Sorry it’s been so long since we’ve connected. Paula and I check your website routinely however to check on the stories and pictures of everyone’s pups. Our kids are doing quite well. We all have spring fever right now and can’t wait for the snow to melt. As you can see in the photos, we had more than our share this winter.
Hector is doing fantastic! What a great companion! We are most proud and excited to tell you that he past his Canine Good Citizen test in December. We really have enjoyed working with Sam Jones, he’s a great trainer/teacher. We often talk about Hector needing a playmate!!! But not so sure we can manage three.
Katy is doing great too! Hector seems to be keeping her young and tolerant. At age 10 she’s still playing ball and enjoying her daily romps through the woods. She’d love to be able to say she’s alpha in this household, but we haven’t let her take that position from us. So she remains content to boss Hector around when he starts crossing the line, although she’s a little more cautious as he has long since surpassed her in size. He’s already 87 lbs. How big did you say Omar was?
We talk often about how fun it would be if we lived closer to you. We read your website and envy the people who do.
Beautiful pictures! And I cannot believe that you guys have so much snow- are those pictures recent? Jeez. I could never survive that, I’m a real baby about the cold.
Beautiful photos!
Congrats on the CGC for Hector. We had both Ekko & Kirsch go through all of Sam Jone’s classes, he is a really good trainer and he and Joanie are two of the nicest people I’ve known. He was talking about a “tricks” class, but has not offered it yet. Kirsch got his CGC last fall after Sam’s off-leash class.
It’s been a long winter for sure. I see you snowblow a moat around the yard, too. In the woods out near Long Lake where I live it’s still knee deep on the North slopes of the hills. Hopefully the snow will be gone in a few weeks.
We’ve always wondered if there were any other grandpups of Julie’s up here in TC. Hector has one litter mate that lives near here, but we’ve not see her.
We’re waiting for Sam’s “tricks” class too. Unfortunately his health has not been good and I think that’s delaying his ability to put time into the development of the class. But I know Hector would love such a class. Perhaps we’ll do the off leash class in the mean time. Hector has been going to doggie day care with Joan once a week, just to have some dog social interaction. Then last week we decided to discontinue it weekly. Joan said he was out-growing the young pups type of play.
We spend a lot of time out near Lake Dubbonet on the trails, especially in the winter when the dirt roads become snowmobile trails. We enjoy our time together in the woods. In the summer we do a fair amount of hiking on the North Country Trail.
The moat in the backyard is actually a portion of a big “dogmaze” that I snowblow every winter for them. It’s great for running to chase after thrown objects like balls and soft toys, and especially fun for hide and seek. But we also appreciated seeing bare ground for a few weeks until this last dump.
I hope someday we cross paths. We need to keep encouraging Sam to teach a new class, even if it’s just for our GSD’s.
Garth and Karen, all of your dogs are related. Hector and Kirsch are half brothers, both Zucca sons. Katy and Ekko are related but not as closely.
Living in Duluth MN for 40 years I put in my “snow time” for the rest of my life!
I noticed the similar characteristics between Katy & Ekko, and Hector & Kirsch, especially in the ears and color.
A GSD class would be fun, Sam could maybe do an short class in tricks, or maybe Rally Obedience.