Archive for February 27th, 2008
Wednesday, February 27th, 2008
Kaline
We’ve had a couple firsts at our house. A week ago Saturday Kaline
lifted his leg for the first time. We were very proud! On a less good note, he
took off on his very first field trip this past weekend. Everybody was out for
a walk… just like every other day…. only this time Kaline took off after
some deer. Bad dog. Craig got everybody else in the pen — and started out in
the direction Kaline had gone…. within minutes Kaline came running back for
all he was worth. He ran right passed Craig — and all the way up to the house.
I think if he could have turned the door knob he would have been in the
kitchen. I don’t know what happened on that first experience — but I think it
was bad…. which is good. Perhaps a deer stopped and turned to look at him…
because as we know, Kaline tries to sound tough — but he really isn’t…. or it
could be that all of a sudden he turned around and realized he was all by
himself. At any rate, he has not made any attempt to leave the comfort of the
pack on walks since then — so we think that is a very good thing.
Craig and Laura
No Comments » - Posted in Chopper by Julie
Wednesday, February 27th, 2008
German Police Dogs to Wear Shoes
New York Times
German Police Dogs to Wear Shoes
BERLIN
(AP) — Police dogs in the western city of Duesseldorf will no longer
get their feet dirty when on patrol — the entire dog unit will soon be
equipped with blue plastic fiber shoes, a police spokesman said Monday.
”All
20 of our police dogs — German and Belgian shepherds — are currently
being trained to walk in these shoes,” Andre Hartwich said. ”I’m not
sure they like it, but they’ll have to get used to it.”
The
unusual footwear is not a fashion statement, Hartwich said, but rather
a necessity due to the high rate of paw injuries on duty. Especially in
the city’s historical old town — famous for both its pubs and drunken
revelers — the dogs often step into broken beer bottles.
”Even
the street-cleaning doesn’t manage to remove all the glass pieces from
between the streets’ cobble stones,” Hartwich said, adding that the
dogs frequently get injured by little pieces sticking deep in their
paws.
The dogs will start wearing the shoes this spring but only
during operations that demand special foot protection. The shoes comes
in sizes small, medium and large and were ordered in blue to match the
officers uniforms, Hartwich said.
”Now we just have to teach the dogs how to tie their shoes,” he joked.
No Comments » - Posted in Canis Woofus Family by Julie
Wednesday, February 27th, 2008
Herding Balls
the Jolly Balls. The dogs like them but they don’t become oc about them. Even if they pop them, they’re still able to play with them
their teeth down on these large balls while with the larger breeds it is a distinct possibility.