New Puppy ~

[A-Jay]

 

 This is Kya (pronounced Kigh-yaa).

The stars absolutely came into alignment, as this little one came into our lives.

Her life began in Texas, where she and her littermates were rescued from a negligent home.

Some way, some how, she made her way north to White Paws German Shepherd Rescue in Green Bay, WI.

She is a white shepherd mix, estimated at 3 months old, as of today weighing 24lbs.

She is very eager to learn, excited to engage in play and developing wonderful social skills.

Her little brown eyes and enormous, supersoft ears melt our hearts.

We look forward to many, MANY great adventures.

A-Jay

[Way north bass guy]

Cool! I’m sure she’ll have a fantastic life with you guys. Let the fun begin. Man those are some good sized listeners on her ?. 

[N Florida Mike]

How are your other dogs taking to her?

[volzfan59]

A-Jay, She is beautiful!

[Sam]

Fantastic. You and your family did good with this puppy.

 

She is beautiful, too.

 

Now to take her on the boat fishing!!!!

[A-Jay]

16 minutes ago, N Florida Mike said:

How are your other dogs taking to her?

Great question and always a concern.

Our two males, Tucker & Teddy, and are having a blast with her.

Our female Fenway, is a stout Alaskan Malamute with a pretty high prey drive.

She's never been a fan of any other female dogs we've ever had.

Males fight for dominance and females fight to the death, 

Kya would be like a scooby snack. 

So there will never be any open interaction between her & Kya.

But it's all good.  

A-Jay

 

 

[TnRiver46]

We also have a female dog that doesn’t tolerate other female dogs. She’s the home security system haha

[NYWayfarer]

Beautiful puppy! If she grows into those ears she will be huge!

[J Francho]

She's pretty!  Congrats!  Raising a GSD poses it's own special challenges and rewards.

 

Coltrane says, "Hiya Kya!"

[Teal]

Awesome man! I just laid to rest my Belgian Malinois of 14 years.  

[gim]

Interesting interaction on the male/male and female/female dogs.  My experience has always shown that males were the aggressors (especially when they haven't been snipped) because of the dominance factor and the females were all mellow and submissive, but evidently some females are aggressive too.

[A-Jay]

1 hour ago, gimruis said:

Interesting interaction on the male/male and female/female dogs.  My experience has always shown that males were the aggressors (especially when they haven't been snipped) because of the dominance factor and the females were all mellow and submissive, but evidently some females are aggressive too.

We choose to leave our males intact - and that comes with it's own set of challenges.

We wait two years or so to spay the females to allow them to fully develop.

Doing it early often results in somewhat unnatural proportions; especially in large northern breeds.

Big bodies & small heads - looks poorly IMO. 

 Over the years we've learned to do what we call 'the doggie shuffle' when there's aggressive or dominance concerns, and it seems there almost always is. 

Our canine set up here makes it easy to separate church & state.

Been in the middle of a couple of large breed dog fights - it's no fun and plenty of motivation to 

be consistent and follow 'the rules'.

 

A-Jay

 

[gim]

That is a great setup.  Your grass looks nice too!

[TnRiver46]

18 hours ago, gimruis said:

Interesting interaction on the male/male and female/female dogs.  My experience has always shown that males were the aggressors (especially when they haven't been snipped) because of the dominance factor and the females were all mellow and submissive, but evidently some females are aggressive too.

I have one alpha female and one submissive female dog, both fixed. If not for mango’s submissiveness, we would just have one female dog. Also the alpha female (cori) is not allowed at the dog park or on the trails behind my house. I tried once and had to tackle her when she saw a schnauzer haha

[Log Catcher]

That is a beautiful dog but it is going to be real upset when it finds out it was taken from a really warm climate and ended up in a frozen waste land in the winter time. 

[A-Jay]

30 minutes ago, Log Catcher said:

That is a beautiful dog but it is going to be real upset when it finds out it was taken from a really warm climate and ended up in a frozen waste land in the winter time. 

Living "Up North", we are surrounded by the beauty that nature provides.

We get to experience 4 seasons of wildly changing weather with winter being the longest and most unpredictable. Winter air is more fresh and the only smells are those of fireplaces and of fir trees.

The rows & rows of tall, evergreens cover each side of the road and their smell, so stirring,

brings out a sense of adventure but also the a sense of calm and peace.
Either way Kya will have plenty of company and there's always something to do.

A-Jay

 

[12poundbass]

Good for you guys, she found herself a great home!

 

The challenges of dominance isn't new to us either. We have a female (our only) who gets “grumpy” from time to time and decides she wants to scrap with our 13 year old pug from time to time. When she gets really “grumpy” she decides to go after our Great Pyrenees (BTW she’s a pug). So as you know a 20 lb pug attacking a 130 lb GP is a bit hilarious at times. His tail curls and she almost always wins! It’s funny how wolf packs work! 
 

I’ll continue to ramble on. Our 13 year old “Charlie” we got him when he was 10 weeks old. Almost immediately he took the rains over our 4 year old pug “Otis”. Even though they’re dogs, they still show they’re wolf heritage and he continued to be the beta male (you can guess who the alpha male was ?). My wife always wondered why they were out of control  when our female was in heat, until I got home from work. 
 

I’ll quit rambling, dogs are cool! 
 

 

[TnRiver46]

I wonder if Kya can sniff out brown bass from the depths of the lakes menderchuck........

[A-Jay]

58 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

I wonder if Kya can sniff out brown bass from the depths of the lakes menderchuck........

Coffee right out the nose ~ Thank you very much ! 

I sure hope so.

Either way even if she's marginally successful, that's a whole lot better than me;

especially lately.

And someone's got to teach her.

I might not be the right guy for that job . . . . . . . 

A-Jay

[slonezp]

On 9/4/2020 at 9:43 PM, 12poundbass said:

Good for you guys, she found herself a great home!

 

The challenges of dominance isn't new to us either. We have a female (our only) who gets “grumpy” from time to time and decides she wants to scrap with our 13 year old pug from time to time. When she gets really “grumpy” she decides to go after our Great Pyrenees (BTW she’s a pug). So as you know a 20 lb pug attacking a 130 lb GP is a bit hilarious at times. His tail curls and she almost always wins! It’s funny how wolf packs work! 
 

I’ll continue to ramble on. Our 13 year old “Charlie” we got him when he was 10 weeks old. Almost immediately he took the rains over our 4 year old pug “Otis”. Even though they’re dogs, they still show they’re wolf heritage and he continued to be the beta male (you can guess who the alpha male was ?). My wife always wondered why they were out of control  when our female was in heat, until I got home from work. 
 

I’ll quit rambling, dogs are cool! 
 

 

I've never heard the phrase alpha female until this weekend. My sister was coined an alpha female by someone she works with/for. She's not an alpha female, she just doesn't put up with BS. I've owned both dogs and cats. Had a 100lb golden retriever that was very alpha male to every dog he came in contact with except my female lab/great dane who weighed 40 lbs and called the shots. We currently have cats. The cats are siblings, both fixed and the male weighs 23lbs compared to the female that weighs 7lbs. The female was first born and the male was the runt. She's mean and he rarely screws with her. When he does, it's no holes barred, and quite the **** show. Always happens in the middle of the night when everyone is asleep. 

[MN Fisher]

7 minutes ago, slonezp said:

My sister was coined an alpha female by someone she works with/for. She's not an alpha female, she just doesn't put up with BS.

Sounds like my mother-in-law - who I describe as "She makes a Type-A personality look comatose."

[Ski213]

Congrats on the new addition to the family! Glad she found a solid home. Sounds like you guys are very responsible dog owners. 

[whitwolf]

Congratulations! Beautiful dog!

[A-Jay]

At 16 months and just under 50 lbs Kya is long & lean

and she loves to chase down these balls !

A-Jay

 

[HaydenS]

21 hours ago, A-Jay said:

At 16 months and just under 50 lbs Kya is long & lean

and she loves to chase down these balls !

A-Jay

 

Awesome, whats she think of Tank?