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Shana with her best friend, Clooney, (silver lab and no that
not a recognized lab color) on the couch. |
Thinking of Shana Madela's "registered" name. As many know, Shana Madela has come from
Masaya Dobermans in Kentucky. She is in an impressive line of dogs that have proven themselves dog sports like Schutzhund and Obedience(and others). Ways in which breeders and other can track their success, is by registering their dogs and their litters. You can track Shana Madela's breeding through many generations of dogs including seeing their accomplishments.
When Shana begins competing (hopefully next Spring of 2014 ), Her registered name will show as Masaya's [Something starting with F]. This is to easily identify her as belong to a certain breeding. In this case call names
Cinders (aka Swiftrun's Volcan Masaya VPG III, IPO III, CD, RN WAC, CGC) and
Nemo (aka Dark Nemo vom Koby Haus BH, ZTP V1A, IPO II) are the dam and sire. Cinder actually originated from the kennel that our previous permanent foster dog,
Stormy (aka
Swift Run's Krystal Storm SchH3, WD3), came from.
I do need to find out what the other registered names in the litter are, so as I do not duplicate one. I do know that they like it to be based on nature and fire I believe. I thought I would start this process by thinking of things that describe Shana first:
- She's very pretty, hence her name in Yiddish means pretty girl (Shana Madela).
- Head strong and determined.
- Focused (which also happens to be an F word).
- Fun loving.
- Agile and athletic.
- Strong.
- Clever and very smart.
- Problem solver LOL. Also could be described as problem maker if she was not in a training home.
- Loving.
- Independent minded.
- People loving.
- Protective (especially of certain canine friends or family)
- Climbs onto anything she can. (I call her Monkey sometimes)
- Fearless.
- Friendly.
- Bad and naughty.
- (having to do with above) Adventurous.
- Busy, she is very busy.
- Bossy.
- Bully (wow a B name would be easy LOL).
- Drive.
It's alright for the registered name to be more than one word or even a short phrase. My last puppy from a breeder, Leon, had his registered name come with him. It was Ogelthorpe which was a university in the area that he came from (short name Ogre). If it was not the exact opposite of Leon's personality, we might have kept it for his name, but the name Leon seemed to work as far as he was concerned. When I was scolding him I would often say "Leon Ogelthorpe", but Leon never did get in any "real" trouble. He was the easiest puppy ever, except for his initial mouthiness. I actually remember that he could get as determined as Shana does about some things. Hence why I am working with Shana in following my lead, rather than ever giving in to her protestations LOL.
Shana is very easy, except to convince her that calming down will get her what she wants in the end. She is very determined to get somewhere or to something. She can also figure out (or is figuring out) that working with me will get here there a lot sooner. She learns things at an amazing rate of speed, and can also figure things out on her own (like opening doors) very rapidly. She is tons of fun to work with. I am training her mostly from what I learned at Mike Elllis's seminar and by watching his tapes. As far as working with her while she is really focused on getting to dogs on the beach, however, I have started molding sits ala Koehler or Bedrock (I can not remember which but Margot, Bedrock's Method, was a student of Koehler). Mike Ellis's engagement protocols are very helpful in this endeavor as well.
We are using food, balls, and tug toys (yes also technically a toy) to do most of the up front training with Shana. Shana has been started on loose leash, heeling, come, sit, down, short stays under limited distractions, stand, and spin (yes not an obedience thing). We are coming up to the six month mark next week for Shana's age. Bonding with Shana, Robert, Boris, and myself has gone great. I will no doubt be in charge of bringing Shana anywhere for a long time LOL, so we can take advantage of training opportunities that Robert will not yet be prepared to deal with. Once I train one of our dogs, and especially if I have another dog in training, I seldom get to enjoy my training efforts on family outings with my dogs! My husband is the usual beneficiary of this. So Boris has been handled by Robert on family outings lately.
I have to be ready to work Shana this winter if I want to trial in the Spring. I am not going to lie to you, it's hard to keep your training schedule up in the winter. It's even harder to locate acceptable venues for this! There may be matches this Fall/Winter in the Saco area for me, but also there might not be. I have learned to train around this, but it is challenging. Having even a fake ring to practice and perform in does help. However, if you keep up your training and keep it crisp & fresh in other distracting areas, that helps load too. Of the two, I would rather practice in real life distractions rather than rings, but there is no doubt that ring practice can help! It is not technically necessary, but do be sure you need to get to places as often as possible that are somewhat crowded with dogs for the specific purpose of training.
Well that is a bit about Shana Madela and what we are doing before beginning to think about her registered name! It's an exciting and fun time here.
You should never forget though in order to have a fantastic dog, you need to work and have patience with your puppy! Now is the time to do it, rather than wait until they are at their biggest and strongest, AND have not learned anything. It is far easier to manage a puppy that is not at their full weight, and is willing and ready to learn at this young age. Bad habits are harder and far more work to get rid of later on.
But if you are ready for the challenge, it will be fun and a great bonding/relationship building time for you and your puppy.
Please no comments about purchasing well bred puppies means killing dogs in shelters. Of my seven Dobermans, two have come from breeders as puppies (Leon and Shana) to work with me as demo dogs and competition dogs. Three (Neptune, Jackie, and Stormy, who came at 10 years old) have come from
Doberman Rescue Unlimited as adults (Jackie CD did become my competition dog but died at 6 from intestinal problems that he came with). One has come from Doberman Rescue Unlimited as a puppy with three legs (Boris and he is four years old now), and Shana believes him to be a rock star LOL. One was an adult female that we did get from a breeder who no longer wanted her as her personal pet or to breed (our awesome first Doberman, Jazzabelle, who lived until 16). I always plan to have at least one Doberman from Doberman Rescue Unlimited here. I love rescues, but I also understand the value of dogs bred for health, temperament, and structure. I do not think the solution to the rescue problem is to malign responsible breeders who put tons of work and knowledge into keeping dogs healthy.
I love dogs healthy or not, but I know that in order to home my skills, I occasionally need well bred dog to work with! There are issues that come with my beloved breed, especially if care has not been taken in the breeding, that can take them out way too early. Not to mention, when you love dogs as much as I do, you want to spend every moment you can with them even the geriatric ones! IMHO it is an honor and a privilege to have a senior dog. It is also hard to watch a dog that really wants to do things, but physically is held back by heart disease or something like that. They can enjoy life, but as an owner you have to watch out for their limitations, while allowing them to enjoy their life to the fullest that they can:)
Also statistically, you are going to pay (in the end) much more for a dog that has something genetic lying in wait, than a well bred dog where care has been taken to try and eliminate these things. Neptune in one year had medical bills well of $10,000 to keep him comfortable (and he was) and alive. Much of those bills were in the form of the medication that he needed, and the check ups to make sure the medication was working. I actually left my job in corporate America (because I financially could at the time) to be sure to be around more for Neptune during his last years. It was this, and Neptune's initial behavioral problems that got me into dog training in the first place LOL. So my expensive rescue dog who had serious health issues and could not compete, is ironically the dog who got me started in the first place. Also Neptune was an excellent and loving dog. If he was reincarnated, I don't know if I could afford it now, but I would take him again! As I would all for all my past dogs, rescued and bred!
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