Jersey Re-visited

I've taken PoongSoon back to Jersey's several times since the last video, but I just didn't have the camera with me to tape their play.  I did manage to get these videos from last Friday though:






Because of PoongSoon's playstyle of holding down a dog with her greater weight, I'm going to have to phase out these playdates for Jersey's sake.  Though there's no ill intent and Jersey goes back for more, the weight difference is going to be too great pretty soon.  After I separated these two after some playing, Jersey was wiped out.  The terrier in her would have her go beyond her limits.

Pat Hastings Workshop

Yesterday  I attended a workshop by Pat Hastings.  Pat Hastings is reknown for her Puppy Puzzle presentations in which you can predict the adult structure of the dog by evaluating the dog as a puppy at 8 weeks of age.  The workshop consisted of 4 parts.

• Evaluating Mechanical Structure Powerpoint
• Evaluating 2 Litters of Puppies (Australian Shepherd and Australian Cattle Dog)
• Evaluating Structure of Adult Dogs that had imperfect structure
• Talk about How Poor Nutrition can affect Puppy Development

I really found this workshop helpful since there aren't a lot of structure mentors in the Jindo or Poongsan breed.  I've been reading books and going to Shiba shows, but I always came away feeling that I would need to bring someone along to evaluate the structure of a dog.

The information really comes alive during Pat Hasting's talks.  I feel more confident that I'll be able to pick up several structurally sound pups if or when I ever visit Korea.
 

This Dogue de Bordeaux has one slipped hock.  Still breeding quality.

Here are some choice insights that I picked up from Pat Hastings:

• Standards are written by committees and are the result of compromises, often after everybody is tired and just want to end the discussion.
• Need to ask whether you want to evaluate by the standard or by reality (meaning standards can be far away from physics and mechanics).
• Eliminate from the vocabulary "pick of the litter."  A "pick of the litter" from a subpar litter doesn't mean it should be bred.
• It's easy to learn faults.  It's hard to learn virtues.  When looking at a dog, try picking out 5 virtues before stating the one fault. 
• All dogs have faults.
• For the show ring, nothing is more important than breed type, but in context.  Breed type means 3 things that should not be budged from:  ability to do its job, breed ID possible on only seeing the head, breed ID possible by only seeing a side silhouette of the dog.
• A fault becomes the worst or most serious fault in a breed when it becomes so prevalent that people come to accept it as normal.  Newcomers, both breeders and judges, come to think that's what it's supposed to look like.
• "You shouldn't see pieces before you see the dog,"  meaning no one feature should distract you from seeing the entire dog.
• For a puppy, if his structure in the air is better than his structure on the ground, this is an indication of poor nutrition.

"Alarm Puppy"

PoongSoon has started alarm barking.  It's loud but full of uncertainty.   It sounds like single barks strung together.  It's kinda cute.  It's nothing like an angry deep-chested Jindo bark with lots of woos.

I've been told by two people, each with a pair of adult Poongsans, that they've never heard their dogs bark.  None at all.  They believe Poongsans would make poor guard dogs because they love being around people so much.

I wonder if PoongSoon picked that up from the Jindo that's temporarily staying with me. 

Integration

Yesterday my two "big dog" friends came down to help referee the integration of PoongSoon with BokDol.  When I had tried it on my own, I had been concerned that BokDol was just too powerful for PoongSoon and that she wasn't liking it. 

Given some time to grow bigger and more confident, PoongSoon was now able to handle his rough play and even kept on going back for more.  She ended up very muddy from the combination of being slobbered and rolling on the ground.

Here are some pics.  BokDol started off with a muzzle and collar, and then the collar, and then nothing at all to prevent any mishaps of PoongSoon's jaw getting caught under the collar. 

 

 

And here is a youtube video taken after PoongSoon started getting tired.









After they were done, they nicely shared some water.

I need some more buckets of water for them though.

The two also got a chance to meet some new adult dogs.  The pics of them with the visiting dogs are pending.

Glimpses of BokDol

I've noticed that I haven't posted many shots of BokDol when he's out loose in the yard.  It's been because it's so hard to capture him in a still moment with my point-and-shoot camera.  These pics are my attempts from today.

A nice shot of BokDol while he's moving.

Kinda weird shot of him.  He doesn't normally look so bully.

He's gained some weight and grown some fur on his torso so that his ribs are no longer showing.  The fur on his rear legs still hasn't grown back though.   It kind of looks like the muscles on his rear legs had atrophied, but that's far from the case.  He's very agile and races several times around the sloped yard.

Side view while on a hill.

Rear view showing off the sparse fur on his rear legs.

He seems to enjoy exploring and patrolling the yard.  His routine is to race around, hunt for rats, check out the chickens, and be mischievious.  Sometimes he grabs shoes and takes them to the far corners of the yard.  Today, he grabbed a cleaning towel.

Counting Chickens.

Grabbing a strawberry snack.

Escaping with a towel

Spazzing with a kenneled PoongSoon

There's no doubt in my mind that BokDol is still very much a young dog.  He's said to be a year old, but I think it's possible that he was under a year.  Check out this brief glimpse of his teeth.

Not quite hunting

Yesterday I thought PoongSoon had caught and brought her first kill, a lizard, and I tried really hard to suppress my grossed-out reaction since I did want her to continue hunting and retrieving.  She played with it and showed it to BokDol.

Then I realized the lizard wasn't flopping around right.  Upon closer inspection, it was a dessicated lizard.  Someone had probably run it over and it somehow got into the yard.  PoongSoon was mouthing it like a rawhide chew.  I couldn't decide if that was worse than a fresh kill or not.

PoongSoon Graduates

Today was PoongSoon's last day of Puppy Socialization with this particular trainer.  I'm pretty relieved that it's over.  Because the class is at 2 PM, it's been very hot and uncomfortable for her and me.  My car heats up quite a bit since it doesn't have tinted windows, and the asphalt must be scorching for PoongSoon.  As of late, she's been giving very hard balks when approaching the asphalt.  Positive encouragement ain't working for her.  I've been carrying her to get her going in the right direction.  I won't be able to do that for long.  She's 40 lbs going onto 60 lbs.

I asked my dad to come with his SLR camera for her last day of class.  He managed to capture all of the embarrassing moments, such as PoongSoon peeing on the carpet one last time.

He also saw how slobbered she got during the class.  Like last week, there were puppies teething and she got blood on her again. 

Click to enlarge

At the end of class, she got a chance to pick out a toy to take home.  The two other dogs that graduated didn't really picked anything up.   PoongSoon wasn't so shy.  She made a bee line towards the toys and picked up the biggest toy there.  It happened to be pink, which the other owners appreciated.

PoongSoon's next class will be an 8 week course with Hidden Valley Obedience Club.  The classes are going to be at 7 PM during the weekday.  She'll either repeat Puppy Socialization or go into Beginner Level I.

Why I still want a 'working' Jindo

There are some people out there who say that the Jindo should be changed to have less of a prey drive as it can be a liability in our modern age.

I'm not one of them.

I could prepare a wall of text on why the Jindo should remain a hunting dog with their particular temperament traits, but instead I'll just share one of the reasons I want a hunting Jindo *right now.* 

Red Zebra Heirloom tomato

 

Brandy Boy heirloom tomato

I've yet to harvest a single heirloom tomato as the rodents have been getting to them during the night.  I've tossed at least 15 tomatoes in the past two days.  BokDol tries to get the rats during the times he's out, but he's just too big to be nimble in the garden.  He'll be better for bigger vermin and in keeping out the coyotes.  PoongSoon still has the puppy coordination and is too young to be out at the same time as the coyotes, but I suspect she'll have the same problem as BokDol. 

My little cow?

Chewing some cud?

Her Normal Happy Face

Alaskan Collars

I ordered a pair of Alaskan Collars or Limited Slip Collars from Alpine Outfitters for BokDol and PoongSoon.  They'll wear these collars all the time with their tags on it.  I had the Jindos wear Alaskan Collars before, but I didn't want to re-use theirs for the Poongsans.  I also wanted to give the Poongsans a unique theme color apart from the previous dogs.  PoongSoon's color is now hot pink, and BokDol's color is blue.

PoongSoon jaw sparring with BokDol.

BokDol letting PoongSoon pinch his ears.

I'm a fan of the Alaskan Collars because they offer a looser fit when the dogs are not leashed.  That's a plus with PoongSoon's long fur which is probably going to matt and with BokDol's old injury that's apt to have scar tissue. 

I also like how the collar will tighten if the dogs try to back out while on leash.  It won't choke all the way like a choke chain collar, which is a bonus for when the dogs will be walked by people who aren't very skilled with choke chains. 

Collar fully opened

Collar fully closed.

I ordered the collars with the big ring attachment.  I figured it'll make finding the ring easier when PoongSoon has her adult coat in, and it'll keep my fingers from getting pinched when BokDol does his spin moves whenever I grab his collar.  It looks big on PoongSoon now, but I'm positive that she'll grow into it.  

PoongSoon's 5th Class

Things were much better this week.  There were a lot of dogs, and PoongSoon played with the big dogs very well.  The two German Shepherds played "mock wolf" like she likes to do, and she managed to learn how to escape the Akita squash and squashed the Akita in turn.  She still does the jowl grabbing with the loose-skinned pups like the Boxer, but the Boxer and the Boxer's owners didn't mind.   She was okay with most of the new pups.  She still makes one new owner worried though.

I found out one "downside" of having a white puppy in a puppy socialization class though.  She tends to turn pink during the play.  The pups that are teething will slobber bloody saliva on her. 

Guess I could get grossed out, but this morning, the little squirt had muddied herself with very dark soil.  Compared to black, pink is a better color on her. 

Poongsan Side Profiles

Just snapped some pictures this evening.

PoongSoon hasn't really hit the uneven growth stage yet.  Being a tall breed, I was half expecting her to have a high rear and then have her front catch up later. She's about 4 months old now.

 

Here is a picture of BokDol.  He's still full from his dinner and so he doesn't have much of his usual tuck to his stomach.  His age was given as 1 yr old, but I wonder if he was younger than that.  His teeth are very pristine and white, and there are days that he acts like a young puppy.

PoongSoon is starting to bring stuff to BokDol while he's in the kennel run.  Yesterday was a piece of straw that they shared through the panel.  Today was a rope toy.   

  

Tomorrow I'll be holding my breath as I try integrating the two without a barrier in between them.

BokDol is his Name

I finally decided to release the name that we gave to the foster Poongsan.  His new name is BokDol.  My dad picked the name.  Bok means blessing in Korean, and Dol is a boy's name.  I mentioned to my dad that it could be a mouthful for non-Koreans to pronounce, but he pulled the sentiment card. (BokSoon was one of the Jindos' name.)

BokDol finished his antibiotics and is eating very well now.  I've tried to switch him from the Hills Prescription I/D dry dog food, but I guess I went too fast and his stomach couldn't handle it.  So, he's still on the Prescription I/D.  I was hoping to introduce more calories to his diet.  Though he looks better now because I've bathed him and his fur is starting to grow back, he's still very skinny.

Neck fur is growing back.

Still visible hip bones and narrow waist.

PoongSoon's 4th Class

Today was PoongSoon's 4th socialization class.  Only two more to go and the class will be over.  With today being a holiday weekend and the temperature being hot (88 degrees), there were only 3 other dogs in the class.  One regular pup and two new pups.  I'm actually pretty disappointed in the turnout as I would have loved to have taken today off, but I went anyways because the people in last week's class had said they were still planning on attending.

PoongSoon was hotter than usual and drank a ton.  She also peed three times during class.

PoongSoon didn't really show much interest in playing with the 5 month old Giant Schnauzer pup.  Instead, she spent most of the play time beating up on the baby rottweiler and baby vizla mix.

Instead of her yelping like last week, she was causing these two to yelp when she would do the grab and shake on the neck/head/jowls.  I think she made one owner pretty nervous with her "I'm taking you down like a wolf" playstyle.  She made me nervous in turn and I was hovering over her much of the time.

I didn't really enjoy today's class.  The head trainer also wasn't there and so we didn't learn anything new.