Dog at the Beach, Dog in the Ground

Since today was a day off for me, I decide to take PoongSoon to the beach for the first time.  As I expected, she was less than thrilled at all the water.  It reminded her too much of rains and baths.

I'm not stepping in that.

So the best picture I got of her was a wind-swept look and not a frolick in the surf.

Meanwhile at home, BokDol has discovered the joys of digging for gophers right amidst my grape vines.  I have mixed feelings about that as I do want him going after the gophers, but I don't want him ripping out the roots.

Friend's Housewarming Party

PoongSoon and I attended a friend's housewarming party today.  There were lots of dogs in attendance. At one time, there must have been at least 10 loose dogs altogether in one area.  PoongSoon was very well behaved.  She was a lot of subdued than how she acts with BokDol.  No wild playing with so many adults around.

PoongSoon hangin out with two white Jindos and a friend

Siberians wanting to play with puppy

PoongSoon resting as the Jindos march on

PoongSoon meeting the BIG dog

Iri the bouncy Jindo

Max, the senior Siberian

Woody, the senior Jindo

 Here are the foster dogs that were in attendance:.

new 4-5 month old female puppy, not named yet

Scout, female Jindo

New male yet to be named.  Very handsome male Jindo.

Cramming for Class

For tomorrow's obedience class, I'm suppose to show off a new trick that I taught PoongSoon during the past week.   I kind of forgot about this until I re-read my instructor's email on Sunday.

I could have re-used a trick that PoongSoon already knows for the class, but I decide to give a new trick a try.  Here is PoongSoon learning "Bark." 




Not bad for only two days of working on it.  :-)

Not so Sneaky Visit to the Dog Park

This afternoon I took PoongSoon to the dog park.  It was the first time I ever took her to one as I didn't want her to get tramatized at the dog park and form a dislike of other dogs.  Also, I'd been known to be strongly against dog parks in general because Jindos do so poorly in them.  So this visit with PoongSoon was supposed to happen with little or no fanfare. No one needed to know about it.

In the LARGE DOGS area, there was only a Bulldog and so we entered that area.  PoongSoon didn't really show any interest in the Bulldog to approach him.  She was still stressing (drooling) over being in a strange place.  A bit later on, a Weimaraner came in.  PoongSoon was still uncertain of where she was and didn't know quite what to make of the Weim's pawing and jumping play style at first.  She was more interested in the people though, sort of like what happened in her very first puppy socialization class.  She did eventually start doing some jaw-sparring with the Weim.  It wasn't very carefree though.

A bit later, a shy dog who was too reactive in the busy SMALL DOGS area moved over to the LARGE DOGS area.  I'm proud to say that PoongSoon approached the shy dog and was very gentle with him.  She moved slow and never pushed close to the point where he felt threatened.  

Once a black Labrador came in, I think PoongSoon finally relaxed and started playing normally.  I let down my guard and moved to the entrance area where some owners were hanging out.   

One lady in the adjoining ALL DOGS area asked me about PoongSoon and so I went on my usual speal about how she's a North Korean breed but a long-haired and so on.  The lady owned a red spitzy dog and she identified him as a Jindo.  She asked my opinion of him and so I gave it.  She was impressively more knowledgable than the average Jindo owner that I usually meet, and I think she was surprised that I knew some stuff too.  Eventually, she asked "Do you know Ann Kim?"

Shoot.  There goes my anonymity.   Too late to stop now, and so we ended up talking about a wide range of topics such as Cesar Milan (her dog was trained by his follower), Least Invasive Minimally Aversive,  a New Mexico Japanese Kai/Shikoku kennel with freely mingling intact dogs, Jindo politics, Jindo rescue, my plans for my next Jindo, etc.

With the secret of the dog park visit blown, I decided that I might as well write about it.

Growth Spurt

I went away last weekend to attend a cousin's wedding and I came back to this dog:

Where did my lanky puppy go?  PoongSoon has a massive build now, that says, "My ancestors hunted wild boar!"  Course, the only chance she gets to test that is with BokDol.

Stalking BokDol

She manages to wrestle him down more times than not these days.  She currently weighs 58 lbs and is ~ 24 inches at the shoulder. 

Gotcha!

When I took her back to obedience school, her former instructors commented that her head had filled out.  No more skinny skull.  

 
Her coat has also gotten longer.  She has a really impressive tail (even with the burrs in it) and longer hairs on her shoulders.  She has a bigger neck mane now.  
 

Not the usual picture taking position

PoongSoon seems to have gotten more self-assured as well.  She's developed a grown-up bark.  No more uneasy single barks for her.  Once she starts, it's a continuous bark.  When she gets excited, her hackles raise up a good two inches. 

During obedience school, she's lost the "I have to play with the other dogs!" vibe.  Instead, it's "I'm bored with this exercise.  Can we do something else?"

The Helper

This month and next month we'll be re-doing half of the backyard.  Part of the process includes moving the dog kennels so that they're facing the house instead of being against the house.    In order to move the kennels to their new spot, a retaining wall needs to be put up to shore up the hill it's against and also elevate the kennels above the ground.  

PoongSoon was very curious about what we were doing.   At first, she would just observe from a distance, but then she got closer and closer.

Whatcha doing?

She started to stick her head in my way.

And then she started to mimic me as I patted down the base for the retaining wall. 

Her efforts were very cute and humorous, but unfortunately, paws aren't very good for creating a level base.  I thanked her for her help and then asked her to move to the side. 

You missed a block.

Yeonsan Ogye, the Black Korean Chicken

Found this as I was browsing through a link about unusual chicken breeds:

Photo by Lee Seong Woon

According to feathersite.com,

This is an ancient Korean breed, known from back in the time of the Middle Ages. Today it is mainly bred in the Chungcheongnam-Do area of Korea.

Its most notable characteristics are the black skin, eye, comb and bone. It has only the normal four toes. Males weigh around 1.7 kg and females around 1.2 kg.

The following is the description attached to the picture:

Yeonsan Ogye is the cock which has been bred in Korea since before the times in the Joseon Dynasty Ages.(Joseon Dynasty : The country which there was in Korea in A.D 1392~1910)
It is appointed to the 265th Korean natural monument and saves it.
The Korean animal husbandman do not understand it in detail for the origin of this cock.
However, a name called the O-gye appears if I watch the book(book name : Jaejeong-Jip) which a which is a Goryeo scholar(name is Lee Dal Chung, A.D 1309~1385 ) wrote of the times in the Goryeo Ages(Goryeo : The country which there was in Korea in Middle Ages.)
When They(Korean animal husbandmans) look in this, this cock is supposed in having entered Korea Peninsula before in the days of the Goryeo Ages.
Yeonsan Ogye is the record that a person called "Lee Hyeong Heum" lived Yeonsan, Chungcheongnam-Do in the Middle Ages of Korea, presented a which is the 25th Korean King(King name is "Cheoljong" A.D 1849–1863) for the first time.
It(Ogye) is April 1, 1980 that it was appointed to a natural monument and it(Ogye) is in Hwaak-ri, Yeonsan-Myeon, Nonsan-City, Chungcheongnam-Do and save it now.
The characteristic of this cock is comb and eyes of a black, skin and the bone of the ash black. a toe is 4, and it is a characteristic that green black feather.
The cock of spots(When this bred emission in old Korea, The gene of a Korean native cock done a crossing of was manifestation.) and the white(it is mutation) is born once in a while, too.

For ten minutes, I thought about the possbility of getting a few of these chickens for my flock, but then I read the regulations behind importing the chickens from Korea to the US.  Pretty much impossible for live chickens, and very, very difficult for hatching eggs.  I wonder if these barriers existed before Avian flu virus came onto the scene.