That Guy With The German Shepherd

I guess every neighborhood has at least one. The talkative dog walker that you seem to run into whatever time of the day you go for a dog walk. Ours is like the local-dog-gazette and seems to know everybody that walks our trail, and I knew she would be happy to hear we just made some new friends.

"Really? Did you really met that guy with the German Shepherd?". Now she made me feel uncomfortable, and I stumbled: "Eh, yes. Why? Is that bad?".

There were some red flags. The guy didn't made a lot of effort to initiate a meet with Kenzo. And he did say his elderly German Shepherd girl could "protest", as he described it. I always walk away with red flags like that. And why I didn't do exactly that this time, I really don't know.

The GSD girl was a bit of a loner. She didn't seem very eager to meet us. She wasn't nervous or aggressive either. And as Kenzo didn't perform any calming signals - he just wanted to come closer - I thought there was not too much to worry about, and hoped we wouldn't regret following my feelings on this one.

It went very well. The GSD girl did interact a little with Kenzo, and like he said, "shouted" a few times at him. The guy seemed to be a little surprised too, the "shouting" didn't scare us away. But Kenzo loves that, and is used to that from home - with Viva. It just motivates him to do an even better peacock impression.

"You better be careful when you run into them. Many people had problems with that dog". I could imagine that, but it didn't necessarily meant the guy and his GSD were doing anything wrong. Still, I only met them once, who am I to know, and changed the subject to something else.

Occasionally we met the couple again, and when I didn't have Viva with me, we let them meet. With Viva around, we just nodded to each other or raised our hands as a hello. Kenzo was still always happy to meet her, tried to impress her and invite to play. But she always stayed reserved - she didn't even accept a treat from me - although she always had a smile on her face when we met again.

One day I was rushing home with Kenzo because I was late for work when we noticed them going on the far end of the trail, slightly off it, like they usually do. It was months ago we had seen them last, and I was in doubt what to do. I just waived, and felt bad I really didn't have time, and Kenzo and me picked up our pace again.

The GSD girl had noticed us as well and her head got higher while she saw us passing by in the distance. Just when we passed them at that 90-degree angle, where she realized we were not coming over, she decided to drop all her reservations and took a sprint towards us, as fast as her old legs could go.

She greeted Kenzo loud and jumped up as much as she could. Then she pushed her body against my legs and just stood there. She wanted a rub. Our first rub. It just took a minute and off she went again, back to daddy, who was still standing there with his jaw-bone dropped on the floor.

I always thought she was special. And now she made me feel special. The local-dog-gazette is not going to believe me.

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What Every First-time Hovawart Owner Should Know: Training and Exercise

This is a series of blogs about "What Every First-time Hovawart Owner Should Know", in which each subject is selected - and contributed to - by Hovawart owners.

Training and exercise

Dog training and exercise are god's gift to Hovawart owners.

Without it, things tend to explode in your face. But when you train and exercise, you are set up for success.

Hovawart TV: Day At The Beach

Kenzo ... excuse me ... Kenzo "Jay M." the Hovawart ... is sooo jealous right now:

What Every First-time Hovawart Owner Should Know: Personality

This is a series of blogs about "What Every First-time Hovawart Owner Should Know", in which each subject is selected - and contributed to - by Hovawart owners.

Personality

Whether your Hovawart's personality is to be the clown of the house, the placid matriarch, the work-a-holic, or the clever manipulator, they all have something in common when it comes down to Personality.

They'll have a lot of it.

Hovawart TV: Best Friends

I know. I featured a video of a Hovawart and a cat playing before. I can't help myself, it is just too cute:

What Every First-time Hovawart Owner Should Know: Not a Retriever, Still a Family Dog

This is a series of blogs about "What Every First-time Hovawart Owner Should Know", in which each subject is selected - and contributed to - by Hovawart owners.

Not A Retriever, Still A Family Dog

Now we know the Hovawart is nothing like a retriever due to its guarding instincts, you might wonder if they actually are family dogs.

They most certainly are.

What Every First-time Hovawart Owner Should Know: Guarding Instincts

This is the kick-off of a series of blogs about "What Every First-time Hovawart Owner Should Know", in which each subject is selected - and contributed to - by Hovawart owners.

A Hovawart's Guarding Instincts

You could be actually reading this because you have just run into a beautiful dog, that looked a lot like a retriever.

Maybe you had a talk with the owner, who explained it was not a retriever, but a ... what was it she said ... a Hover...What? ... ah yes, a Hova...Wart.

Hovawart TV: Synchronized Swimming

A new dog sport?

What Every First-time Hovawart Owner Should Know

Updated October, 20

The complete series as it turned out with the the contributions of Africa, Jan Wolfe, Evelyn B., Peggy S., Yvonne B., Anna N., Katja K., Sascha L., Björn S., Loes K., Flora B., Verena S., Heini A., Dave H., Maria E., Judith L., Lone A., Mary A., Hester O., Ine C., Min I., Silvia I., Karina J., Ellen G.
Thank you so much!

A Hovawart's Guarding Instincts
A Hovawart has a huge guarding instinct. Like all dog breeds that were bred for a purpose, either herding, hunting, or guarding, it is that genetic baggage they take with them in our modern society.With the Hovawart, it is guarding instinct.

Not A Retriever, Still A Family Dog
Being part of a family is as essential for them as breathing air. Only being with you and your family can really make them thrive. You'll have to earn it first. They bond with anybody who will treat them fair and invests time and effort in play, exercise and fun training.

Personality
Whether your Hovawart's personality is to be the clown of the house, the placid matriarch, the work-a-holic, or the clever manipulator, they all have something in common when it comes down to Personality.

Traning and Exercise
Dog training and exercise are god's gift to Hovawart owners. Without it, things tend to explode in your face. But when you train and exercise, you are set up for success.

Socialization with Dogs
Puppies have a “critical period” that spans roughly from 8 – 16 weeks of age. This period marks the time when your puppy is most impressionable, and they learn best.

More Socialization
Next to dogs, we also need to socialize our puppy with all the things we do in our daily life, so they can become a full-fledged member of our family.

Before You Buy
You are officially armed to meet some real Hovawarts in real life, although .... be prepared to find out we hardly even scratched the surface!



Original post:

When I was invited by "Dyrenes Beskyttelse" to speak to the families that adopted the Hovawarts rescued from the puppy mill in March this year, I gladly accepted the invitation. The idea was to inform them as good as possible what they could expect, as many of them became first-time Hovawart owners.

It was a great way to meet new people - and Hovawarts of course - and it shouldn't be too difficult, as I could pick most of it from the blog I guessed. Browsing through the blog I realized it was not as easy as it seemed. I missed some very important topics - i.e only one piece on socialization and one, incomplete, on health. Other information was hard to find in the first place in the chronological format of the blog.

The presentation I gave went well nonetheless and was well received, but I promised myself to re-visit the blog at a later time. One of our main goals is exactly to be of help and interest for people familiarizing with the Hovawart, and I was doing a disservice to future Hovawart parents.

I am very aware a lot of you that read this blog, are already quite educated Hovawart parents, and I would really appreciate your help in selecting the subjects that need attention.

So. If it was up to you, what is the most important subject(s) to write and discuss about if you had to chose? What should every first-time Hovawart owner know?

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Meanwhile, at the West-coast

Kenzo does, what Kenzo likes best:

The best Hovie is a tired, wet - and sandy - Hovawart.
But we are not finished yet, in the evenings, Viva joins:

Now we reached perfection. A bed full of sand.

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