Hot Humidity

So nothing new is going on at work. The summer is coming to an end and I am going to miss being with all the dogs. These past few weeks have been brutal for the dogs and I. I can't imagine being in the heat and play in this heat with a fur coat! Thank God for the pool. It really helps.

Steve came by on one of the days of his 2 week vacation to hang out with the dogs. Note the husky (border collie mix) leaning. He gets so jealous if I go near anything: human or canine. he leans and blocks people. We gotta work on whos top dog with Bell. Because when he is staying at the kennel, I'm def. beta. He loves me and listens to whatever I tell him, but this protection thing is a little ridic. (I am secretly loving it though. Labs are not protective so I've never experienced this before).

Ginger the Chiwinnie. This is a WHOLE LOT of little dog. Chihuahuas and Dachshund are 2 very brave breeds and putting them into 1 dog makes to me, the best gaurd dog. I would feel safer with a chiweenie than with a German Shephard. Ginger is also what I like to call, "smooshy". This just means that when I hug them, they just let me squeeze them as much as I want and don't squirm. 

Cleo chillin on the stump. She is so funny because whether it's in her pen or in a yard, when ever I look at her, her back is to me. Too funnny!

Hattie the Grey Hound rescue. She is so funny. LOVES the pool. She was in a side yard and was laying in the (empty) pool. Because there was 20 dogs in the main yard, i couldn't go into the side yard. So I filled the pool from 15 feet away and got about 1 inch in the pool. Hattie was very thankful for her little puddle.

The week of the Labrador Retriever

Everyone knows that American's #1 dog is the Labrador Retiriever. And if you don't just look around. Labs are EVERYWHERE. This past week we got a ton of labs. I had just finished complaining about how all we get are black and chocolate labs and then we suddlenly for hit with 5 yellow labs! This week was very busy and as always, a blast!

The dogs enjoying their new pool.

A rare breed came to  stay a night this weekend. and  to make things even better! they're 12 week puppies!

Bode and Tellie. We think that they are not pure  bred Catahoula Leopard Dogs. I went to AKC's website to search for the standard and found that they are not AKC certified so it was hard to get any information on the standard. Bode was born with a tail and Tellie was born with a little nub. We found out that the owners went on petfinder.com and searched for australian shepards and found these 2 little guys. so I'm thinking they are part aussie-which would explain Tellie's tail.

Missy and Beau. They aren't from the same family so I had to take a picture when I saw how cozy they were being.

Holding hands

This is Amber. She is laying  under my chair because apparently sitting in front of me wasn't close enough for her.

I love her smile.

This is Gunner. Isn't he the cutest thing you've  ever seen? He's still a puppy and sure acts like one! But considering his age, he has great manners! His nose is so cute. He'll grow into it...eventually.

I have a few videos to come soon.

Busy at Work

This week at work has been crazy. So much to do. I come home from work, eat dinner and then go to bed. I've even started napping during my break. The heat gets to everyone, including the dogs.

Lady Godiva playing in the pool

Nick and Nora. LOL sounds like a show. Nora doesn't do too well with other dogs so Nick was keeping her company while doing some paperwork. She sat next to him on the stump for hours. It was so cute!

This is Bella. She is a very well-behaved white cock-a-poo. Before taking this picture I caught her digging. I told her to stop and she did. 2 minutes later I turned around and she was not digging, but rolling in the dirt. it was too funny!

This is Lil "Bleu" Steel a very sweet Neopolitan Mastiff. She isn't agressive but the other dogs interprets her as aggressive when she tries to play. Poor thing. She's too big for her own good. Her ears and head is SO soft. I love her!

Ok so I have to set up these pictures before I post them. Fruitcake and Dempsey (the boxer) have been best buddies for the past few weeks. Fruitcake was in a very goofy mood yesterday and decided he was going to sit on Dempsey. Dempsey would just lay there for a good 2-3 minutes before making Fruitcake get off of him. It was SO HILARIOUS!

  

 He is really sitting the Dempsey-full body weight.

Now a few videos

 Dempsey rubbing on my leg.

This is Bella. I call her my "real" labrador. She is ALWAYS in the pool and when she sees a hose, she goes crazy. Surprisihngly a lot of the other labs that stay with us don't really have as much of an interest in the water as Bella.

Ok well that is all I have for now. Until next time....

July 4th Weekend

This weekend we have reached full capacity...meaning we have over 30 dogs. It was a crazy day but very fun!

Violet couldn't keep her eyes open

Tucker

Bella

Chaz

Sadie the Goldendoodle

Mikey and Chloe

This is Sassy. She just got here and is already such a joy! She's a co-worker from FSK's dog (John Elsen) So glad to have her!

Bailey

Jack Russell-Beagle Mix

Fruitcake

I know right! My co-worker nick and I can seriously yell at him when he's doing something wrong without breaking down into a chuckle. He's an amazing dog! a total gentleman! He is following in the footsteps of a dog named dempsey.

This is Dempsey. I have posted about him before. He is who I call a total gentleman. He's one of my favorites!

Today's gang

Today was my first day back to work since Sunday morning. Although I enjoyed Monday off, Tuesday and Wednesday were painfully BORING! As you can imagine, I was very happy to be back with my cuddly canines. One of the things I love about this job is that even though I was away for only a few days, when I came back to work there were many new dogs there.

This is Violet. She is a Basset Hound. And a very cute one at that. Not that Bassetts are ugly but they...just... aren't the prettiest breed. Well violet is just as cute as can be. When I took this picture I laughed because I didn't realize that her ears when up like that when something caught her attention! I also love how she's posing. Hilarious I know!

Her ears are just so long! lol!

"No pictures please"

This is Chaos. He is interesting because he's got this big bodly and these short legs. I think he might be a Newfoundland mix...maybe newf border collie or some kind of spaniel?  He literally looks like a miniature newfoundland and man does he have the Newf personality to a T. His "brother" cocoa (see below) was givign all his attention to the German Shephard, Sophie. Choas spend the morning following Cocoa, following sophie, whining. He's such a worrier.

This is Cocoa, Chaos and Belle So ready to go inside.

This is Beau. He is Belle's "brother". The are both Cockapoos and are SO photogentic.

They actually stay still!

This catapillar does not have a name. I'm not even sure he is alive at this point. I have no idea what kind of catepillar but Nick says that those are the kind of catepillars that turn into monarch butterflies. So hopefully, in the future, we will have butterflies everywhere....if the dogs don't eat them first.

My German Shepherd Epiphany!

So this post is for my cousin Allison. My last post in The Dog Whisperer I talked about a white German Shephard named Puppy and how HUGE he was and how I think he might be a wolf hybrid mix like his brother. Allison later messaged me and explained how white German Shephards are bigger than the more popular black and tan. It's very hard to tell because white German Shephards are disqualified so there isn't anything about how they are bigger than black and tan shephards so we're just going to have to take it from my cousin's expertise. So I promised I would take a picture next to him so she could see

According to AKC the standard, The desired height for males at the top of the highest point of the shoulder blade is 24 to 26 inches.

To me, it looks like the highest point of his ear (well the one that stands up) comes up to just above my belly button. But more importantly it seems that the highest point of Puppy's shoulder comes up to the lowest line on my shorts (Look closely).

I double checked and measured how many inches it is from the floor to the bottom line on my shorts and this is what I got:

My conclusion so far: I know puppy is taller than the larger of the AKC standard German Shephard standard (4 inches taller to be precise) and just bigger overall.
The next question to ask is: How much bigger are white German Shepards than the Black and Tan German shephards? (as per Allison's expertise)

Are they really a whole 4 inches taller?

After a little bit of research on the web, I have learned that there are different types of German Shephards that are bred. Kind of the the English and American Bred Labrador Retrievers. This is fascinating!

Here is some information about the different lines of German Shepherds:

International working line- The German Shepherd is bred mainly to gain the working traits rather the looks. Because of this, the appearance of these dogs might differ.

International show line- This line was designed for breeders who are after the appearance of the dog rather than it’s working traits.







North American show line- This line was also designed more for the looks of the dog but with certain variations. These include sloped backs and shaper angulations. There are now debates on whether this line should be considered as a different breed altogether. The breeders of this line argue that though there are great changes in the appearance of the dog, the working attributes have not been changed.

Old-style German Shepherd. The goal for breeders of this line, is to simply bring back the German Shepherd dog to the way it was before. They aim to produce a line of GSD that looks and acts the same as its first ancestors. The old-style German Shepherd differs from the regular German Shepherd simply by its sheer size. The newer GSD is around 24-26 inches tall. The old style German Shepherd dwarfs them by four or more inches. An old-style German shepherd is about 30-33" in height and weighs around 110- 140lbs. The features on the face are the same with regular German Shepherds, but the old-style dogs have larger heads, straight backs, big bones and no extreme angulations on the legs, giving it a noble and more poised look.

My First Discovery
Puppy is an Old Style German Shepard.

Now that I figured out why Puppy was so large, I couldn't help but remember what my cousin said about how White German Shepards are bigger than black and tan shepards. So to come full circle, I asked myself the following question:
Why are White German Shephards larger than Black and Tan German Shephards?

What I Found:
Based on the AKC standards and basic genetic knowlege, think it is fair to say that white German Shephards are larger because AKC does not recognize the white and breeders make sure that their bitches and studs do not both carry that recess gene when breeding so that that they do not increase the chances of having any of the "undesirable" white.

My Conclusion
It's not that White German Shephards are larger than black and tans. It's that Black and tans are actually  smaller than whites. It is clear that White German Shephards have more conentrated old style phenotypes compared to the diluted black and tans.

My Reflection
It is so scary how much a breed can change by adding more "desirable" traits and breeding out the "undesireable" traits. We had a yellow lab puppy the other  day with amber eyes. Unfortunetly in the process of adding and subtracting, things  I have started to see some funky looking labs. One time I saw a yellow lab puppy in a pet store with BLUE eyes. BLUE EYES! The second I layed eyes on him, my stomach sank. it is SO sad to see. I don't know enough the GSD as well as I know the Labrador, but I wonder if some GSD experts think that GSDs are "inbred". Not  in because they have amber or blue eyes, or are weird looking, but because they have strayed SO far from the Old-style. So much so thay it could be considered a separate breed in itself. If you think about it, the labrador and the chesapeak bay retriever look almost identical. Very different in terms of their personality, but are very separate breeds none-the-less. I think that the AKC should consider White German Shephards as a separate breed. They could be called the Old German Shephard. This would make the White Shephard fans happy because they would finally be in the AKC, while keeping the die hard black and tan lover happy by creating a separate breed.

Thanks to Paradis Creek German Shepards

http://pcgermanshepherds.com/index.php

*Just a side note: through doing research on german shephard genetics, I discovered another kind of German Shephards called "Blue" German Shephards. These dogs keep their blue eyes for up to 12 weeks of age and then their eyes turn a amber. There are other traits as well but that's another post in itself.

Busy at the Kennel

Hey everyone so I know it's been a while since I posted. I have been working my BUTT off! So alot to catch up on. I am just going to post pics of the recent dogs for now.

This is Dempsey. I call him my gentleman. He gets along with all people and dogs (even the dogs who can't be with other dogs). He is so patient with me. He waits for me to put the lead on his whenever I need to put him in his pen or put him in a yard. He never jumps, he always stays in his pen when I have to feed him. He's just an all around great dog.

This is Gunner. I only got to spend a few hours with him before he had to go home but he's obviously a puppy and is SO cute! His owner's son is about 5 years old and it was SO cute to see Gunner and the little boys reaction when they were reunited.

This is Diesel and man did he give us a workout. Diesel wouldn't go in his pen or and yard without throwing a fit (literally) he would either just lay down on his side or jump in the air and land on his side, as if he were a toddler throwing a tantrum. He eventually cooperated to the point that we didn't have to stop everything to get him to do anything so it all turned out ok.

This is Stoney. I knew that when I took this picture it would be hard to see him but he reminds me SO much of Steve's old dog Max. He's has the same happy go lucky personality and the same bark.

This is Ginger. She is the first tea cup Chihuahua that I have had the pleasure of working with. she is just SO tiny and very timid. I don't really blame her. Everything is just SO much bigger. when I hold her her ribs feel about the size of chicken ribs. She's still a little scared still but I'm sure she will come out of her shell later in the week and show that HUGE Chihuahua personality that they are so well known for.

This is Jake. He is a Papillon. I remember reading that papillon is French for butterfly (or something like that). You can't see it in Jake's picture but when their ears are up the long hair on their ears resemble butterfly wings. He is timid and a little irritable. He does not like Nick (my co-worker) to much but seems to be warming up to Sharon (my boss) and I. Like Ginger, he will be more of himself a little later in the week.

This is Buddy. He is a very happy (and heavy) guy. He always has a smile on his face.

This is Molly. Don't you just love the name? She was perfectly named. Doesn't she just look like a Molly?

This is Cee Jay. Cee Jay is a cocker-a-spanish-a-boy. He's an old man and is just a cool dude.

This is Chetsworth. He is a husky/wolf hybrid mix. He is probably the top 3 sweetest dogs I have ever met. I have a video of him since he is such a rare breed and will post it as soon as I can. He looks like a wolf and howls just like a wolf. He is just SO cool and not nearly as intense as I thought he was going to be.

This is Puppy. Yes, puppy. He is in the same pack as Chetsworth. This is one of the biggest dogs I have ever seen. his owner says he is a german shepard but I would put $500.00 on it that he is also I wolf hybrid mix. He is just a little bigger than chetsworth, has the rough fur like chetsworth and actually howls much more than chetsworth. He truely is a big puppy and a pleasure to be around.

This is Sophie. I'm sure I've posted pictures of her already but she's my favorite right now and is just so cute! Her family comes to pick her up tomorrow. I am going to be so sad.

This is Roxy. She is a Weimaraner, inside and out!! When she first got here last Saturday, she had SO much energy and was constantly jumping. I swore she was going to be the one to know our fence down. Its incredible how large this breed is and how much energy it has. It can be a disaster if that energy is not released. She has since calmed down. By the end of the day she is so worn out from playing all day that she doesn't even get up when I walk up to her pen. This job never ceases to amaze me. The most hyper dog at the kenel and she doesn't want to get up when I stick a camera in her pen. It seems like she knows I'm taking a picture of her and she's posing for the cover of Dog Fancy