Piper

Dude, how could I forget to post a photo of Piper!

Mo Makes a Visit

Alina sent me a few shots of our favorite merle boy yesterday.

I really liked her report, too – she took him to a nursing facility for a non-responsive relative, but . . .

“The dog made her so alert and happy as we did not see her for a long time.  At one moment (I did not take a picture), he jumped carefully on Arlene’s laps and was kissing her.  She smiled and smiled….

“IT WAS ABSOLUTELY ADORABLE!!!”

He did great with everyone at the facility, no barking, perfect behavior, just a love. Looking at this particular photo I just keep thing, “DANG, is he beautiful or what?” Not like the other puppies don’t do that to me, too, but he is. Can you imagine what he’s gonna look like in two more years? Be still my heart!

She also sent some photos of him on the floor:

So tired, I went to work with Alina today. . .

Oh you saw me, well then, RUB MY BELLY!

She says she is intensely proud of him, just an incredible puppy and . . . “As always:   thank you  for Moto and changing our lives!”

You know what? I bred this litter hoping for hardcore stockdogs for hardcore stockdog homes. (I laugh when I think about Emma and her refusal to jump onto anything or expend any serious energy. My contract says the puppies need to be exposed to stock at some point with a report so that will happen, but dude, I cannot imagine Emma kicking butt on cattle.) Nobody went there (and I have mused about why in other posts, so no wasting time there), but every single person with one of these puppies says about the same thing. It makes me feel wonderful that they are doing exactly what they need to be doing. Yishai makes comments all the time that Rippa is such a light in his life. . .

Stephanie wrote to me about Daca this morning, and my favorite line was: “It is so refreshing to have a super smart, great problem solving aussie again.  Don't get me wrong my others are smart just the not caliber that I came to love of the breed!” When I read this, I went, WEEEEEEE!! EXACTLY!

Spinoff, and I don’t mean the kennel name

Like any good character in a tv show, you stick out enough and become loveable enough to follow, when the series starts getting weaker you get your own . . .

spinoff tv show:

http://dacaadventures.blogspot.com/

 

Enjoy!

And away she goes . . .

Say goodbye to California, Daca-baby.

 

So, after a weekend away in the mountains . . .

Yishai and I met James Sibley in Burlingame (ten minutes from SFO’s airport) at what was ostensibly a dog park. I googled it and assumed that if we met at 8 pm, it would be both dark and vacant of activity. What I did not plan on was how stinkin’ hard it would be to find it – and the dumb bit is, we literally parked right in front of it the first time before we did laps around the area and I figured it out.

The plan was to meet up there with “the family” and see Daca off. Both Yishai and I wanted to see her again (I especially wanted to from an academic standpoint – how she was doing, etc), but also to help the Sibleys get her off to the Meyers. Flying a dog is no easy task, especially when you really don’t want to do it, but you know it’s good for her.

Yishai and I cooed to her in the car, he head tilting back and forth and she got increasingly excited to see us. Jim got her out of the car and she was at first sort of excited and sort of reserved about the whole thing until . . . she decided Yishai was still aces and fell all over him, licking and snuggling into him. The guys laughed that “breeder mom” was getting shunned, but whatever. She took a bit longer to remember me and then it was ON. It’s nice to be loved.

So, once that was done, we reintroduced her to Fury and Rippa. Was a little worried about Rips and she, but that turned out to be groundless:

She had learned, while she was away, the importance of sucking up to her betters and she was very submissive to Fury and respectful to Rippa. We got out the glow-ball and they all had a good round of fetch for an hour or so:

And then Yishai held Fury back, because she is the Fun Police and dogs are not allowed to play on her watch:

Yeah, it looks vicious, but that’s just puppy ballet.

Then I got to hold her.

By now it was about 9 and she had to be in the Cargo Depot by 9:30 to make the red eye. So, we all trucked off and ended up there.

I had warned Jim that the depot was not usually a “romantic’ place to be. They usually just take the dog, ship it off into another room, and that is that. Yishai is still sad he didn’t get a formal goodbye to Moto.

But not at SFO’s Delta cargo. Noooooo, these people were awesome. They made all of us, including Daca, happy campers.

I also really loved what the Sibleys had their daughter do:

It says: “My name is Daca. I am a puppy. I get scared around strangers. Please don’t take me out.”

I’m sorry, but that’s excellent parenting. I have been feeling really bad about taking Daca away from The Family. I have talked plenty to Lisa and Jim about their feelings and tried to make sure they felt good about everything and had good feelings about where she was going, but I never said anything about their kids, though it was on my mind. What a nice way to give her some ownership and some closure on the episode.

Here is the woman that helped us load her up. She was awesome with Daca. She even asked me about a puppy for her family. That’s how good the little beastie was.

Okay, I go to Ohio now!

And with that, I must tell you about her new home. As I said before, I was contacted by Stephanie two days after I placed Daca with the Sibleys. Stephanie is one of those people that has really reinforced my vision about what I was trying to do when breeding – and she asked to be put on a wait list for a repeat litter because no one was breeding exactly what she wanted except me. She’s also the author of the previous post about how a dog like Daca can end up being the best dog you have ever had.

The Meyers family (two boys, a patient husband Bill, and Stephanie) does rescue. From what I get about Stephanie, she’s about as close to a “rescue professional” as you get. And she gets these dogs. All through our conversations she kept saying that Daca just sounded like she was being an Aussie and the fear aggression thing was something she had no qualms about turning around: “Make no mistake, I don’t want her to be friends with everyone. I want her to work in my family, and no one else matters.”

Knowing Daca as I did, this was perfect. I keep saying it, and I still believe it: Daca is fundamentally a pretty friendly little thing, she just had that reserve instinct pushed too far. It was really hard to simply KNOW that she wasn’t wired incorrectly, but that she really needed someone who got that and had a program to work with her on. I kind of got the feeling that as the Sibleys discovered what they had on their hands, they took a more avoidance route with her – but Stephanie is going to be very involved, and so is her husband – that was something she asked of him if she took her in.

Stephanie has a frisbee dog troop in Ohio that’s “staffed” by other Aussies out of her rescue experiences. She has been telling me from the videos the Sibleys posted that Daca’s jumping form is akin to rockstar frisbee dogs and she is excited. I guess I am going to learn something about that as Daca grows. She’s also interested in putting her on livestock, which is excellent because I thought Daca had some good things in her.

Well, I got NO sleep last night between driving four hours from SFO at 10:00 at night and by being nervous about Daca flying and her reception at home, but I needn’t have worried. I knew she would transition rather easily, and she did. Stephanie had bet her husband that she’d be lying in his lap by the end of two days and I upped the ante by promising half a day. Guess who won?

While Daca was understandably afraid at the Ohio end of the flight, she came out of it rather quickly and completely. She, like the night before, went from reserved to lovepuppy on her husband and then followed suit with Stephanie. As she reported to me: “It’s love!” I guess they were moved to tears by her ready accepting of the family. See! Daquiri – breaking hearts in a good way.

Stephanie says she loves everything about her so far and can’t wait to see the full extent of her personality: she’s already been performing tricks for her without snacks (that’s a Tara specialty), tug of war, fetching etc. She likes how she is observant and reserved and comments: “Oh she is such an Aussie . . . I LOVE IT!” On top of that: “She is GORGEOUS!!!  I love her size, her color and color pattern, everything!” Yup, looks like Daca has found her forever home!

Of course, I don’t forget that it took breaking the hearts of two other homes to get her there. It’s been a learning experience for us all. It’s been kind of a heavy gravity day for me – not just over the dog stuff, but that’s definitely part of it. I wish for everyone’s sake it had gone differently. But honestly, given the situation, it could not have gone better if you ask me. From the happy dog park times to the supportive Delta cargo people to Daca deciding that humid ol’ Ohio was not so bad . . . she is a well-travelled dog these days – which is good: she needs to log plenty of air time if she’s gonna be a frisbee champ. And I could not feel better about where she’s landed this time.

I cannot tell you how much love for the people that have been involved with her I have. In a world full of escapism and blame-laying, there was none of that. Just open hearts and minds and all wanting the best for a loveable fuzzybutt. I thank myself lucky to know them all.

Good/sad News

First, how about an adorable photo of Rippa at Yishai’s with her neighbor pal Finley the BC?

They play all. day. long.

Anyway, so Stephanie contacted me today and we’re good to go – she is most likely flying out on Monday. Yishai and I may or may not go to see her off, though I am leaning toward “may.” I am just worried about her being like, “Yay you’re here to . . . put me on a plane.” But I shouldn’t anthropomorphize. She’s gonna go, “Yay! Breeder parents! Woah! Plane! Woah, new family? Well . . . okay then!”

I called Lisa today to prepare her. We talked for a bit and everyone agrees this is the right thing to do. I am excited about giving her to someone who enjoys working with dogs to help them and knows how to. In fact, what’s really cool? New home (I’ll tell you about them when this is a done deal) is thinking about starting a blog to keep us all up to date on what she is doing with Daca.

And I have to say, how cool is that?

I know there are a number of you who do not even have dogs that read this. My learning experience has touched not only the immediate people involved, but all of you. How many people will benefit from my cataloguing this experience now and in the future? And it just keeps moving forward.

And moreover, Lisa and I both told each other today that we were grateful to have one another in each other’s lives, and I definitely feel that about Daca’s first home, too. Nobody feels like they got a raw deal, no guilt, no shame, and there is a lot of love, openness, and learning going on that’s really very healthy. I feel at peace with what’s happened because I feel like, as Lisa said, “Things happen for a reason.” Everyone comes into your life to teach you something, even dogs. I am fortunate in this entire scenario to have been surrounded by reasonable, supportive, essentially loving people who are lights in this world.

All the pain, all the stress, all the fear is worth it when I look at what everyone has gained from this. Especially when I know Daca will be just fine. She’s been well loved everywhere she’s been and she’s adjusted well to every change. I’m grateful for that little adorable puppy. She’s brought a lot of good into my life along with all the bad, and I wouldn’t change it in hindsight because she taught me early and well.

I love what Lisa has said in reaction to the post before this: “I can drive a station wagon or even a high performance sedan but I have come to the conclusion I cannot drive a Ferrari....I am gonna miss my little red Ferrari terribly.”

Loves to everyone reading, even if you do so with judgment in your heart.

Ferraris and Sedans

I said in my last post that I felt like there are some Aussies that are Sedans and some that are Ferraris. I wanted to elaborate a little more about this.

A Sedan is a class of car that gets you from point A to point B. Everyone thinks of Sedans as some kind of curse, but looky here:

This here, my friends, is a BEAUTIFUL high quality, sexy little machine. But it lives on the roads, keeps the family together, and has a little room in the trunk for your goods. If you park it on the street, no one is going to look twice. And you can let your 15 year old with a learner’s permit behind the wheel.

So when I say that some stockdogs are like Ferrari’s, I’m not insulting the Sedans. You gotta be a special person to handle a Ferrari. You have to have the right environment to even consider getting one in the first place, and you have to be willing to be able to learn as you go with it – and be invested enough to do big-time fixing when you mess up and end up in a ditch.

This, my friends, is what I’d say a high-powered stockdog is.

Now, what is a high-powered stockdog? As with everything, there’s a range of dog personalities out there. We have protective, not protective, friendly, reserved, shy, fearful, funny, mellow, even, creative, whatever. There’s a range. With stockdogs, this is also true.

Some stockdog lines are pretty low-power. They get the job done because they work with easy livestock and generally have a lot less instinct and hot-to-work drive than they do “willing to please” drive. They won’t think for themselves and they won’t work aggressively (not mean-aggressive, I mean assertively, with power). These are the kind of dogs that do great on many sheep and ducks but you probably don’t really want to put on cattle. The cattle will call their bluff.

Some are medium-power.

And then there’s high-power. Instinct to work and hot-to-work are about even in the way of “willing to please.” These dog work great on their own because they think on their own. They don’t need handler hand holding if they know what they’re doing. They’ll also ignore their handlers from time to time because their instinct is louder than their training. These dogs are pretty great doing open range work and such because they get the idea and they’ll work it out.

There’s also dogs out of balance who have no instinct to work. Or have no drive to work. Or who have no will to please. I’m simplifying things, of course. There are so many traits that go into making a stockdog (instinct to bite, eye, balance, instinct of position, movement, squaring, fight instinct, man . . . I can list a whole pile of things), that just saying it’s three is stupid. I’m just trying to make a generalize point, though. It’s a perfect storm that stockdog breeders try to get the balance that works for them.

Smaller farms are not going to need the high-powered dog. Most triallers don’t need the high-powered dog. And, if you’re like me, most trainers can ruin the high-powered dog because it is working so hard to work with its instincts, and you are working so hard to work with your commands that it has a hard time figuring out a happy medium and so . . . what was once raw talent is a Ferrari wrapped around your neighborhood tree.

Why am I writing about this? Well, because what’s happened with Daca is the Ferrari-and-the-Tree. Why do I know that Daca’s fear aggression issues aren’t just her? A few reasons:

When I bred Fury, I knew I had a problem with her instinct to control things. When stuff gives her pressure, she moves into it. Not having managed it correctly because, at the time, I was used to driving a Sedan, it became an issue. I didn’t understand the need to move into pressure until I understood what high-powered stockdogs need to have into them: the instinct to move into pressure. If a cow charges Fury, she’ll do everything she can to stop it before she’ll give up. That’s moving into pressure. How many dogs out there will do that? Most turn tail. That’s a key thing about what makes her a born cattle dog. It also makes a heck of a time for a greenhorn like me to manage.

At seven years into our relationship, she and I have it finally dialed. There was a lot of pain and learning along the way. But knowing what I knew, I did a lot to make sure the puppies didn’t have this happen to them: I socialized the heck out of them, I did “puppy torture” (ie, the Early Neurologic Stimulation), and I placed them in homes who had experience with tough stockdogs (either Aussies of the same or similar lines or cattle dogs). The only exceptions I made were for Moto and Daca. Moto, I had had for more than twelve weeks and had done a lot of urban socialization with him. As you’ve seen, he’s adapted fine. He was a very easy-going boy and I knew he’d be fine.

Daca, however, went to a home that really doesn’t have the kind of experience she needed. She is definitely a high-powered stockdog puppy. She has that instinct to move into pressure, and whatever traumatic thing happened to her during the fear period she was with her first home, she learned to preemptively move into that. On all other fronts, she’s fine. She isn’t overly protective of the home (ie, when the other dogs bark at stuff, she would watch them and think, “You fools!”), she adapts well to change (including new home environments and new physical environments), she’s a love to the people she knows, and she’s not “reactive” – ie she doesn’t hear a noise and flip out. It’s a predictable fear reaction she has, but you have to know what you’re looking at to see it.

The first home had already had bad experiences with puppies of the same lines and just wasn’t up to the crash-and-burn Ferrari. I’m not trying to be flippant here – that home is a successful home to multiple competitive Aussies, but the behavior knowledge you need to handle Daca is not where the current home was at and I was grateful that the home recognized it early and sent her back rather than let it get worse. That home simply didn’t have the support system that say, I did when Fury was growing up.

The next home is sort of in the same situation. They were confident they could work with her, having worked with Aussies with temperamental problems in the past, but none as high-powered as Daca. Working with a testy Sedan is doable. You can still roadtrip if it’s making some troubling smells and noises. A Ferrari? It catches on fire!

Daca’s new home – well, soon, we have to wait for a foster dog to vacate and the temps to drop – can do it. They are experienced with testy Ferraris and run a successful frisbee troop out of their repairs. She says all the right things – that the fear aggression is just a non-issue if managed properly, that she won’t introduce her to her other dogs until Daca is fully bonded to her so that when she says “NO!” Daca will respect her Alpha status. No gimmes. No mistakes. No public forays unless she’s ready for 100% success. Training, correction, structure, and reading the behavior and not expecting immediate change. What the new home does understand, however, is the underlying causes and steps to fix that. Homes like this don’t come along very often because it is such a specialized type of home. It’s what she started with and it’s what she knows. The kicker? This home thinks Daca is just being an Aussie – the kind of Aussie she likes and she just is not in a situation ideal for the kind of temperament she has.

The other homes wanted to, don’t get me wrong. It kills me that she’s been bounced around and it kills me that lots of people have been hurt in the process, but it’s a learning curve for me. I didn’t get that the current home really understood what they were dealing with, but my thought was that, like me, if they wanted to, they could learn. They have told me that if the new home falls through they will work with a behaviorist and learn how to manage her. But they fear her potential won’t be realized where she is – and I support that fear. I want the best for everyone, including Daca.

But what Daca needs even I can’t give to her – she needs a controlled environment set up for success. She needs to learn that she can also activate the “flight” instinct and make her own space away from the offending thing rather than forcing space by “fighting” the thing. She needs to know her place in her dog pack (but she does like being a part of a pack, too) with consistent reinforcement both from the dogs and from the human leaders. She needs control with regard to uncomfortable situations. You need to learn the fine tuning of driving that Ferrari before you can get it out into city streets: that takes time and passion and an appreciation for what makes it so difficult to handle.

There is another part to this story that bothers me, too. The current home invited a trainer into their home to evaluate Daca. I wasn’t there, but I guess he stayed there for forty minutes trying to handle her before telling them, essentially: “This is a dog bite liability. I cannot fix her, but I can help you learn how to manage her. But if she was my dog, I would put her down. You don’t want to lose the house because of this dog.”

He also talked to me and told me by his estimation that Daca’s issues weren’t “my breeding” but a clear case of early puppyhood trauma. He said she was handshy and clearly had been hit before. Now, knowing that neither I nor Yishai inappropriately punished her before or after that first home – that isn’t the case on my end. And I also happen to KNOW that the first home didn’t hit her, either. She just isn’t they type.

These are red flags of not understanding the underlying causes of why this puppy is like this: saying “my dog was abused” when you adopt a dog because it’s shy or quirky is such a cop out. Your dog might just by shy or quirky. Him assuming she’d been beaten simply doesn’t make sense. Not in the way she reacts. Not in the home situation – if her first home had beaten her and she chose to react with fear aggression, her current home would not be safe with her – yet they are. Why direct it at strangers? And knowing where Daca was exposed – in no such public arena could she have been beaten.

I liked her new home’s reaction to his estimation of her: “Dog bite liability? Put down? It’s her home’s job to PROTECT her from biting situations.” You see why I am so confident with the new home? EXACTLY.

I won’t lie that putting her down became an option when the current home said they’d appreciate if I put feelers out. At some point you don’t want to break anyone’s heart anymore. Much less my own. I can’t bring Daca back here because there simply isn’t a manageable space for her the way that she is. But the fact is this: Daca is a good dog. She’s trainable, sweet to those she knows, and super willing to please. She’s great on stock, and she is by far the most adorable puppy you have ever seen (go ahead, I dare you to deny it): how do you put that down? I also know, especially given my management issue experience with other dogs including my own, that given the right handling, she’ll come around and be someone’s beautiful friend and working partner. And her new home agrees, even after full disclosure. There’s a lot of big hope for that puppy.

Anyway, it still kills me that this happened. Daca is a resilient and happy puppy under it all. As the new home said, she’s being pulled out there because that’s what was meant to be, and all involved had to learn the hard way. In the end, however, I’ve not felt so good about a home as Daca’s new one – and soon she’ll have a new name again - “New life, new name” is her new home’s motto, even though, she says, “I really like the old one.” :)

The irony in all of this is today Rippa was at our climbing gym and the landlord was there. She asked Yishai if we had any more “of them.” She told me, “I really like that dog. I like her size, I like her mellow temperament.” And while Rippa was really just pretty tired from playing all day with her border collie neighbor, it still astounds me how fundamentally all the puppies are a lot more solid/mellow than I was expecting (well, with the exception of Piper – but that’s only because Bekka ENCOURAGES it!). Genes or early puppy socialization?

Happy days are here again . . .

I thought I might start you off with an adorable visual for your day:

That’s Rippa and Yishai at the Outdoor Retailer show in Salt Lake City. We took Fury and Rips onto the floor on Friday and they did great being dog ambassadors, on top of helping us pick up premium dog swag for being cute. Rippa is, yes, actually sporting a badge. It says “Rippa the Dog.” And in the category, where it usually says “Exhibitor” or “Retailer” it says, “Dog.”" Love it.  We took the dogs to SLC with us and they were hatin’ staying in crates while we were away but when the work was done, everyone had fun.

So an update on Daca that I promised you: it looks like we have confirmed her rehoming – she’ll be flying out to Ohio to live with the Meyers’ family. Stephanie and her family (2 boys, one huz) are very experienced with rescue dogs and fear issues in general. She contacted me about two days after I placed Daca with the Sibleys and we talked a lot about her issues and dogs in general. Stephanie admires what I am trying to do with the breeding of these guys and after hearing both from the Sibleys and myself about Daca, she’s formulated a plan about what she’ll be doing with her and it sounds excellent. She’s also intending to include her in part of her frisbee dog expo troop and get into stockdog work with her – this is great, not only will Daca get the kind of management and handling she really needs, but she’ll be really realizing her full potential as a performance dog. Did I mention that she also still gets to be a family dog (she likes that).

I have been pretty heart broken over placing Daca with the Sibleys because here again we’ve got another failure in placement. I have talked extensively to them and we all agree that we tried our best to make it work, but in the end, managing Daca was going to be too much for their household. They are used to the more conformation/friendly Aussie and Daca definitely needs a stronger, more experienced hand. As I said, I will do an education write up about this when I get a chance because it needs to be out there. I have always said that most Aussies are sedans – you can take them out with the family, drive them where you need to, park them where you need to, but stockdogs – real high performance stockdogs – are more like Ferraris. You can get some amazing things out of them if you know what you’re doing, but if you don’t, baby it’s a crash and burn. I learned that the hard way with Fury.

The nice thing about this is that decision to rehome her isn’t out of spite or something specific. The Sibleys simply recognize that what she really needs they can’t fully offer her. If Stephanie declined taking her, or I couldn’t find anyone else for her, they were fully committed to keeping her and working with her. They’re great people and I’m grateful to having connected to them, even if it wasn’t all sparkles and joy.

It’s a learning process, but one I’ve chosen to make public so that others can benefit and for that, I have no compunctions.

And a parting photo of Fury with her badge and cordelette head halter:

Head halters are pretty sweet for dogs like Fury that have major needs to control their environment. That little loop around her muzzle chills her out unbelievably. She’s the world’s most mellow, happy dog with that thing on. Management, that’s the key.

Puppies doing great and . . . not so much.

Today we have a mixed bag. I guess that’s how breeding responsibly goes. First up, I wanted to share with you what Bekka says about the royal Hyper Piper:

“OK, so Little Miss Piper let herself out of her dogyard today while I was mowing one of the other yards. Was in the arena eating sheep poop, since the sheep have access to the arena... They like to use the A-frame for shade. So there are a couple sheep near her but she's eating poop and I'm not too worried since she had such a not-so-nice experience as a baby with Trace and BabyTrace.... (Trace is a sheep)

“So I keep mowing and look up again. Piper is gone... But there are some sheep moving kind of quickly. And I know what that means. Here comes the main flock over the hill with Little Miss Piper loping behind and turning them off the fence. They're moving quick but not 'slam-myself-into-the-fence' insanely.

“So I stop mowing. A puppy can get in a lot of trouble unsupervised with a flock of sheep, including the Icelandics. But they're still not going bonkers so I kind of chuckle as I walk aaaalll the way around house/barn to get to the arena. I kind of slow down and here she comes bringing the whole flock over the hill again, circling to head, stopping the entire flock, then *driving* them back the way they'd come, wearing to tuck the edges in when they start to loosen up.

“It's SO COOL and SO CALM that I almost turned around to go inside and get the camera. But I thought that might be irresponsible if things went south so I go to the arena gate. Little Miss Piper has brought the sheep back, and has them stopped at the A-frame with her a good 40' off watching.

“I call her off, she comes, then doesn't, then does. She comes out and gets mongo praise because no sheep died in the non-filming of this puppies journey of stock discovery!

“And did I say how COOL IT WAS???!!! “

My response to Bekka was “Of course.” Piper was obviously talented as a wee pup. I would expect NOTHING but reports like this. :P

And I got to wondering how Motzi was doing, so wrote to Alina. She gifted me with photos and a sweet write up!

 

I think Motzi looks a LOT like Fury. Look at that headshot – if that’s isn’t a male version of Fury, I don’t know what is. She definitely produced true to type!

And her letter:

We are doing fabulous, Moto really changed our lives for better and happier.

I smile while walking him every day and wonder how sad my life was without him.  Even my colleagues in the office noticed that I am happier.

Moto is the loveliest puppy I have ever met. He loves to kiss and be kissed.  He is sitting just next to me and destroying another toy...Boy, does he know how to destroy toys‼!  We are breaking all the records.   Every toy sold to us as non-destroyable has been destroyed ...sometimes after 15 minutes, sometimes after 1 day.  But he never touched a furniture, shoe or anything around the house.  We just buy him lots of toys.  I sometimes think, I should change his name to the“Destroyer”….

Mr. Moto, Motik, or just MO is 40lb and still growing.  He is about 20-21 inches high…I think…he was afraid of being measured.  He has absolutely gorgeous markings and is very, very handsome.  People everywhere are telling us how beautiful he is and these eyes!!!!

He is very smart, listens pretty well, I walk him a lot without a leash and he is perfect, but Sam is afraid to do it.  I am really his Alpha and he responds to me almost 100%....still working on full 100%.

He loves people…really all people, only occasionally he reacts to runners or bicycles.  Great playmate with kids; I had visitors for 2 weeks with 1 year old and 10 year old.  He was sharing cookies with one year old, playing squeaky…driving everyone crazy but, most of all, for the entire 2 weeks, Bart, the 10 year old was his buddy for everything.  Just amazing to watch.  I was…almost plain jealous…

I want you to know that I am still as excited about Mo as I was when you decided to ship him to us.  We love him very, very much and it seems it goes the other way as well.

Just few fact about him:

· Moto hates very hot and humid weather…just sits on the grass and refuses to go for a walk (even in the early morning when it’s bearable),

· he barks and howls when he hears sirens (one day, I had a really important work conference call and was not able to stop him, everybody heard him barking and howling…).

· Moto does not want to swim in the pool.  He runs around it and his main focus and enemy is the vacuum that moves at the bottom of the poll, he has never ending energy to chase it and barks and barks….  He is so fanny.  By mistake he jumped to the pool a couple of times and was beautifully swimming but immediately swam back to the "land"…he just prefers to be splashed.  I take him (carry him) into the water sometimes, but more to cool him that make him happy…he rather chase the moving underwater and occasionally splashing water vacuum.

· He begs for human food…this is Sam’s fault…he fed him under the table (So I don’t see it) and now we have a little monster.  He loves vanilla ice cream and blueberries…carrots and polish sausages…and everything else from the peoples table.

· He is playing all the time, has so much energy but at the end of the day collapses on the cold tiles and falls asleep.

· He is full of love and energy.

Pretty nice, yes? I talk to Patrick regularly and Reid is doing well, as is Emma. Rippa, well . . . dude, Rippa’s our dog. She’s awesome!

But here’s the sad news . . . it doesn’t look like Daca is working out in her new home. And trying to be sensitive to the situation, I will leave it at that. I had a lot of misgivings in placing her with them, but THEY said they were up for it and could handle it, their referrer said so, and Yishai supported trying it. Nothing huge occurred, but Daca’s not fitting in right.

I cannot tell you how sad this makes me. I feel like I’ve done wrong by her twice now – and it scares me to send her off to another home knowing that my track record is very, very bad. I’ll write more about behavior later – this is something that should be learned from, by me, by all involved, and by you vicarious readers so that you know what’s out there. I just don’t have the heart for it.

Daca will definitely not be coming back to live with us here at Tara. She and Rippa did not get along and I don’t believe that will be any easier now. Rippa is deep in her teenage phase of testing her mother’s will out (I still think Fury is too lenient with her, but she definitely rolls her when necessary) and finding her place. A puppy doing the same thing, the same sex, and mostly the same size (though Daca is more small than Rippa) while working through other problems is not cool. I am also not prepared to toss Daca out in a kennel and that’s her life. Yishai continually thinks through ways to keep her, including placing Rippa (who we all know would be easy to place), but when he says that I want to kill him. He’s a good man with a martyr’s heart, but I won’t let him give up his puppy just so we can keep Daca because of the problems she has.

The silver lining to this is that while I admit freely that when I made the choice to try out the Sibley’s, I caved to peer pressure while knowing in my gut it wasn’t right, a home that . . . in my gut IS right . . . came along a few days later. I contacted that home and there is still interest. If it works out, I’ll post more.

Poor little Daca-wi. The most bubbly, friendly, happy puppy of the litter and this is what happens to her? It’s hard to think of what the outcome for her might be, but I’m going to try to do what’s right for everyone. This is a majorly no-win situation.