Yippy New Year! With JackelPack pics.
Jan. 1st, 2009 05:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
summer_jackelFirst day of 09, I cleaned the heck out of the house, which as a result is now much more liveable. I then brushed out all four hounds, who were bathed yesterday, and now they are all preeeeeeety. Hiking with them today, I got a lot of compliments on how beautiful they are, and I narrowly refrained from replying cheerfully, "Thanks! I spent about two hours brushing them out and finishing them this morning, they'd better be." Aaah, double-coated dogs...
Pryde took the lion's portion of that brushing, not only because he likes to insert himself between the brush and any other dog but because for some reason he is blowing his coat over a month too soon. I wonder if it is the unseasonable warmth we've been having, although his coat-blowing has always been slightly off season. I also trimmed Coba's wee adorable little paws and stifles for the first time.
Ah, Coba. His cuteness is obvious; less so from pictures is what a...unique...little dog he's growing into, smart and sensitive and gently quirky. For instance, I have never had to ask him to refrain from chewing on the same object twice, and he has yet to destroy anyhting. (unheard of among puppies!) He likes to arrange his toys at the foot of my bed, carefully and with great deliberation. He is also very fond of moving laundry around, though again he never chews on it, just moves and arranges it. Sometimes he naps near or on his collection, and sometimes he just watches it for awhile, occasionally changing something. He is particularly fond of my brother's socks, and will use great subtlety and craft to obtain them.
It occurs to me that this may be early signs of herding instinct. Strangely enough, I hadn't given that much thought; I was looking more for pet/potential show than actual ability to do the thing the dog was originally bred to do. Since many shelties haven't been actual working dogs for generations, herding instinct varies drastically in the breed. Rogue, for instance, likes to see all of her pack members near one another on walks, but that's the extent of it; she probably could be taught to work sheep if you really needed her to, but I don't think she'd be great.
This prompted me to ask Coba's breeder if there were any herders in her line, and though she does not train or breed specifically for it herself, it turns out that Coba's paternal uncle holds big titles in herding and agility in addition to his championship. So I might have an actual potential sheepdog on my hands. Someday I really want to have a small flock of shetland sheep (they are also very small and fluffy) and a sheltie who can herd them, but alas, I have no sheep any longer. I DO, however, have ducks. And you generally start a sheepdog puppy on ducks.
Stay tuned, people; I may just have a new hobby.
The menagerie and I wish you and all of your menageries a wonderful 2009.
Pack shots, 2009.
Coba: "What is this 'Stay' thing of which you speak? It seems quite boring." Rogue: "No, you want to do it. The sooner she gets done with this dumb camera thing, the sooner she'll let us get up and sniff again."
Why yes, my muzzle IS very long and pointy, thank you. My human says that my genetics were carefully selected for that feature, but I don't think I quite understand. It does let me move several socks at once, though, and that's really useful.
The dogchild parfait.
Pryde: "YAWN. Growing all this fluff is all in a day's work."
When I say that Pryderi is blowing out his coat, I may understate the magnitude of the event. That isn't snow, under him.
Pryde took the lion's portion of that brushing, not only because he likes to insert himself between the brush and any other dog but because for some reason he is blowing his coat over a month too soon. I wonder if it is the unseasonable warmth we've been having, although his coat-blowing has always been slightly off season. I also trimmed Coba's wee adorable little paws and stifles for the first time.
Ah, Coba. His cuteness is obvious; less so from pictures is what a...unique...little dog he's growing into, smart and sensitive and gently quirky. For instance, I have never had to ask him to refrain from chewing on the same object twice, and he has yet to destroy anyhting. (unheard of among puppies!) He likes to arrange his toys at the foot of my bed, carefully and with great deliberation. He is also very fond of moving laundry around, though again he never chews on it, just moves and arranges it. Sometimes he naps near or on his collection, and sometimes he just watches it for awhile, occasionally changing something. He is particularly fond of my brother's socks, and will use great subtlety and craft to obtain them.
It occurs to me that this may be early signs of herding instinct. Strangely enough, I hadn't given that much thought; I was looking more for pet/potential show than actual ability to do the thing the dog was originally bred to do. Since many shelties haven't been actual working dogs for generations, herding instinct varies drastically in the breed. Rogue, for instance, likes to see all of her pack members near one another on walks, but that's the extent of it; she probably could be taught to work sheep if you really needed her to, but I don't think she'd be great.
This prompted me to ask Coba's breeder if there were any herders in her line, and though she does not train or breed specifically for it herself, it turns out that Coba's paternal uncle holds big titles in herding and agility in addition to his championship. So I might have an actual potential sheepdog on my hands. Someday I really want to have a small flock of shetland sheep (they are also very small and fluffy) and a sheltie who can herd them, but alas, I have no sheep any longer. I DO, however, have ducks. And you generally start a sheepdog puppy on ducks.
Stay tuned, people; I may just have a new hobby.
The menagerie and I wish you and all of your menageries a wonderful 2009.
Pack shots, 2009.
Coba: "What is this 'Stay' thing of which you speak? It seems quite boring." Rogue: "No, you want to do it. The sooner she gets done with this dumb camera thing, the sooner she'll let us get up and sniff again."
Why yes, my muzzle IS very long and pointy, thank you. My human says that my genetics were carefully selected for that feature, but I don't think I quite understand. It does let me move several socks at once, though, and that's really useful.
The dogchild parfait.
Pryde: "YAWN. Growing all this fluff is all in a day's work."
When I say that Pryderi is blowing out his coat, I may understate the magnitude of the event. That isn't snow, under him.
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no subject
Date: 2009-01-02 03:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-02 03:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-02 04:18 am (UTC)I love the little merle. Absolutely adorable. Is it a sheltie or collie?
no subject
Date: 2009-01-02 04:30 am (UTC)Little Coba-pup is a sheltie. If he stays within the proper height, I plan to show him when he gets old enough.
no subject
Date: 2009-01-02 09:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-02 08:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-02 01:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-02 08:45 pm (UTC)Ooh, I've seen that tool, but never talked to anyone who used it. I use an undercoat rake, a metal comb, a slicker and, for the wolfdogs, a #3 wool card (for dense, heavy fleece).
no subject
Date: 2009-01-02 11:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-02 09:51 pm (UTC)PUPPY NEW YEAR! :D
no subject
Date: 2009-01-03 06:24 pm (UTC)1) If they displeased me, I stood up and ignored them. Pointedly. Not for too long, but enough that they knew they'd been ignored on purpose.
2) "Doggie Zen" - I moved a treat slowly toward them, and pulled it back a bit if they reached for it. Not teasing - just, you don't get the treat if you move for it, and if you don't move, eventually it'll get next to your muzzle and I'll say OK.
3) No teeth on human skin, ever. That would get a "No" (not a NO!! just a "No") and ignored.
And of course
0) No violence ever. No hitting or threatening or discomfort or forcing their nose into messes...
The result of this was that they were very dedicated to doing the right thing, and very thoughtful about what they did with their mouths. Once I wanted to teach them to nose a ball around the floor. I got a new ball and showed it to one of them. She started to mouth it. I pulled it away because I wanted her to nose it. She ignored it from then on - it had become not-toy. I think the other one started ignoring it too.
They would even tell each other not to do things that I'd told one of them not to do. It happened at least once that I saw: I told one not to do something; a few minutes later the second started to do it; the first gave a low "wuff" bark; the second one stopped. I tried the bark myself after that, and it seemed to work.
We taught them not to beg also - actually, we taught them that people food wasn't dog food. We got some yummy-smelling food and ate it in front of them while paying very little attention to them. They were interested for a few minutes, then lost interest. After that, they had no interest in human food.
A year later, I slipped up - I pulled two carrots out of the fridge, bit into one, and gave the other to them. They stared at me, I could see the wheels turning in their heads, and after that they started begging just a bit.
Wonderful dogs - my ex has them and is taking great care of them, and says she's almost telepathic with one of them.
On knitting a wolf-dog: I don't know about wolf-dog fuzz, but it's quite possible to spin chow-dog fur straight from the dog, and even crochet with it. Even with no practice spinning and improvised tools, the fabric held together.