Girl and dog . . . watching a passing ghost from a former life or a drawn by the drone of a single engine aircraft straining an engine.

Bender News!!!!!

The little knucklehead at left (photo credit B. Gray) took a very important test a week ago. He is now certified as an area search dog by the North American Police Working Dog Association (NAPWDA). He essentially "bounced" his way through the certification test. He was to find a live person in the woods. He, of course, found the human remains sector first, found the scent article and then set about finding the live victim in the woods. Bender never gives less than 100% and appears to be sincerely delighted with the tasks set before him!

New Photos #2

This is Grits and his brother Silas. We are very lucky that Silas' mom is photographer extraordinaire Becky Gray. She caught this pic of the two boys in a way that really captures each of their personalities (Mr. Dominant Grits and Mr. Submissive Silas). It is very easy to tell which one is the BIG brother and which one is the little brother. It is funny that the little brother is actually physically bigger than the big brother. But Grits is from the litter before Silas and he seems clearly aware that he is, in fact, the big brother!

New Grits' Photos

This is Grits (photo credit B. Gray). He is just such a handsome dog and has a great, laid-back personality. The German Shepherd Dog is supposed to appear noble and should be clearly identifiable as male or female just from the set of the head.

Well, here is just about grown up K9 Grits in all his glory. December 31 he celebrated his first birthday. He is still intact per the vet's advice and, in his case, it just makes him skinny but doesn't seem to have an adverse impact on his gentle disposition. The thinking is to neuter large breed male dogs at about 14 months, so we are due for a vet visit soon to assess where we are with musculature, etc. He is such a good natured dog, I would take 10 more just like him! He is laid back and curious about everything. If we can just get him to chill out on the counter surfing it would be great (he is big enough to reach ALL parts of the counter and this is dangerous for just washed dishes and anything else I was foolish enough to leave on the counter).

Grits and Bender do very well together. When I get home from work Bender walks me to Grits' crate to let him out and they just play together all evening. The other night I had a fire in the wood stove and Bender curled up at the other end of the couch. Grits decided to join the fun and found his special bone and jumped up. His back half was on Bender and his front half was in my lap. He is a BIG boy and carves out whatever space he thinks he needs.

I have to go out of town for work so the boys will stay at Grits' breeder while I'm gone. Her house backs up to a hill. The yard is fenced except for the very back which is a natural rock wall going straight up. They also had to build a fence to keep dogs from getting on the back roof of the house.

Last time I returned from travelling, I went to get the boys and Grits was standing on the peak of the house roof watching me pull in the driveway. He figured out how to get under the fence!

Chinese Television Stations

These big ears have improved our television reception when I can get Grits to hold still on top of the TV set. He should have "sit" and "stay" mastered by the start of the Olympics in China, so I should be able to get great reception without cable access!

For being this big, you think he would be able to hear me say "No!" much more easily than he does!

Hairy Changes

Thank goodness my friend Brian told me to expect color changes in Grits. He started out with a huge black saddle that ran down the outside of both legs. Now parts of him are changing to tan. His tail is the funniest part because it looks like I had a good hold around the base of his tail and dipped the rest of it in black paint (Hence the butt shot at left). The line of demarkation is so clear that I can see it when he is in the far reaches of the back yard and I am in the house. Every day the dark black stripe drops lower and lower on the tail.

As for the rest of him, I think he is still under warranty, but I have to check. All the black on the outsides of his legs and moving up into his shoulders is fading away to the tan underneath. I have a hunch he is going to look like a classic German Shepherd Dog (once his head grows into the ears).

Robotic Alien Dog Transformation

OK, You have watched mild-mannered Bender grow up on this blog (review back a few chapters and see how normal and cute he has looked in pictures).

I caught the transformation that happens when Grits shows his affection--Bender is overtaken by a strange alien robot life-form. If you are brave, you can click on the picture and see up close (look particularly at the eyes and teeth on Bender).

I thought, in his new state, he might be affected by my use of the remote control for the television, but alas . . . he is out of control.

Ears and Hair

Here is the view of the ears from the back. Notice the moist area where Bender keeps kissing the tender cartilage of Grits' ears. Grits is turning into a handsome boy. In this photo you can almost see the silver guard hairs on his shoulders. (I have noticed that I have also started getting silver guard hairs lately, hmmm, maybe contagious!)

The Easter Bunny Made It!

After 3 weeks of floppy, beagle ears, we have been working hard to be gentle with the fragile cartilage in Grits' baby ears so that we might have a real "bunny" by Easter. Trying to get Bender (whose favorite game is "Spit Head") to be gentle with the ears of others has been the biggest challenge!

Grits now has two ears that try really hard to stand up most of the time. They flop when he runs and plays, but we are done being half beagle and half German Shepherd Dog. The right ear stood up first and the left lagged by about 5 days.

He went to the vet this week for shots and weighed 22.6 pounds (that is a weight gain of almost 3 pounds in a week). He is getting taller but continues to be lanky. His tail is long enough that it looks like he stole it from a Siamese cat.

I tried to get an earlier picture to show the progress of the ears, but when I told him to sit, I was looking through the camera and neglected to see that I was asking him to sit too close to the water bowl. He dutifully sat and his tail "wagged" the water right out of the bowl. My mopping talents are now almost legendary, so we fixed the problem, but I missed the picture.

Here is a picture of the two boys together. Bender has a habit of getting on the couch with a dangling toy and hanging it over the edge (because he knows Grits is too little to make it onto the couch). They play like this and then Bender gets off the couch and uses Grits to mop the floor. It makes for an interesting game of "crack the whip" with Grits getting most of the crack!

Here is a more recent photo of Grits (also known as the Gritter Critter). He is absolutely darling and has been a wonderful addition to our household!

OK, it has been a while. Bender and I have bonded very closely with just the two of us. He has now been certified in both live air scenting and human remains detection.

After a great deal of thought, we decided to add another family member. His name is Grits (actually Sir Galahad's Breakfast of Champions which I am thinking about changing to Sir Galahad's Champion of Breakfasts). Grits is a German Shepherd Dog and he will be 11 weeks old tomorrow. Last Monday (at 10 weeks) he weighed 20 pounds!

Grits and Bender are great buddies. Grits is quickly trying to establish himself as the top dog (over Bender anyway--he is pretty clear about my role in the pecking order). He is a little pig. He knows sit and is working on down. He rings the bell to go outside and housebreaking has proved to be interesting--Bender lets me know when HE thinks Grits should go out. So far, he has been right about 90% of the time.

Obituary

Zach

October 1, 1999 to July 21, 2007

Zach died in my arms yesterday following a relatively short illness. He was a big proud dog with an endless capacity for unconditional love and was my constant companion through the worst time of my life. Now I imagine that he is running around with strong black angel wings waiting patiently for me.