Guido & Titan & Gigi’s Blog

One year ago today we brought home the big lug, Titan. In the last year he’s been totally converted to a true goober dog. He’s one of da’ fam. Here’s a picture from his first day.

Gigi turned 20 months old on January 17th. She was born on May 17, 2007. She is 7 days less than 6 months younger than Titan. She is a direct import from the Von’t Stokerybos Kennell in Belgium. Her mom was over 8 years old when she had this litter (unheard of for Berners). Her dad lived to be 12, I think. She’s got a lot of longevity in her family. She weighs about 85lbs, she’s slightly shorter than Titan and thinner.  She has great markings, and her muzzle white moves up into her eyes higher than Titan, combined with a very white cotton ball on the end of her tail makes her resemble a fox. Foxy… lady… She is a high energy dog, very smart, very affectionate, and loves to be loved. She is happy all the time and when you look at her face you can’t help but smile at her permanent smile.

Gigi was named Gai Chateau von’t Stokerybos, which means “Happy Home” + the Kennel name. Her call name is Gigi. Perhaps we can also call her “Homey”. :) Robin imported her as a 2 month old puppy, with the intention of using her as a show and breeding dog. Unfortunately for Robin, but fortunately for the rest of us, Gigi developed a small deformity or potential for problem, with one of her elbows. This meant that she couldn’t pass her OFA (Orthopedic Foundation for Animals) clearances for her joints, which in turn meant that she couldn’t breed or show, which meant she had to be fixed, which wasn’t in Robin’s plans, which meant she had to be rehomed. Sound familiar? This happens to many Berners. It’s bad because you want to think that they’re all healthy and any could be breed/show quality, but it is good because it allows people like me to get these otherwise WONDERFUL and BEAUTIFUL dogs as pets, and let them live the good life. It shows an incredible quality standard and ethic of people to choose NOT to breed these dogs that they spend so much time and money on and with. Robin could have bred her, but she knew she needed to pass. Robin spent a lot of money on her, and she LOVES her doggies, and to not have her clear must have been heartbreaking.

So, Gigi went to live with Theresa at about 9-12 months old, not sure. Theresa had other dogs, including 2 German Shepards, another Berner, cats, etc. Gigi took to it all very well, learned her obedience, learned to love to swim, love other dogs, sit for things, beg for attention, and be her happy playful self with the Shepards and her berner friend, Gracie. Theresa took great care of her with training, diet, activities, and Gigi grew into a very happy young dog. At some point though, Theresa realized that due to her circumstances that she wasn’t going to be able to provide Gigi the environment she felt Gigi needed. This had to be a very hard decision to make, but I applaud Theresa for being able to think of Gigi’s best interest before her own.

On or around January 5th, I got a rather out of the blue call from Robin. We had Cherokee at our house for about 3 weeks, and by that time Robin was really missing her. Cherokee was fine, we had been working through some health issues, training her for the house rules, getting to know her, but it just… it just wasn’t the right fit. Cherokee is a great dog and I will always love her, but she’s Robin’s dog. So here’s this call from Robin stating that she got a call from her friend Theresa, and she was looking to rehome Gigi. The timing couldn’t have been better. Her description was perfect. She just seemed to fit. She was close in age to Titan, loved to play, was very smart and trainable, etc etc… Then we saw the pictures, and I knew it as soon as I saw the goofy tongue hanging out the side of her mouth.

On January 19th we took Cherokee back home and met Gigi. She was adorable. Very high energy, loved to give up the belly, played with Titan, had good recall.. and… oh my was she cute. After some discussion of timing and what not, we decided to go ahead and bring her home. She felt like our dog, and our search for Titan’s buddy was over.

In the almost 2 weeks since, she has made her mark. She’s so different from Titan that I’m having to learn Dog all over again. She’s smart, but she learns differently from Titan. She’s very much a dog, in every typical sense. Titan is a-typical, much like most of the pets in my life; the cat who thought she was people; the duck who didn’t like to swim, etc…. He’s not your average dog. Gigi is VERY much a dog. It’s cool.

We’re going to need to get Gigi involved in activities like agility, carting, tracking, herding, etc, to keep her mind stimulated and that motor of hers appeased.

Gigi is beautiful, fun, loving, playful, and while sometimes you want to just smack her, you can’t because she’s so cute and loving.  And she knows it.

Gigi and Titan wrestle like puppies, and sometimes you have to break it up. They get along great. Titan makes a great buddy, older brother, whatever. He keeps an eye on her and is always very happy to see her when she’s back from being away from him.

Titan & Gigi. The Dynamic Duo. Love ‘em both.

Gigi is about 20 months old. She’s a Belgium import from the same kennel as Titan’s dad Rocky, Stokerybos. She is a little pistol of a girl. High energy, very smart, and a great little 85lb girl who loves to play and is basically happy all the time.

Gigi comes to us courtesy of Robin LeClair, again, who seems to be our dog pimp. :) She imported her as a young pup, but when her elbow didn’t clear about a year ago she went to live with another lady, Theresa. Well, turns out that Theresa thought that she wasn’t able to provide Gigi with the home she deserved due to some complications in their family and how energetic she is, so she returned her to Robin for placement. This all happened right in the middle of Cherokee’s visit. I chatted with her and Robin about her for hours. When I saw the pictures…. I just knew it.

Cherokee is Robin’s dog, and she will always be Robin’s dog. Gigi came out of nowhere and everything just fit, at a time where all parties were starting to realize that Robin needed Cherokee, and that maybe Cherokee was only visiting. From the moment we heard about her, she sounded good. Things aligned, similarities to how Titan developed ensued, and before long there we were, returning Cherokee home, and meeting this happy bouncy young Berner girl. Everything felt right, and we took her home. She’s been with us since Monday and it is coooool. She plays with Titan regularly, she loves attention, she’s starting to learn to listen to us… and she’s got the sweet goofy berner face that I love. She’s fast, she’s energetic, she’s hella smart, and she’ll be a great hiking dog. She could also do agility, rally, or drafting. She’s totally a puppy. She makes Titan look calm and mature. She’s a great girl.

Welcome to your new home, Gigi.

And Cherokee… we all miss you, especially Titan. But we’re glad we had you for the month and hopefully we’ll be able to see you often and rub that big momma belly! You’re happy back at home, and things worked out well for all.

Here’s a little snippet of a wrestling session during the first day of Gigi’s arrival. They play just like Berner pups do, lots of wrestling and chewing. Titan loves to chew on her and make his little bear noises, and she obviously drives him crazy. After these initial play sessions, they cuddled on the floor and slept.

They’ve had a month to develop their friendship. I think they’ve done a good job of it. You watch this video, and you be the judge…

Titan’s sister Touche is gone. She was hit by a car after escaping from Lisa Ebnet’s farm in Ferndale. She was a beautiful girl and was very similar to Titan. She stayed with us for a week in August 2008 and has always been special to us all.

Cherokee’s adjusting well, and Titan’s adjusting well too. She’s now been here for about 30 hours, and we’re all getting along fine. Titan & Cherokee have slept close, played some, and even had some spats. The first night was a bit stressful because Cherokee was unsure about it all, so that combined with plenty of adventures into the foot of fresh snow with the crazy pup Titan has helped to tire her out.

Titan’s good. He’s been a good boy, a good gentlemen, and a gracious host. Then he turns into crazy pup and demands her to play with him. That’s how he got his ear bitten. It’s all good though. There’s a good dynamic there, but they just have to work through it. Titan’s a good, GOOD boy and he’ll figure it all out. Cherokee will learn that she’ll get more lovins here than she would ever have imagined possible, and everyone will be fine.

Meanwhile, naps are good.

This is Cherokee von Alpentraum. She currently owns Robin, and has had puppies with Titan’s dad, Rocky. Cherokee is 5.5 years old, about 90lbs, and is about 13 weeks removed from hatching her third litter, which included puppy Autumn, who we smuggled last weekend. She has not been spayed yet. She’s a total sweetheart. Very motherly, very loving, very snuggly. She’s absolutely adorable.

Cherokee is coming to stay with us for awhile, and maybe, a long while. We’ve been talking with Robin about her for about a month, determining if she’s a good Berner for us. We’ve been looking for the right one to come along, and we’re going to ‘try her out’ for awhile, while Robin determines exactly what she wants to do with her. See, she’s such a good girl and has such beautiful puppies, and her joints are excellent. She might have one more litter left in her, so we don’t want to do anything yet to cut short her options. This all works out great as in the next few months all of us, Cherokee, Robin, Titan, and the human petting units will know what Cherokee’s future looks like. My gut says that in 1 month we’ll be so smitten with her that there will be no going back. Whether she has puppies again or not… dunno.

Cherokee and Titan get along great. They’ve met a couple times and Cherokee will be higher in the pack than him, unless he asserts himself to her challenges. I don’t see that happening. This is the same dog who let uber-beta Duncan hump his face in a dominance test. She’ll have fun with his puppy tendencies, too. I bet she mothers him. She’ll also have fun putting all his toys away. They’re her ‘babies’, and they have to go back to their place.

She’s a total sweetheart snuggler Berner and we can’t wait. She arrives on December 20th. Be sure to say hello if you get a chance, and check out a few pictures here: http://www.guidothesquid.com/pics/thumbnails.php?album=79