summer_jackel: (Default)
summer_jackel ([personal profile] summer_jackel) wrote2009-06-27 06:26 pm
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OMFG puppy

/climbs off cloud of bliss long enough to type coherently/

OK, so I have a new puppy. As of this afternoon. My pack is back up at 5 again. Yes, this was planned. Sort of. In the sense that I was at the 'looking around identifying breeders for a pup in a year or so' stage. I shouldn't even be allowed to look; of course, the right pup in the right place at the right price appeared, and as my ability to look after and enjoy a pack of five is established, well, there's a puppy. Slight imperfection in timing can be worked around. Hyperventilates

I'm pedaling on the deck, watching them all play, because if I don't ride to head off some of this excess energy, I am going to explode with glee or something.

Let me reiterate. Puppy. 8 weeks old.

You will note that no images append this journal posting. I didn't want his first baby pics to be either dirty or just after a bath, and he needed one. (I bathed/did light grooming in college, and partly as a result I have this fetish about clean dogs). Nor have I mentioned his breed, and I think it would be fun to see if any of you guess correctly. I'll give the hints that this was planned, (so the answer isn't a result of random chance), and he is not a wolfdog, a sheltie, or, for that matter, any breed I've ever had. Also, that he will need to grow into that snout.

If you're one of the two people who definitively knows, don't let on. I am actually really interested and curious about what you guess, so feel free to do so early and often .

The little fellow is already adjusting, and he and Coba are, well, playing like puppies. The degree of kindness with which Pryde and Jez greeted the newcomer was really heartwarming. Jez went all wolfy; very ritualistically submissive to me and the pup, wouldn't touch him, and she was about to regurgitate until I distracted her. She's still keeping a wide parameter of us, but it's a happy one. She is evolved to expect her alpha female to show up with puppies this time of year, after all.

The shelties greeted him adorably too (Coba's realization that he is no longer de facto bottom of the household pack hierarchy: priceless), but then shelties almost never quietly and immediately decide to eat other dogs on first meeting, so it's less impressive. Other than the fact that I like raising puppies (I know I'm crazy, yes), that's why any new addition should come to me in young puppyhood; there's no guarantee that Jez and Pryde will ever fully accept a new adult as pack. This is part of why my new pup is not a wolfdog; though it makes me sad in a lot of ways, I've decided to keep exactly one at a time in the future. I love how they are in groups, but I finally decided that I could better enjoy and care for an occasionally aggressive dog if I had only one of them. So there's another clue for you; this breed is more or less a pacifist.

What kind of dog did I get? The more guesses, the faster I'll get pics up...
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[identity profile] summer-jackel.livejournal.com 2009-06-28 02:32 am (UTC)(link)
That's very close. Borzoi is strong on my list of 'dogs I'd love to have some day' and I definitely put serious thought into it, but the pup I brought home is not a sighthound this time around.
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[identity profile] summer-jackel.livejournal.com 2009-06-28 07:16 pm (UTC)(link)
you got it!

[identity profile] summer-jackel.livejournal.com 2009-06-28 02:32 am (UTC)(link)
Not a beagle!

[identity profile] justblieve.livejournal.com 2009-06-28 02:37 am (UTC)(link)
Some kind of Spaniel (the big spaniels.. not like a cocker..) or Setter?

[identity profile] summer-jackel.livejournal.com 2009-06-28 07:20 pm (UTC)(link)
Sporting breeds tend not to be my favorites, but I do love a fine setter. The gordons are my favorites...some day, perhaps my pack will be graced by a regal Gordon or Irish setter. Although that spotted pattern on the English is so cool-lookin'.

As a kid, I had a Brittany and a cocker. Both were nice dogs, but spaniels just don't speak to me on a deep level.

[identity profile] troubleagain.livejournal.com 2009-06-28 02:37 am (UTC)(link)
I was going to guess collie, too. And my other guess was going to be a sighthound. Oh, well.

Preeeetttty sure it's not a lab, though. ;-)

[identity profile] summer-jackel.livejournal.com 2009-06-28 07:54 pm (UTC)(link)
You got it on the collie! Since I love sighthounds so much, they came close.

It's worth mentioning that show collies as we know them (and shelties, by extension) became what they are when aristocratic 19th century breeders crossed working Scottish collies that probably looked a lot like border collies with Borzoi. That gave the collie its height, remote expression and huge snout of wow. Such crosses were nothing new; collie/greyhound crosses called lurchers were commonplace then and are still around. In the earlier era, the lower classes weren't allowed to own hunting hounds that they could use to poach game, so people would breed the farm collie clandestinely to the lord's greyhound for a litter of Sighthounds In Disguise. How many peasants got off the hook back then by saying, "oh no, officer, I wasn't poaching the King's deer, I was just out looking for some stray ewes with my collie here. You seen them anywhere?"

I can definitely see the Borzoi in Chaos.

[identity profile] troubleagain.livejournal.com 2009-06-28 10:45 pm (UTC)(link)
Cool history lesson! :D

[identity profile] canineatheart.livejournal.com 2009-06-28 03:13 am (UTC)(link)
Ridgeback? carolina Dog? Malinois????

gah, I'm dying here!

[identity profile] summer-jackel.livejournal.com 2009-06-28 08:05 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, good choices! I like Ridgebacks a lot, and my mom has a very sweet one, but since I prefer other sighthounds, I probably won't have one of my own.

I am profoundly fascinated by Carolina Dogs and New Guinea Singing Dogs, how they are and what they say about canine and human evolution and culture. In practice, these are very rare and hard to obtain, and I already have wolfdogs, so I doubt I will ever keep one. Malinois are lovely, though I think I like the Tervurens.

[identity profile] bloolark.livejournal.com 2009-06-28 03:27 am (UTC)(link)
Hrm. Big nose. The sort of dog you like.

Border collie. Australian shepherd. Belgian shepherd (any variety). German shepherd.

Apparently I believe it is a dog with shepherd in the name. :)

[identity profile] summer-jackel.livejournal.com 2009-06-28 08:11 pm (UTC)(link)
So close! I like Belgian Shepherds enough to have one, especially Tervurens. Aussies are lovely, and commonly merle, which is a plus, but I don't like how blockily square their profile is. I like sloping, curvy lines, and I never want a dog whose tail has been removed.

My love for that swoopy sighthound aesthetic brought rough collie over border collie. So shepherd isn't in the name, but it's still a shepherd.

[identity profile] chipuni.livejournal.com 2009-06-28 03:30 am (UTC)(link)
Oooooh --- if guessing more breeds will get pictures...

Azawahk!
Basenji!
Bergamasco!
Catahoula Leopard Dog!
Karelo-Finnish Laika!
Komondor!
Mudi!
Norwegian Lundehund!
Telomian!
Xoloitzcuintli!

Now can we have pictures, please?

[identity profile] summer-jackel.livejournal.com 2009-06-28 08:22 pm (UTC)(link)
oooooh, you score big dog geekery points here. Azawahk and Sloughi may be our most aesthetically perfect domestic animal, at least to my eye, and I frequently imagine myself surrounded by a flowing pack of them, sleek and lovely and all the colors of sand.

Catahoulas are awesome, and would help me hunt boar. They were in the running this time. Aggressive, though.

Dreadlock dogs are love, but Komondor are often at least as aggressive as my wolves. Those guys mean business; there's a mastiff with an attitude under the dreads.

Lundehunde are completely, unquestionably awesome. Alas, very rare breed and probably wouldn't be my ideal dog anyway. Still, so awesome. And you get extra props for knowing what a Telomian is.

As for xolos, No dogs without hair, please. ;D

[identity profile] kynekh-amagire.livejournal.com 2009-06-28 03:46 am (UTC)(link)
Do you have a collie? Do you have an eight-week-old rough or smooth collie? OH. Pictures. I must have them.

Devil woman.

[identity profile] summer-jackel.livejournal.com 2009-06-28 03:55 am (UTC)(link)
Why yes, I am the devil incarnate. /fiddles cheerfully/

[identity profile] summer-jackel.livejournal.com 2009-06-28 08:25 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, you've seen my taste in dogs. Would I choose the easy-care, smooth coated version when there was an available variety with way, way, way too much coat?

...I like it Rough.

And yes. I do. Have an 8 week old rough collie. He is snoozing under the stairs right now, being mercilessly cute. Give us a week or so to settle in and bond, and then we need to have us a serious sheepdog shindig.

[identity profile] leora.livejournal.com 2009-06-28 04:02 am (UTC)(link)
I'm glad the puppy worked out. And I know what type it is: cute.

[identity profile] summer-jackel.livejournal.com 2009-06-28 08:29 pm (UTC)(link)
You are so right.

[identity profile] summer-jackel.livejournal.com 2009-06-28 08:32 pm (UTC)(link)
Borzoi probably came in second place, because how I love them. The collie personality is what I needed right now, though. Still: you can very distinctly see the Borzoi influence in Chaos. More detail in my reply to Troubleagain, above. Collies are just aristocratic lurchers.

Les Puppies Royales!

[identity profile] zrath.livejournal.com 2009-06-28 12:46 pm (UTC)(link)


Briard?
Greyhound?
Dogue de Bordeaux?
Mastiff?
Australian Shepherd?
Basset Artésien?
Chien Andalou?
Data dog?


Re: Les Puppies Royales!

[identity profile] summer-jackel.livejournal.com 2009-06-28 08:36 pm (UTC)(link)
Ooooh, dog geekery points to you, too. I am vocal in my love of sighthounds, and who doesn't love a Dogue? Especially if they saw Turner and Hooch? (Heh, of all the genre of Heartwarming Dog Films, that one is probably least guilty of providing an unrealistic view of its breed).

[identity profile] raveness-d.livejournal.com 2009-06-28 01:57 pm (UTC)(link)
Another vote for Rough Collie.

[identity profile] summer-jackel.livejournal.com 2009-06-28 08:36 pm (UTC)(link)
bing!

[identity profile] aeroflash.livejournal.com 2009-06-28 03:59 pm (UTC)(link)
My first thought was Collie, as well (rough, if you want specifics). Because I know how his snout his, and mine hasn't grown into his ever!

[identity profile] summer-jackel.livejournal.com 2009-06-28 08:36 pm (UTC)(link)
You got it! Aww, you have a collie too?

[identity profile] summer-jackel.livejournal.com 2009-06-28 08:45 pm (UTC)(link)
Saluki came in a very close second, along with Borzoi. Collie won out because that's the personality type I'm enjoying in a dog right now.

Looking at the little fuzzball in front of me, the sighthound-influenced physiology is really obvious. Rough collies are what happened when Victorian aristocrats crossed farm collies into borzoi because the results were so darn pretty and elegant. I find it rather hilarious that this echoed what the peasantry had done in prior generations, breeding their collies to illegal greyhounds so that they could more easily poach game.

[identity profile] oldewolfe.livejournal.com 2009-06-28 06:43 pm (UTC)(link)
Not a sighthound..
Pacifist..

Bloodhound?

[identity profile] summer-jackel.livejournal.com 2009-06-28 08:46 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, I love bloodhouds. I definitely oooohed over some bloodhound pups before I chose a collie.

[identity profile] troubleagain.livejournal.com 2009-06-28 10:49 pm (UTC)(link)
Pacifist? Really? I knew a guy with a very aggressive bloodhound. Maybe it was just his.....