Today I want to tell you some special things about Our Irish Wolfhound

   Firstly, as you can see in the photo above Wolfhounds are very large, actually you could use the term huge. Although she is only six months old Luna already weighs over ninety pounds. There is no fat on her and you can feel the corded muscles just under her skin.

   Irish Wolfhounds also have a very long digestive tract. Hence we get one of our favourite conditions, flatulence (farting in layman 

terms). Sitting around in the living room we are regularly surprised by a Luna expulsion. They are strong enough to clear the room. If we were to bottle some of Luna's gas we could sell it to the government as a  Weapon on Mass Destruction. 

   Lastly young Wolfhounds need o lot of attention. There main goal is to be around you continuously from when they wake until they go to sleep. They want to play and play and hang out. This could be a little difficult to deal with if you are not 100% committed to you pet.

Finally a big thank you to Kyreen Shoreyf or giving us our new best friend.

Congratulations Luna

After six intensive weeks and an extremely challenging final exam, Luna has graduated from intermediate obedience. As usual Luna managed to test all of us during the exam. It seemed more like she expected me to perform the manouvers first then to actually do them herself. Every time I tried to get her to do some of the required steps she would loyally follow me around. Way to go Luna. In the end though she pulled it all together, showing off her true self. Negotiating obstacles, waiting, ignoring other dogs and finally laying on her bed. She managed it all in spectacular fashion.

 

The graduation ceremony ended with pictures, soy ice-cream and other treats for all the students. The ice-cream was entirely new to Luna and provided some humour for all of us as she tested the new treat.

   The next day, we made our biweekly vet visit to check on Luna's weight. Again she surprised us by tipping the scales at 89 lbs. And Luna inspired the usual commotion in the office. All the assistants and veterinarians in the clinic had to stop and give Luna the welcome rub down that she seems to be expect when she visits.
   I am forever surprised by the attention this girl can draw. It seems wherever we go Luna becomes the centre of attention. People want to touch and pet her at every turn. She in her smile friendly way accommodates everyone.
Finally a Wolfhound romp in the park to end a busy day. Most of the romp seemed to consist of rolling around on the ground. Frisbee case is also a loved activity.

Wolfhound Tongues, how long are they really?

   So a human tongue is approximately 10 cm long. A wolf tongue is about this long. I think Luna's tongue actually goes around my head. The tongue also seems to be continuously in use. Sometimes when we are playing, teeth get involved. This is irritating, but to compound the issue for some reason my arms are wet to the elbows. Wolfhounds can literally swallow your entire arm and that goes a long way to explaining my wet arms.
   Last week Luna had old home week in Brockville with the pirates. The tall ships were in town but from where I was standing it looked like Luna was the star attraction.

Everyone wanted to be in a picture with luna. Pirates, the town crier and just about everyone on the dock.

   Caption that goes with the photo on the left should be "run for your life". Notice the Wolf smile. This is the typical smile Wolfhounds exhibits prior to tearing a hole in someones pants. As you may have guessed you can just see the back of my jeans.

Teeth, Teeth, Teeth 
Finally luna has lost the last of her baby teeth. Maybe now she will stop biting me and settle down a little bit. I completely understand the teething thing and I have given her a ton of leeway.
I can only imagine how hard it is when you can't talk and you hurt. All we see is panting and intense chewing on her toys. We realize from our own children how uncomfortable this must be for her and we just want her to keep being a good dog. Very funny my teeth are making me want to eat you and all you can say is "Good Girl Luna". Well when i bite you maybe you'll understand.
And here are the current new teeth. That is a very intimidating face. Normally when i see them coming at me i feel a small amount of trepidation. Is she playing or has she completely lost control. in real life they look way bigger.
And here are the teeth I expect her to grow into.
Hopefully she will be past the chewing stage prior to this. I am not sure our vigilance or furniture could cope with this .

   Does anyone remember this movie. Well that's what our Luna is starting to look like. No, we are not dressing her up like a human woman. But after a friendly visit to our vet for a "weigh in" we realize that the giant in her is coming out. The "Little" girl tipped the scales at 36 kg (79 lbs. for our friends south of the border).
  I added some photos to give the flying Luna perspective. Her larger size has definitely affected the ability of her ears to soar. It also has not stopped her from becoming airborne. Seems her jumping ability is proportional to her weight. Quite the opposite of humans.
   Thursday, Friday and Saturday Luna has been practicing for the show in Belleville at the end of October. She is convinced that if she works with me enough i won't screw up like the last two times. Only time will tell. Hopefully I will not embarrass her again.

Since Luna is about to grow out  of her SUV we will have to get her some new wheels. I also want to be able to fit in with the other large dog families. So, a Dodge RAM is on the near horizon. I blame Luna for this unnecessary expense, but really inside I am giggling away happily.

Well thats it for today everyone enjoy your lives no matter what pack you are in.

Hand Stacking, Free Stacking, mysterious words used by dog handlers.

Well, Sue and I lived in the country for 12 years and for the most part heated our house with wood. You might think, how does this relate to dog handling. Well for the longest time i thought hand stacking was this. Happily I thought "Free Stacking" was someone else doing this for me. Needless to say this was not what was meant at all. Hand Stacking turns out to be manually placing your dog's feet in a position to best show him or her off. Below we can see an excellent example of Sue guiding Luna into a perfect stance.  

  Amazingly Sue manages this without effort. There must be a certain affinity between the two as I have a great deal more difficulty at getting Luna to cooperate.
  

It seems that when I try it the stacking appears to be reversed. Luna is in charge getting me to sit. Or she tries to sit on me.
Free stacking, even more fun at the expense of the Alpha male. For some reason with a great deal of work the dog aka Luna, reads my mind and then does what i am thinking.

As you can see either the way I am thinking or Luna's mind reading is not quite correct. I will leave you to decide which of the above is the case. Just to put it all into perspective Luna was able to win multiple events at her first show right up until I stopped following her instructions.

Ropes, Rocks and Apples

I wonder if all Wolfhound puppies behave like our Luna. It appears that there are two states of being in our Luna's head. I am tired and don't bother me. Or, I'm bored and you have to do something with me.

   You would think that being tired would result in a large dog laying down in her bed. Well you would be wrong, being tired means a Wolfhound lays down anywhere and everywhere. And that is not all. They are not satisfied laying in any one place for a long period of time. They tend to move around when they are sleeping. A while in front of the fireplace, then a bit on the pillow, then into her bed and then maybe the couch looks like a good place.
   During this period of repose it appears all of her toys are following her around. This is quite mysterious, and potentially we will have to install surveillance cameras to figure out how this happens.
The result is we are regularly returning toys to the toy box.

   Well lets move on to the actual discussion. It's play time. When puppy Wolfhounds are not sleeping they and by extension you are playing. Simply providing toys is not going to get you very far. The happy puppy losses interest in short order with any toy you can give her. Squeaking, bouncing and rattling will only get you a couple of minutes.

  If there is not something on the other side of a rope, soon the junior Wolfhound's attention will be turned to something more to her interest. Possibly a pillow, couch or even an irreplaceable family heirloom. In our case Luna has taken to giving us a nip in the leg or backside if we are not responsive enough to her playing needs.
   She also will pick up and chew on rocks. Somehow this girl has figured out that this irritates me. Any attempt I make to get the rocks from her results in a bout of "zoomies" (aka racing around the back yard at break neck speed) . Thankfully superior human intellect wins out. We have noticed she has developed an interest in the apple tree in the back yard. I have found a way to replace the rock with an apple and Luna seems to have lost interest in the stones (for now). Maybe her new teeth will last longer then the end of the month.