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Post by gemmasmomma on Dec 27, 2011 21:32:39 GMT -5
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Post by cathynu on Dec 27, 2011 23:44:34 GMT -5
Oh wow, hes HUGE ..... definitely not a puppy anymore!!! Has he also started losing his puppy cote??? Lil is presently shedding like crazy, and the fur coming out is the thicker coarser adult hair ....
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Post by gemmasmomma on Dec 28, 2011 0:14:25 GMT -5
Cathy; he is a big boy! he is such the gentle giant though... He plays wild and crazy but with us he is so gentle and calm still! He is not shedding or 'blowing coat' and his coat is very sleek and smooth, Gemma has rougher hair than he does for sure.
He is very babyish still in many ways, he just looks all grown up.
He does bark alot more now at stuff in the yard, but he is still afraid of strange dogs and shy or steers clear of them when we go to the dog park when he is not with Gemma. IF she is there, he is much more confident, and curious and independent.
How is Lil doing size wise these days?
When is that show you were going to go to? coming up soon? We wont try any shows at all till spring and we are starting a puppy obedience class here soon if we can get into the winter one!
He is really good on a leash already, but we have not worked on heel or sit or stay, just recall.. that's the only thing we work on with him and he is really good about it. He is so soft in personality I am certain that obedience with 'treat' reward/positive reinforcement is all we will need with him.
We needed a pinch with Gemma and an E collar which worked incredibly well with her.
He is going to be the easy one of the pack! He already is!
But he is more gregarious about things like jumping over the baby gates when he wants to go from my office to the kitchen or the Kitchen to the living room. He discovered that he could vault over them the other day when my husband left him in the kitchen and left him unattended in there for about an hour!
He discovered that getting over those barriers was like no big thing at all. So now we are going to have to come up with some other method of quarantining into a specific area of the house when we are not here to watch him!
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Post by von Cosack on Dec 28, 2011 12:16:25 GMT -5
Try training him to respect the gate and NOT to go beyond it or over it! If hes so easy going even a novice should be able to train a basic task as to respecting boundries. You'll find that using boundries & limitations is an excellant addition in a training program when training Dobermanns. Clearing a 30" barrier might impress you but at his age he doesn't need to be jumping anything. He still has another 6 months for long bones to seet and his pasterns are not at full strength. If you consider his massive weight at such a young age I'd think you would be cautious about such an overweight pup jumping. Just because he can doesn't make it good for him. I'm hoping this puppy comes together by the time hes 25 months old, right now he needs OB training because a 100+ pound Dobermann who challenges boundries that other dogs respect just might be alot of dog to live with. You don't need a trainer or weather reports to start basic OB in your house, you can start by training the difference between a closed gate and an open one. Good luck, as I said I hope this pup comes together and his testosterone kicks in and slows the puppy weight gain down. An active healthy pup should be trim with lean muscle starting to develop at his age. I hope your continuing to post his ears, because their both weak and with teething over you need to stay vigilant so his ears get a chance to be errect and shaped correctly. Training and maintance never stops with Dobermanns they demand these things and at a high level also. Good luck heres hoping the pup slows his weight down and he matures slowly and becomes a nice dog. Von
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Post by cathynu on Dec 28, 2011 12:42:00 GMT -5
Hi Diva, well Lil has never been complacent around Rex .... actually just the oposite. She has always fought back - never lets him bully her, and although she's a lot smaller than he, she manages to get her "shots" in. At her last weigh/measure in she was 64lbs and 25" tall. So I guess you could say she is pretty much standard size. She eats well but is also very active. Her favourite sport is chasing down a frisbee, and my husband keeps talking about getting her to frisbee nationals  but whether that'll happen also remains to be seen .... as the dogs are really my hobby!! I had been thinking of putting her in the 1/14 &15 AKC show in Starkville MS, but after I received an online handout (go check out my thread about the AKC throwing crumbs out to OH's) from my KC which is AKC affiliated and read through that, Dave and I just decided we won't be supporting the AKC at their show venues any longer - if 80% of entrants pay to support the 20% of entrants who win probably 80% if not more of the titles, then what we're trying to achieve is virtually impossible and pointless. I'm not entering my dog for the fun of it .... I pay my $25 but I expect the person giving my dog the once over to give it a good look, and not ultimately to give it to the Leper as Georgie calls them who turns up in his underpants and shows the ugliest dog possible against my nice dog but because he's all buddy buddy with the judges he gets the points .... I also feel, that showing my dog is my hobby, so why should a I pay a professional to do my hobby for me?? Our decision has therefore been that we will be showing both our dogs in the UKC, IABCA and ICKC shows and we'll take them as far in those leagues as we possibly can. I am also very interested in UDC, but don't know how that works at this point - and I'll be putting up some questions in a new thread regarding UDC. We will now show her in her first UKC shows in Perry GA on 2/10, 11 & 12 and her next shows will be in IABCA the following weekend in Atlanta - if those tentative dates ever become fixed!! Your program with Saava sounds exciting, and I know he'll do great for you. Lilly has always worked very well for me, and her work rate is way, way up there. She is very keen to please, a fast learner, and also very driven ..... She has walked for me on a leash since the 2nd day we had her, and has also been doing general obedience for me ever since we've had her. I didn't bother to do puppy ob with her, because I'd done it with Rex, so I pretty much have just implemented the same things with her .... I also started doing her show routine with her ever since we've had her, and she is pretty adept at doing it now. She will stack up for strangers in Lowes and Home Depot, she is well socialized with other people, but I'm presently having problems with "the other dog" .... the reason I'm introducing puppy daycare tomorrow .... as I find she tends to be "snarky" with other dogs and will "jump out" and growl .... not sure whether she still feels slightly unsure of herself or whether its the alpha in her coming out - because she's definitely NEVER been shy or timid of Rex .... Sadly our handlers classes have been non-existant since beginning of November, so I've had very little other dog socialization since then, and I haven't been able to do the PetSmart thing because we live 30 minutes away from the nearest PetSmart, and the traffic in that part of town at this time of year is a nightmare .... anyway, I'm hoping the puppy day care 2x a week will help with that situation ..... other than that I'm really not having any other problems with her - she really is a great little girl with a TON of spunk!! |
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Post by cathynu on Dec 29, 2011 10:19:11 GMT -5
As it turns out no puppy daycare for the next couple of weeks .... Lil went into season today ....
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Post by gemmasmomma on Dec 29, 2011 12:33:41 GMT -5
EEK! first heat... eeh gadz... fun fun fun with these girls! Your view of AKC is now like mine... The political arena there is as bad as anywhere else and it has long been a bastion ( I feel) of the GOBC! Good Old Boys club! I learned first hand at the Fiesta Classic in February of 2010 as I sat on the side lines watching the Parade of Dobies go by and listened in on a couple serious breeders who were there and asked them about who was who.. and I got the straight scoop from them. Even though their dogs are already championed they said that the venue was tainted with the same Good Ole Boy bullshit that the politicians have going on... as I was told, The winner of that particular show that day I was told was going to be a big breeder who had put the Judge up in a really nice hotel and took him out to dinner and lavished him with all kinds of bribes! These gals knew this guy and said, its how the whole game is played! Go figure! So UKC and IABCA and ARBA (American Rare Breed Association, been around since late 80's and accepts European Dobermanns) are the three venues and if I can find some IDC events around me I would do those as well. I will do AKC obedience shows and I will do the BH trial next year sometime with Gemma and a WAE or WAC title for her, and Baba, but thats it! Just too much politicking for liking! Great to hear you are so busy with Lily and Rex and she are doing so much better. Gem and Baba are in love.. its to cute.. she nibbles him on the neck and he licks her ears and face! Goofy boy just loves her to bits! Life is good! Gemma had her first Holter Monitor test the other day, but I think I am going to have to do it again, because the method they used to attach the thing to her was schlocky and two of the sensors they put on her were dislodged when I checked her at 8:30 am... she was supposed to have it on for 24 hours and I cannot know how many hours she had it on! So I am probably going to have to go down to Scottsdale (120 miles away) to have the Vet put the thing on her with the 'holter" and not just try to keep it on using a vest which is what I had to do this time. It was so schlocky! I was unhappy with how they did it! So I will be taking her down to OFA her hips as well and she will be completely up to snuff on all testing prior to her first breeding which we hope to do in April! We have our hands full here too! Happy New Year to ya Cathy darlin!!  |
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Post by damasyn on Dec 29, 2011 16:34:26 GMT -5
Holy shmoly.... Shes a little on the "fluffy" side. hehe is she preggo?
Also, I use baby oil occasionally on Lexi's coat. It seems to keep her hair a bit softer. Well at least compared to my Sis-in laws Dobe. Maybe give it a try..smells good too
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Post by cathynu on Dec 30, 2011 8:52:31 GMT -5
What started getting me suspicious of the AKC was when one of the ladies who runs the handlers classes here in BHM for our KC and who is a Judge in that league said to me: Oh, the judges first need to get to know you: I thought to myself, why would the judges need to get to know me??? They're not supposed to be judging me - its my dog they're supposed to be looking at ..... and I guess my husband and I have never been good "team players" .... so we'll never fit in there either. We've thoroughly enjoyed showing in the UKC and IABCA leagues - in fact the Labor Day weekend shows in Perry were our first experience of UKC and there NOBODY knew us, but the judges did give Rex a very good look, and he won 5 BOB of the 8 shows we put him in, 1 group 1, 2 group 2's and 2 group 3's .... Good luck with all your endeavours with both Gemma and Saava and Happy New Year to you too Diva!!  |
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Post by gemmasmomma on Dec 30, 2011 16:07:24 GMT -5
Kimberly: Gemma Fluffy? <snickers loudly> um... you could say that about her and you would be correct right now...
She sure looks pregnant doesn't she? Well she seems to 'think so'! full of milk... dripping all over.. digging in the raised bed planter and going over to it and whining... wants to eat everything in sight and then some! so yea... she is 'false pregnant" and its False pregancy number 4! her fourth heat and fourth Falsie.... poor girl!
She is normally around 86 lbs... and she gains about 7-10 lbs in the two months of her false pregnancy and then she loses the weight slowly over the next three months till she goes back into heat again! we have had her on a little more stringently monitored food intake because we now know what to expect of her....
However? this photo is really very ill shot and she is NOT NEARLY as portly in person as she happens to look in this photo! I had someone who sees her all the time ask me about his photo and say "Did Gemma gain weight since the last time I saw her?" (2 weeks ago) and I said no... actually she did not... she lost about 3 lbs in the past 2 weeks because of a lot of green beans instead of 'meat'.... so this photo is really the shadow's, lighting and time of day and a really bad POS camera! I am getting a real SLR camera in 2012... this cheapo one has got to go!
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Post by von Cosack on Dec 30, 2011 16:22:03 GMT -5
If shes not a breedable bitch save her from the stress and spay her! Why let her suffer it makes no sense its not fun for a bitch to go through that especially four times in a row. You keep saying your experienced but your dogs are overweight and your bitch is in her fourth false outing, somethings really wrong here. Make up your mind what to do or ask for suggestions to help you. Von.
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Post by gemmasmomma on Jan 1, 2012 12:20:48 GMT -5
Cathy: We took Baba to the Creek the other day with my friend and her Doberman "kane" who is a 5 year old boy and super mellow and easy going. Baba was so funny and so happy to play with a Dobie who was not intense like his sister Gemma! We had so much fun... we tried to see if we could snap a "free stack" or two but the camera my friend brought along was just like my POS and as soon as she would get the camera ready, because it is not an SLR, of course Baba would move and this camera requires perfectly still and a few seconds before it snaps the image! God its so annoying... SO Rachael snapped these with her PHONE!! Her phone takes better photos than my damn camera! Here is a brief moment's pose to nibble a piece of cheese... snoot is smooshed up and looks goofy, but he has the semblance of a stack here! He is taller than Gemma now, but a skosh, so I am gonna say he is 27" tall and 90 lbs here... maybe 91 or 92... but he is going to shape up here but he is still a goofy, happy feet dude who leaps for joy over everything! Such a clown! Attachments:
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Post by cathynu on Jan 2, 2012 3:34:26 GMT -5
Diva, I started teaching Rex to stack at 14 months, which means he had a pretty late start, and initially was never very good at standing still .... he kept moving around and adjusting his feet any which way .... then a friend told me to put him on the "happy feet" - as I didn't have those I just used regular bricks which got him elevate and he didn't feel totally comfortable with himself, so he'd stand motionless, and while he did that, I'd give him minute bits of a liver treat I make myself. I started out with the bricks totally square, and then adjusted them to where he was in the stack I wanted - I eventually got him standing in the stack position for 8 minutes - and we practised that every day for quite a while - these days he'll even fix his feet for me into the free stack from a run around and stand stationary while I show him his treat, and he knows he has to wait till I give it to him .... I also tell him to "leave it". With Lilly it has been a totally different affair, because she was taught to stack from 11 weeks old - she also doesn't hock or toe out like Rex tends to do - and I was also told, the later you teach them the more likely it is they'll hock and toe out.
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Post by von Cosack on Jan 2, 2012 9:54:50 GMT -5
You start stacking early at 10 weeks and you use a groomers table. Dogs are gonna freeze when they first are elevated and will rely on their handlers to get them through the situation. You tease to get focus using bait then move to the ground and give the bait as reward. Then you begin your training for them to step "into" their stance.
Your attitude while training these things has EVERYTHING to do with how they react to it. Ofcourse their individual temperament has alot to do with how the dog is percieved. Being "on" (animated) has alot to do with successes in the exhibition ring. Then to be able to carry this attitude through the classes into the group and beyond becomes paramount if the dog could become a Best in Show canidate. Its alot of work for the handler & dog to become a top notch competitor, very rare. Von
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Post by gemmasmomma on Jan 2, 2012 14:59:22 GMT -5
Cath: I think you can see from this photo even as poor as it is and as poor of a position of the photographer that Baba is very straight front and rear.. his conformation from front and rear is impeccable, it is just his topline right now that looks goofy! he is still higher in the rear than he is in the front and he has a 'rounded' croup right now which gives him a low tail set look, but I am not gonna worry about it or anything about him till he is 2 years old! He is a goof ball baby boy who has no other motivation than to play and to be a lover and a snuggle bug. I like that about him and since he will never go into an AKC ring? I am not the least bit worried about how early or how late I start training him for the show ring. He is gonna do how he does.. I am a have titled a few dogs in the past several decades and I am a "good handler", not great, more because of two bad knee's and now two bad hips, so I am 'good' but not great! and I know I can teach him to stack just by playing with him now with treats and a clicker. I have decided to clicker train him as he is so easy going and rewards really work well for him. The differences in personality between my two is like Yin and Yang and it is balance to me. THey balance each other out and balance out the 'vibe' in our house which is perfectly cool with me! Gemma is my working machine and Baba is my momma's boy! works for us! we do not need and or want a Schutzhund dog or an agility dog or anymore more than just lovely beautiful pets who show their stuff on occasion and earn their titles because we have 'FUN" with them and for no other reason... My husband and I do not have a serious 'bone' in our bodies with regards to the titles our dogs attain, we are pretty much to the point that we just want to have fun with our beloved guys! We prefer to keep it simple and keep it fun! life is too freakin short to be serious about anything other than what is really important! |
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but whether that'll happen also remains to be seen .... as the dogs are really my hobby!!
