogo.com/

Eventually I decided that the time was right to start entering competitions, our club had an open show coming up, so I decided it would be the perfect début into our amazing agility career ( I was very optimistic then) and did some extra training and preparation before the show that was on the Sunday. By Thursday I had butterflies in my stomach but Saturday was our last show training session and all went well so I felt a little more confident.

Sunday the big day finally arrived and I was there bright and early, to help the club set up some of the rings and just helping out, the agility judges also arrived early to set up the rings for the agility. To mark out the course and setting it up is quite a long process and a big job, I must commend the dog agility enthusiasts out there, agility is hard work not just the training but setting up courses and equipment, a lot of effort goes into it

 Finally it was the medium beginner dog’s turn, you get to draw a number and in that sequence you compete, but first you get 5min to walk the course and plan your strategy. When it was our turn I set Menchi up at the start, we had the first jump then another jump and then the A-frame the rest of the course I can’t remember as I never even got that far! Ok so this is how it went down, I sat Menchi up and walked over to the other side of the jump, turned and called him to jump, well he strolled right up to the jump and stopped, I called again but he just stood there, looking around casually as if he was out on a walk, I called again in a more demanding voice and could feel my dignity disappearing fast as there was now sniggering around the field probably from the professional agility people, finally Menchi decided to jump over the jump and I just felt a rush of relief although our time ran out long ago and we were disqualified we were finally moving, he jumped over the second jump – great! But then he sniffed his way over to the a-frame, sniffed the a-frame and stood there looking at it, I couldn't handle it any more so I just picked him up and left the field. I ignored him for the rest of the day, I was so disappointed, he on the other hand decided it was time for a nap.

                                         Menchi at the clubs Champ show, he would rather pose 

                                          for a photo than run the course

Next our club’s championship show came up and I convinced myself that we just had beginners stress at the previous show, I must have stressed really bad and it affected Menchi. I entered him got his KUSA papers ready and we or maybe I  was ready for try number two, I was optimistic and Menchi seemed ready the Saturday before the show. I made sure his bladder was empty and he was well rested, our turn finally came up and I put him in front of the first jump and again  walked over and called him, well this time was worse than the first time, Menchi walked over to the jump and stood there, looking around, I called and screamed and clapped and made every possible sound I could think off but he just stood there, I heard the laughing from the agility fraternity again and somebody shouted get on your knees and call him, eventually I gave up and fetched him and left the field, never to return again. That was my very short but very humiliating agility career, I still love agility and still do it with Menchi every now and then at the club just for fun. Maybe one day I will do competitions again but with a different dog, maybe if Blaez is ready I would try it again, I started Agility with him, more for fun so we are going really slow with the training, I’ll see.

Home cooking for dogs

Blaez is such a happy dog and loves chasing birds, barking at Menchi and most of all cuddles, but  about a month after I got him he became ill, he always had an appetite of note but I noticed he didn't have the same amount of energy that he had when I first got him, he was definitely a working line German Shepherd, but it was difficult because I did not know what was normal for him, was he just settling in or was something wrong as he was eating but not with the same vigour as usual, so I took him to the vet. According to the vet he should have been dead or in a coma with severe tick bite fever, his white blood count was very low and he had a bad parasitic infection as well, he went into the hospital immediately but recovered quickly. I felt so bad, he just came from kennels where his previous owners dumped him and he must think I did the same and I was confused, he was eating and playing just a little bit lethargic, even ran around the vets office and ate a cookie the vet gave him, I think the vet was also a bit stumped, never the less rather safe than sorry onto a drip he went and he recovered quite fast and I could fetch him the next day, he was on a whole bunch of meds one of which was Prednisolone, those pills made him worse than what he was when he was sick, he was just lying there and drank gallons of water, a couple of days after  his schedule for the pills ended and the last effects worked out he was back to his usually over the top energy self. I was elated and thought it was over and done with but three months later it all started again, this time I caught it fast about a day after he became lethargic ( lethargic for him means normal for another dog) so off to the vet again, I thought it would not be so bad this time but his blood work showed he was worse than last time, I was shocked but I must say it took the vet ( a different one from last time) about 10 minutes to find the tick bite virus, we waited and waited and I thought it was a good sign but she searched for it until she found one, so the recommendation was to go into the hospital again, but Blaez really was better than the previous time he ate like there was no tomorrow, drank liquids and ran around so we opted to take him home, the vet was not very impressed but I just thought he is eating, drinking and playing, why stuff him in a small crate with a cone on his head with a drip, so the agreement was as soon as he gets worse I would bring him in immediately, well he didn’t get worse what he did get was Prednisolone again and it made him really lethargic, so once the antibiotics was finished I started weaning him off the prednisolone really fast and as soon as he was off that he was back to normal.

 Three months later he started again, this time with diarrhoea  I thought I was going to cry, surely a dog can’t get tick bite fever every three months, I googled and asked but got nowhere, his gums were pale again so that meant his white blood count was low again so I thought I am just going to push his white blood count up a bit before going to the vet so that night I gave him an iron pill, well the next morning he was back to normal, that was weird but I left it there and a month later he became ill again so he got raw liver and he was back to normal, somebody at the dog club said I must rather give him raw liver and I read later that iron pills are bad for dogs so we switched over to raw liver, he developed severe diarrhoea and after a while it became bloody as well, I really was very worried but he just took it in his stride and went on happily, eating, playing etc. He did lose weight with the bouts of diarrhoea, every time he had a dip so to speak he would get raw liver and he was fine again, but I was worried, at this stage and the vets did some tests while I was googling away furiously trying to find out what could be the problem, well the problem was irritable bowel syndrome, either it is hookworm or whip worms or just a genetic thing, so I started changing his food slowly switching to non-allergenic food, then fish and rice, then sensitive stomach every time it was just a week or two then he would start with the diarrhoea, I did find out that he was very allergic to fish, so fish was out, eventually after all my research that I did I decided to try one last thing, to cook his food and cut out all commercial dog food.

Another couple of days of research for the best dog food recipe and I decided on a lady that said she was a K9 nutritionist and she does the third diet, third grains, third protein and a third veg, I also bought Dr. Pitcairn’s book a while back and studied through that, I literally studied anything and everything I could get my hands on as I deemed his diet very important, so I embarked on a cook off for the dogs, obviously Menchi and Shadow would go on the same diet as it would just be easier than giving each separate food and because Blaez had an appetite of note and would wolf down his food and their food in no time and the whole point was to get him off kibble. Poor Blaez was very thin at this stage and I found a recipe that would help him pick up some weight, Satin balls they call it, I decided to incorporate that into my recipe. It was very trial and error about what he can and cannot eat but his diarrhoea stopped almost immediately when he fully started on the cooked diet, I weaned him off the kibble onto rice and bland chicken for about a week and then started adding more of the cooked food into his diet making sure he started with the pumpkin as a vegetable.

 These days he is nice and round and his over the top happy self, he rarely gets a dip and if he gets one I can be sure he ate something he shouldn't have like a dead bird he caught  but then it is only for a day and he is back to normal, he has never had pale gums again and he has a very shiny coat, he always looks like he just had a bath, but I must tell you it is a mammoth task I undertake each month, when payday hits I buy a 5kg bag of rice, I order the meat special from the butcher  and I hit the vegetable market, I did start a vegetable patch but not very good at that yet,  after I get all my ingredients the cook off starts, pots with vegetables and rice and meat on the stove, containers everywhere that gets filled as soon as things are finished cooking and then goes into the deep freeze, I tell you it takes me about a day but then the dogs have food for the rest of the month, which is quite a relief. 

Like I said, It was very trial and error to find the right amount to feed each dog as nowhere out there, there is a definite guide on how much cooked food to feed each dog, but my dog weights are as follows:

Menchi is about 11kg ( a bit overweight) I gave him 1cup of each (Veg,Rice,Meat), he lost some weight about a kilo but is fine now

Shadow is 33kg, I don’t want him to be overweight because of his hips so I started on 2,5 cups each so 7,5cups food but he looked hungry after feeding time so I upped him to 3cups each that’s 9cups food, he lost a bit of weight so I upped him to 3,5cups that’s 10,5cups food and he seems to be fine on that and picked the lost weight up again

Blaez weighed about 28kg, I also started on 3cups each but he was not picking up weight, so upped to 4 cups but he still didn’t pick up any weight so I added another cup to his daily food and now he is on 5cups that is about 15cups of food and he started picking up weight, he didn’t pick the weight up fast, it was slow progress but I think that is better and healthier, he is about 38kg now.

                                           typical bowl of food for Blaez, veggies vary of course

What is Satin balls you may ask, well after I Googled how to get your dog to pick up weight I landed on www.njboxers.com where they had a recipe for satin balls from a breeder, the recipe was as follows:

Ingredients

    10 pounds hamburger meat [the cheapest kind]
    1 lg. box of Total cereal
    1 lg. box oatmeal
    1 jar of wheat germ
    1 1/4 cup veg oil
    1 1/4 cup of unsulfured molasses
    10 raw eggs AND shells
    10 envelopes of unflavored gelatin
    pinch of salt

Mix all ingredients together, much like you would a meatloaf.
Divide into 10 quart freezer bags and freeze.
Thaw as needed and feed raw!

I incorporated it into my recipe but soon realized Blaez could not eat the oatmeal or wheat germ, so when the meat comes of the stove (I cook it so it is just not pink anymore) and it cooled off I add molasses and oil, or sometimes I leave it out and give it daily, 1 tablespoon to Shadow and Blaez each and 1 teaspoon to Menchi, then I also make them the Health powder recipe I found in Dr. Pitcairn’s book, which is Kelp, Lecithin, Vit C, eggshells or calcium and brewer’s yeast, so that is also a very great recipe, Dr. Pitcairns book “Complete guide to natural health for dogs and cats” is really a book worth to have and read for every pet owner especially if you are in to natural feeding and remedies.

I also put about 1 teaspoon of turmeric over Blaez’s food as that helps for inflammation for ore information on the benefits of tumeric this is a nice blog to visist http://ottawavalleydogwhisperer.blogspot.ca , I also sometimes a little bit of coconut oil over their food as well, I know it sounds like much but if you into the motion of things it really is not that bad and is much better than having the dog sick all the time and cheaper than going to the vet permanently and getting him antibiotics and other medication. 

Meet the boys: Blaez

Blaez (pronounced Blaze) is a sable German shepherd almost three years old, another weird name I know, I have a penchant for weird names but when I got him, to me, he resembled a wolf, so I wanted to give him a wolfish name  not just  wolf or something, I like my pets to have unique names so I searched alternate names for wolf in other languages and even tried elvish then I found a website that had old English to English translation and that is where I found the name Blaez, I Googled the name a bit just to make sure it really is  the meaning and it was. Blaez is the Old English word for wolf so I decided that would be the perfect name.

After I got Shadow I still wanted to have a German Shepherd and when Shadow and I got stuck in a rut I spent my days at work (when I wasn't busy) Googling German Shepherd’s I really liked the sable German shepherds and became quite clued up with different types of German Shepherds and where each was developed and breeders in my area, closest province and country, and would see when they had puppies and I would watch the Internet for puppies, not really interested in buying of course, I already had two dogs but a girl can dream cant she! My job is of such a nature that I must always be on the Internet, so when I did not have a lot of work to do I would also spend my time on Facebook and at home at night I would also go on Facebook, one day about mid-November (when business is usually slow) I saw a sable German Shepherd pup at one of the SPCA’s from a town that is not too far away from the town I lived in, I looked at the poor pup and the description read something like “meet Jesse a 5month old German Shepherd, he needs somebody that is willing to spent time with him training or a dog trainer” I thought aah he is so beautiful he will surely be snatched up real fast, hope he gets a nice home. Days went by and I thought he was surely adopted but early December his photo came up again and I felt so sorry and started  wishing I could adopt him, so I sent the photo to my Mom and just said what do you think, to my amazement my Mom answered that I should call and find out if he is still available, wow I phoned and lo and behold he was, my brother was also very supportive (which was weird because he is not a dog person) and took me to go and meet “Jesse”, he was even better looking in real life and he was also quite a big boy, I didn't really take notice of his size at first as he was already five months old, I just didn't want to rush into anything again but the lady working at the SPCA said everybody just walks past his kennel, giving him no notice, even if they try to show him to people looking for a dog they just were not interested which was very weird to them too as he was quite a handsome boy, so I think he was meant for me, my brother said he would pay for the adoption fee as my Christmas gift and the rest is history, I got him before Christmas and spent the period while the club was closed to bond with him. Shadow and Blaez got along like two brothers and now Shadow also has a playmate.

Everything was not  moonshine and  roses with Blaez, I had troubles with his stomach but I will elaborate more about that in a separate post, the other problem was that he did not really know how to play, he was very playful but didn't know how to tug or fetch a ball or anything, his way of playing was grabbing something you have and running away then you must chase him, with a lot of effort I taught him how to tug and fetch, fetch took a bit longer but he got there. The woman at the SPCA said it was an elderly couple that had him and couldn't keep him any more because they were moving, but I think they got this puppy which was cute when he was small and they let him do whatever he wanted, but he grew and grew and grew and eventually they couldn't handle him any more, he was a very active dog so he must have been a handful for them , he came with a voucher that was fully paid for at a dog training club in that area and he had already gone for the first couple of lessons, I never used the voucher but it had a list of his  behavioural problems, it was quite a list but I never experienced any of those problems with him. I decided I am going a total different route with Blaez’s training and did it the Michael Ellis way with a few tweaks and ways of my own, I started him in Novice and we are going to A-test now so finally I am moving up!

Blaez is my big boy as he thank goodness stopped growing but he is quite big for a German shepherd, and because he is sable a lot of people think he is a wolf, but no he is just big, he is also the dog I am actively training now, since I put the other two into semi-retirement.

                                                         Handsome Blaez

Meet the boys: Shadow

Shadow is a 6 year old black typical loveable Labrador, he is so patient and just loves being around people, he follows me around the garden and pushes his head into my arms for cuddles every chance he gets, but also knows when I am busy with something and patiently waits for a gap.

When one of our older dogs passed away I decided to get a dog that I can do competitive obedience with, I always loved German Shepherds but my family wasn’t too keen  as they didn’t want an aggressive dog and German Shepherds have a reputation of being aggressive. I realized that I was not going to persuade them so started researching other breeds and all over the internet and books, Labradors came up as very intelligent, willing to work and excelling in obedience, so I opted for a Labby, but if I didn’t get the breed I wanted I am at least getting the colour I wanted, black that is, I liked the black Labs and starting searching for black Lab pups.

I eventually found black Lab puppies for sale in the newspaper, but it was not from a registered breeder but rather it was either a back yard breeder or someone whose dog became pregnant and now they have to get rid of the pups, anyhow I had to go and fetch my pup in another town about an hour’s drive away from where I lived and when we got there the pups were playing outside, the people selling them didn’t even come out and sent their child out at which point the pups all scrambled inside the doghouse, the boy grabbed the male pup (the only black one left) and handed him over, I gave him a quick check over and he looked healthy enough and that is how I got Shadow. Shadow slept all the way back to the house and when we got home I introduced him to Menchi, when poor Menchi got closer to give him a sniff Shadow gave a cry that sounded like he was being murdered or tortured and Menchi got such a fright that he just turned and ran away refusing to come close to Shadow for the next couple of days. I must just add that to this day Menchi  is not as fond of Shadow as what Shadow is of Menchi. Shadow just loves Menchi, he always checks where Menchi is and if he goes somewhere he  makes sure Menchi is with, lies with him and faffs over him whereas Menchi just ignores Shadow or barks at him as if he is telling him off and does not often  play with him.

I soon realized that Shadow was a very quiet puppy, didn’t play a lot and he was not very naughty, actually he was not naughty at all no digging and chewing or any of the usual puppy stuff, I thought I was lucky. Well now I know a naughty puppy is a healthy puppy, poor Shadow had severe hip dysplasia and because of his bad hips he also had a Hernia in the groin from his hips pulling away, fortunately we picked it up early on and went to the vet, which informed us that the X-ray alone would be expensive and the operation would be an exorbitant amount, they do not accept paying for the treatment in monthly installments or anything in that regard and the only other option would be euthanasia, I was quite shocked but couldn’t afford the treatment right off the bat but was not prepared to euthanize him, having just lost another dog and also one earlier from old age so I took him back home feeling very distraught, my mother thank goodness for her decided there has to be another way and started phoning around until she found that the SPCA in Johannesburg has a clinic, so we got the consultation times and off we went, they were brilliant the place was clean and professional, the veterinarians were both older experienced and new ones fresh from the university, the vet that helped us was an ex-military vet that worked in the military’s dog breeding center and explained hip dysplasia to us very thoroughly, he took an X-ray of Shadow’s hips and showed us exactly what was wrong and that it was not a very good prognoses as both hips were in a bad state, luckily Shadow was not 8 months old yet so they decided to operate and remove the femoral head (the ball shaped part of the leg bone that fits into the hip) and then the tendons would grow around that joint so as to take the place  of that ball joint, they will also only do the one hip but if Shadow is suffering they would then do the other one as well, poor Shadow had to go straight into hospital, unlike other vets if they decide to do something it gets done immediately, no making appointments first.  He had to stay in the hospital for about a week, I could phone every day to check on his progress and wait for the Ok for his release, finally they said I could fetch him the next day and I was understandably very excited. When we got there and all the paperwork and payment (it only cost  about a quarter of what my vet charged and they fixed his hernia and neutered him)was  done I headed towards the kennels, shame the guy walking with me said Shadow cried the whole time and sure as nuts when we got closer to him I could hear him crying I just sped up  and got to him as fast as I could, when he saw me he started crying louder but now it was more like excitement and I must admit I cried a little, still get a little teary when thinking of it. The vet explained again he won’t be able to walk on his paw for a while but after about three months he should start even if we have to force him by putting a sock with a tennis ball on his other paw so that he can’t put weight on it, otherwise some dogs just never want to put weight on the operated leg. His recovery went well and thankfully  he has a full life running , playing and even digging, an unknowing person would never guess he has bad hips.

                                          Poor Shadow back home after his hip operation

Due to the HP (hip dysplasia) our agility career was out of the question as he would never be allowed to jump  and our obedience career had a late start, but he caught up quickly and we flew through elementary obedience and beginners with first and second places and happily advanced to novice obedience and there we got stuck, as good as what Shadow was he lagged in his heelwork and was slow going out with his dumbbell and fast coming back, so every time I lost a lot of marks  and I got a bit frustrated. I realized that when Shadow  learned something he never unlearned it and because of his  hip issues I let him start up slower than other dogs when we started with heelwork and thus he learned to lag, eventually he was so used to lagging that it didn’t matter if I went fast or slow he would just keep the same pace, his stays and recalls were perfect and he also always  fetched the dumbbell but would wander to the dumbbell and then run back, if he would just walk out and back or run out and back I would not have lost marks but no that’s how he did it and so every show was the same. Eventually I just gave up and decided to stop going to shows and rather tried working on our problems.

I can see why they use Labradors for service dogs if you teach them something and they click it, it is in their heads for life! I also decided Shadow is the dog version of Adrian Monk from the T.V series of Mr. Monk, he has so many quirks like he has to have something in his mouth when we go somewhere especially the garden, my mom calls it his pacifier. If he cannot find something close by to pick up, he would obsessively look for something, it could be anything, a stick, toy,rock anything! Another issue he has is that he would decide he cannot walk over a certain spot on the ground and then navigate in big circles to get to the other side of the spot, but despite all of that he is the most loving, patient dog and is a real social butterfly. I know I made a lot of mistakes with Shadow, firstly on how I bought him, I know now that was not the best way to acquire a puppy and that I could have avoided a lot of the problems  if I got a puppy from a proper reputable breeder but then on the other hand I would not have gotten Shadow which I would not exchange for any other dog and he would have ended up with owners that may not have been so determined as what I was and he would have been euthanized or just left to live a life of pain, so for me it worked out fine although I don’t think I would do it again. The other mistake is with his training, he was my first real obedience training dog and I recognize a lot of mistakes I made just to name a few,  not using food as an aid to training  thinking he would do it out of love, well he would but not as enthusiastic as with food,I know there are still some members at the club that has that idea, well to each his own.  Letting him get away with lagging and how important timing is, so I will always be grateful to Shadow for teaching me as much as what I thought I taught him and being there through all my tribulations, I am still learning and consider myself as a newbie but I know a little more now, every day I learn.

                                          Cutey pie Shadow!