Greetings - new here
 

Hello all,

I just wanted to swing by and say hello. Just a few minutes ago my wife just picked up our new vlcak puppy.

I figure that she'll be easier than what we're used to - we already have a civil GSD in our house (but she's a sweetie) and two Belgian malinois (plus the "old man" - an 11 1/2 year old rough collie). Yes, we like our herding breeds. :p (Don't worry - I'm sure she'll be full of challenges).

My wife is also a dog trainer (you name it, she does it) and shows our dogs in AKC / UKC / IKC (as well as working titles - a well balanced dog has titles on both ends!).

As for me, I'm the computer guy and I just like to play and cuddle with them. :)

Haha - easier - I sent home a Category 5 hurricane with your wife. But a very sweet and cute one! 8)

Good luck and best wishes with Luna! (Galomy Oak Aurora del Mango)

Marcy

Hi Draggar :)
I assume this was a joke?:rock_3:lol: A piece of advice: whatever the breed standard says;-), the truth is that vlcaks have been 'designed' to teach their owners how to stay humble and modest. :evil_lol This attitude will help you remain sane and survive the puppyhood.:)

The good news is that investing love and effort in them is very rewarding and worthwile and very soon your hearts will be invaded and occupied forever by the little monster :love

Good luck with you little one and with the whole pack. I wonder how the old man will receive the 'little twister' :rock_3 Keep us informed on developments!
Regards
Rona

Hello Draggar and pack and welkome to the club of CsV owners, where in the US do you live ???

Ooooo, Lucky You :lol:... But just wait 14 days and this little puppy will get you to work :lol: I promise ;-)

Best regads / Mikael

You sent her home with a Category 5 trainer. ;)

It was a half-joke. We fostered for malinois rescue for a few years (I think we fostered a total of 12-15 dogs over the time?) some were hard core working lines, others were show lines, and one was a greyhound from the neck up. :)

We know that a puppy of any breed is a challenge (heh, if you want some fun, try raising a litter of Finnish Spitz puppies!). We've learned some tricks from our litters (one GSD and one Finkie) but the only consistent thing with puppies is the inconsistency. Be prepared for anything and buy paper towels in bulk.

We live near Fort Lauderdale (about 1/2 hour drive north of Miami). Now the rest of the US based members hate me since I have my windows open and the fans on (I might need to turn the AC back on today for a few hours - it might get into the 80's!).

I know she'll get me to work and I'm looking forward to it. We like to have dogs that "earn their keep" with us. MacLeod (our collie) is a retired service dog for my wife (he can't do much since he's old but he still *loves* going out and seeing people so we use him as an ambassador dog or during collie club events). Maiya (malinois) is a retired show dog - she's a couch potato and loves nothing more than to lay next to me while watching TV. Zorro (another malinois) is my wife's primary service dog as well as a show dog (he just competed in the Westminster Kennel Club show) and has some obedience titles. Kiri is our GSD imported from Europe (Corsalabroek). She's civil but loves her pack and is a good worker. She makes a good back up service dog for my wife. She didn't do well in the AKC ring (being European) but she does well UKC and IKC. We're trying to get her geared up for schutzhund.

Our plans with Luna (the vlcak) is to show her UKC / IKC (and wherever we can), compete as a FSS in AKC events (obedience), and maybe even schutzhund if she has the temperament for it (and if she wants to do it). Her club does a demonstration during the south Florida fair so it'll be interesting to see a vlcak out there working (I'm sure by then it will still only be "puppy play" and obedience.

Congratulations about new puppy. Please tell to your wife greetings from Finland also ;-).
I will waite answer about my email..8)

Hi, welcome! You're right, I do hate you, we have a monster snow storm headed our way here! :lol:

I'm really excited and jealous for/of you and your new pup! :) If you're thinking of Schutzhund, and are already planning on AKC obedience, have you considered AKC tracking? As far as I know, the AKC tracking is more forgiving than Schutzhund tracking (which might be a good intro for a more "independent minded" breed) and CsVs were bred to do a lot of tracking work in their original jobs. :) It's my plan down the road whenever I can get my first pup, so I want to live vicariously through as many people as I can before then! :lol:

Luna's new owner is a really cool person, with a really wonderful story! I hope they will share their website on here. My adult dogs (who don't get too many frequent visitors at home, out here in the forest, and definitely give strange cars a suspicious look) became comfortable with her almost immediately last night - rolling over and asking for belly rubs. I'm very lucky to have found a great friend and teacher in my "new puppy family". :)

Which website? I have something like 15-20? :D TOo many with good stories behind them, like when we fostered Jax,
http://www.malinoisrescue.org/fostering-jax.shtml

Not much is up on the vlcaks site, just a "site is under construction" with a picture of Luna. I mainly did that so I can use that domain's email address.

Vicky - there are extremely few non-conformation AKC events here (most of the few that we have are obedience) but we do have schutzhund trials more often.

As for your independent minded comment - you haven't met my GSD yet. :)

Rona. You are our Lady of Whisdom (I am afraid to write more nice words, becouse people might get doubt about my orientation). You just wrote the simple words, that kept turning round in my head...

Best luck, draggar, I kind of envy You - there is nothing better than a new little beast like wolfdog at home :)

That's such a great story! That dog cracked me up, he looks like a horse. :)

I'm a super nosy person and I'd love to see other websites you have, like your under construction one (because you posted a picture of your puppy!!) and ones for your other dogs/training/showing, etc. Like I said, living vicariously. ;)

I'm also curious how your wife got into training and how she works. I'd like to get into professional training myself and work mainly with spitz breeds (since so many people have a hard time understanding how they "work") but it's hard to find the time to get involved in since I have to work full time. I keep telling myself it's something I'll do down the line, the plan is to get a golden retriever first, to learn how to show and get involved with professional training, then move myself up to CsVs. :) haha Yeah, it's a long process.

You should take a lot of pictures of your puppy and post them! I can't wait to see Marcy's pups grow up. :)

I don't know about the rules here (I didn't see any stickies when I looked) and I don't want to seem like a spammer either. :)

I do run Fred Lanting's website (linked in my signature now) plus some other dog breed related sites.

Unfortunately with most of my sites I get them started but then nothing. :(

Mods / Admins - If posting the sites is against the rules, feel free to edit them out. I'm not hot linking them so I don't abuse backlinking / take advantage of this site's PR.

GermansShepherdDogs.org (I try to keep this one posted)
BelgianMalinois.us
Finnish-Spitz.com (Yes, those puppies were the litter we had a while ago (my wife had the crazy notion of raising TWO litters of puppies at the same time).
KiriGSD.com - our German Shepherd (plus the kennel is in my sig)

One of our Belgians will also be in a new Spanish languaged soap opera, ¿Dondé esta Elisa? (Where is Elisa). One of the episodes they have police K9s tracking. Zorro is the Belgian malinois. The GSD is Kiko - owned by the same person who owns Artemis (one of the GSD puppies we had about a year and a half ago). PIcs on photobucket:
http://s118.photobucket.com/albums/o...0Esta%20Elisa/

Also, if you go to Sports Net New York (I think it's http://www.sny.tv) and search their videos for Westminster you'll see one about my wife and Zorro (her service dog). (The video may not work well in FF - I have issues with it here, I usually have to use IE8 to see it).

Edit: I'm trying to build my site now and now I'm being reminded of why I never used Joomla in the past. :D

My wife just sent me a text message (she is still in New York City - post Westminster visiting and some doctor's appointments):

"She (Luna) is such a brat!" :D
(I'm sure she meant that in a good way). In 24 hours she'll be in my arms (as I run out of the airport to a small patch of grass to let her pee).

Luna is such a brat! (But she is wonderful). :)

Pictures!! :p

Oh, holding back, holding back, can't do it much longer...here it comes...TOLD YOU SO! :diablotin :lol::roflmao:roflmao

Give me some time! Lost was on tonight!! :)

http://www.wolfdog.org/forum/showthread.php?t=13557

:p

Edit: She is now attacking her water bowl.

Are we sure they used GSDs and not malinois to create the breed? :D

Ha! Ok, that is a very acceptable excuse. :lol: Lost AND a puppy, what more could you ask for?!

SG:U, Heroes, and more Jericho? :D

Hi from Sara (Luna's Mom)
 

Hi all! My husband, a forum freak, mentioned this site, so here I am! Yes, Luna is a brat, but in a good way - she has a lot of traits I look for in a working dog - strong retrieve drive, prey drive, desire to grip, likes to chew metal (one of my puppy tests is throwing a bunch of keys and I look for the puppy that carries it around in it's mouth) and s a bit of a hard bitch. She gripped the showerhead, all pissed-off, when I bathed her the other day. She also got dragged around New York City and that really exposed her to a lot of strange stuff.
Now that we are back in FL we re going to do puppy kindergarten, conformation classes, beginner agility stuff (no jumping or running, though) and I plan to put her on sheep soon.
As for how I train - mostly positive reinforcement and training utilizing drive - food or toy drive. Once the behaviors are part of the dog's foundation, I can use corrections, if needed, to polish the performance or correct issues, if there are any.
I got my Bachelor's Degree in majoring in Animal Behavior and I consider myself an Ethologist (Ethologists study animal behavior in the animal's environment, Behaviorists study it in a laboratory). My favorite thing is learning, speaking and teaching their language. Most of my dog training clients are really there to learn from me and THEY train their dogs, not me. I give tools for a lifetime, not just train a dog and give it back. One book I can say is invaluable for dog folks is "Canine Body Language" by Brenda Aloff. Tuurid Rugaas also has a great little book and video on "Calming Signals" and I think Ivan Balabanov's videos "the Game" and "Clear Communication" are worth their weight in gold.
I am always learning - I never consider myself an "expert" in anything - there's always more to learn. Right now I am looking into our breed's foundation stock pedigrees and the genetics we have inherited from them. I have some good workingline GSD resources who know about the various "Old Blood" lines and the genetics passed on through them. It will be invaluable for us as breeders and stewards of the breed.
Anyway, I look forward to getting to know everyone - we are truly a small, though global, community and we all need to ull together to make sure we stay true to the vision of the breed and do right by our CsVs.
~Sara Donadei-Blood
www.CasadelMango.com
"A Well-Balanced Dog Has Titles At Both Ends"