Man's Best Friend

Have you ever had a pet? I've had a few over the years and I would have to say that dogs are very special to me. There is a bond, a faithfulness that you just don't find in other pets. You can see it in their eyes and of course in that wagging tail. Even though German Wirehaired Pointers have their tails docked they still wag like crazy. They are just happy being in the same room with you. Dogs are very social creatures and love the companionship. Our German Wirehaired Pointers have lots of HEART!

I love telling people about our boys, Jack and Joe, and hope you enjoy hearing about them. I am not a professional breeder or trainer but have learned about dogs in "a hands on fashion" and I am sure, if you have a dog, you'll know what I mean.

Jack and Joey

Our family has had its share of pets including fish, hamsters, mice, birds and of course other breeds of dogs. We've had Great Danes (great family dogs), poodles and terriors but of them all our favorites have been the German Wirehaired Pointers. Our first GWP died at age 10. Oh how we loved that dog. It has been over 15 years since his passing and we still have friends tell us stories about our beloved Nick. He must have made quite an impression on them. We now have Jack, who will be 5 years old in January of 2011 and Joey who will be 3 in March of 2011. They are from different breeders (no relation to each other) and have completely different personalities. Jack is bigger and much more serious while Joey is a clown and loves to make you laugh.

This is a picture of Jack. His favorite thing is pheasant hunting and swimming. We use to live on Croton Pond and Jack loved to be in the water chasing fish.

We love our German Wirehaired Pointers because they are family. They love you even when you are mad at them. You can't make a move without them being right by your side. And, if you get down low enough Joey will give you the biggest, wettest kisses you have ever had. And, you better not start laughing because if he hears that he won't stop.

They are so smart we had to start spelling around them. They know so many words but you just don't want to say some of them out loud. Like treat, go, pheasant, hunting, bird, you know the words they just get so excited about. So, we started to spell them but I think they are starting to understand that too! Oh, and you better not let them see the gun or the hat my husband wears while bird hunting. They go absolutely bananas!!!

3 Things you should know about puppies!

If I may make a suggestion to anyone considering the purchase of a puppy. There are 3 important things to remember:

#1 - Puppies need a lot of attention. You don't just bring a puppy home and expect him to be well behaved and house broke. These are things you need to work at and spend time with.

#2 - Puppies need exercise. They need to be able to run and play. You can't tie them up to a tree and call it good. NO! You need to play and inter-act with them, after all they are part of the family.

#3 - Puppies chew things. They are losing their baby teeth and it feels good to chew. So if you don't want your best shoes or the leg of the coffee table chewed on restrict them to an area of your house that is puppy proofed.

Training collars

If you own a hunting dog you know how passionate they are about their sport. A hunting dog would rather be in the field hunting than eating a T-bone steak. Our German Wirehaired Pointers are bird dogs that not only point, as the name suggests, but they also retrieve. While hunting it is important to have a good dog collar. We purchased the Dogtra Training collar and use it for training as well as being worn while in the field. The set we purchased has 2 collars, one for Jack and one for Joey, with one remote control. We can use the remote as a locator when the dogs are in heavy cover and you can't find them or give them a little "zing" if they get to far out and ahead of the hunters.

This is a picture of Jack. He had a GREAT day and until those birds are cleaned and in the freezer he won't get to far away from them. And then and only then will he go lay down.

Patience is a Virtue

The most important thing in potty training your puppy is consistency. Your puppy is use to "going" when the urge comes no matter what he was doing or where he was at the time. So you need to be on your toes and be consistant. Choose the area outside that you want your puppy to use as his bathroom. The key times to take your puppy to his potty area are: when he first wakes in the morning, after eating, after a play session and anytime you see him searching and you don't know what for. At first the puppy won't be able to go long periods between his potty times but as he ages he will be able to hold it longer and longer. The second most important thing in potty training is praise. Make sure you praise your puppy when he goes potty outside. Your dog wants to please you. Be patient with your puppy. This is all new to him and when he has an accident (and he will) give him your firmest voice and tell him "no, naughty dog" and then get him to his area immediately. Love your puppy and he will be a grand addition to your family.

This is a picture of Joey when we first brought him home. He is here with my grandson and sitting in his favorite chair.

Wirehairs are known for their noses!

Our dogs, Jack and Joe are the best watch dogs and have the best memory of anyone I know, animal or human. For instance, if you have a plant sitting on a table in the dining room and one day you decide to move the very same plant to the living room, these dogs will notice. The minute they enter the living room they stop, you know like something is there but they don't know what it is, and when they see the plant it is either a lot of barking or a sneak up approach to check it out. But nothing, and I mean nothing, slips by these dogs. Even if the neighbor parks his car in a different spot the alert signs go up.

Well, it is Fall around here and so it was time to put out the Boo Tree. You should have seen Joey stop dead in his tracks when he came around the corner of the garage. I'll bet he almost had a heart attack! Finally, after getting up some nerve he started to check the tree out.

Now that a week has passed this Boo Tree has turned out to be both boys, Jack and Joey's, p-ing post. Poor Boo Tree!

Ava looks a lot like my Joey, especially in the face.

If you are getting a puppy this is a must have item. You will need a safe place to leave your puppy while out of the house and a place to sleep at night. No worries about closing off a room or sliding furniture in front of the doors. Start your puppy out in a crate as soon as you bring him home and you will find that this will be his safe haven.

What happened?

Every morning my husband takes both dogs out for a good run. Sometimes he goes to the school yard and sometimes to a local park and occasionally he stays right in our own back yard. This week he was out back with the boys when he saw Joey rubbing the side of his face on the ground. Thinking he was rolling in something awful (which he does sometimes) he made him stop and Joey started running around again. We never thought anymore about it until later that same day his eye started watering and Joey kept rubbing it. We kept washing the eye out with Visine hoping it would wash out whatever was in there but by the next morning it was worse. His eye was all swollen, red and tearing something awful.

I called our vet as soon as his office opened and explained the problem. They said the doctor could see him at 11:00 a.m. Isn't that wonderful....they could get him right in. We had Joey at the doctor's office right on time. The doctor took a look at him and said they needed to put him under anesthetic to take a closer look. I was not prepared to leave him there. He has never been away from home. How was he going to feel? Would he be scared? But, I knew it was the only thing we could do. We left him in the good hands of our veterinarian.

You'll have to look at the next lens to see what the problem was!

Such a little thing causing so much trouble

We couldn't wait to go back to the Vet and pick up our little Joey. I thought he would run into my arms and be so happy to see us. But no, he was still wobbly from the anesthetic and was doing a little whimpering (I'm not sure why).

The doctor came out and had to show me what they took out of Joey's eye. It was behind his third eyelid. The dog's third eyelid rarely is noticed in a healthy dog but when the eye is closed this fleshy membrane extends through the eye surface below the external eyelids. Each eye of a dog has three eyelids, the main upper and lower lids and a third lid hidden between them in the inner corner of the eye. Yes, I learned something new!

In Joey's eye was a piece of ornamental grass. I have several in my garden and yard. These grasses have feathery tassels and this specific one has little barbs on the tassels. That is what was in Joey's third eye. It was just a fluke and will probably never happen again. Let's hope not.

I am showing you a picture of what the Vet took out of Joey's eye along with the medicine we needed to apply twice a day. I put the penny in the photo so you could compare size. This one tiny little object causing so much pain.

.

I love that our dogs are housedogs and I wouldn't have it any other way. They are part of the family.

Should dogs live in the house or outside?

Doogie Schnauzer

I believe that a dog is man's best friend. But I also believe our dogs have doggie friends. How do I know this? Well, there are some dogs that our boys welcome into "their" yard and then there are some dogs who are not allowed here and I mean they cannot step one foot on the property.

Here is Doogie Schnauzer, he is our grand dog. Of course he has been around the boys since Doogie was a puppy (he is now 2 years old). Jack has always loved this dog and has always played very gently with him. Jack weighs 100 pounds and Doogie only weighs about 7 pounds. Jack has always let Doogie jump up and grab his beard and bite on his feet but I can tell you no other dog will be allowed to do that, not even Joey.

We have 2 labs that live across the street from us and those 2 dogs are not allowed in this yard (according to Jack and Joe's rules) The minute they even try to come over and sniff around the shrubs they are chased out of the yard and I have even seen Joey pin down one of them and won't let them up until told to do so. Now, the dog that lives next door is a Golden Retriever and he is allowed in the yard (again, according to Jack and Joe's rules) and the boys have a great time running and chasing each other. I don't know what the difference is but I do know that it is not because of their gender because they are all male dogs.

Our grand dog, Doogie, gets to spend the night with us sometimes and he likes sitting on grandpa's lap and getting a back massage.

If you are a dog lover you'll find lots of great info from these books, All except the one about Walter the farting dog, that one is just funny!

Sir Lancelot

We had to take both dogs, jack and Joey, to the veterinarians office. We didn't think Joey's eye was healing properly after getting the ornamental grass removed and Jack seems to be losing his hair.

When we go to our veterinarian we are always greeted by Sir Lancelot. Sir Lancelot, Lance for short, is a stray cat that the Doc found wondering around the building. Of course he fed and watered him and Lance has been a house guest ever since. Although a guest he acts more like he owns the place.

Lance has full run of the Animal Hospital and also escapes outside every once in awhile. With people coming and going all day long the doc or the office staff have little to no time keeping track of Lance. He seems to know when the doors will be closed at night and is always ready to come back inside.

I am always surprised at his aloof attitude toward everyone, including the dogs. This is a cat with one big healthy, arrogant attitude. Everyone loves Lance. Doesn't he look regal on his perch? His perch is in the receptionist office and he can see everyone who comes and goes (if his eyes are open). He even gave me the attitude while I took his picture.

Jack and Joe are anxiously waiting

At the Animal Hospital we have checked Jack and Joey in and have been sent to a room where the doctor will see both the boys. They both know where they are and neither of them are too excited to be here. This is a complete change of attitude from when we left the house.

Once Jack and Joe understood that they were able to come with us, they could hardly wait to get into the truck. They were giggling and laughing the whole way there, at least that's what I call it when they are so excited they can't sit down. But once we pulled into the Animal Hospital drive way, well..... a whole different attitude. Tail down, ears down and eyes looking to the ground. You'd have thought they lost their best friend.

They knew where they were and I am sure they were both praying that they didn't get left there like last time. That was when we had them neutered.

Walking down that hall to the examination room was as if we were asking them to jump off a 50 foot wall. They wanted no part of it. With much encouragement (and a dog leash) we made it to the examination room and waited for the doc. As you can see there attention is fully put on that open door. Ooh, the big, bad, meany doctor.

The Best Vet in Michigan

Here is one of the nicest men we know. He is our Veterinarian. We hope he never,ever retires.

Joey was just in the office a few days ago to have something removed from his eye. We didn't think his eye was healing correctly so we wanted the doc to take another look. The medicine we were given after they removed that ornamental grass from his third eyelid was not getting inside the eyelid. So, the doc gave us some more medicine with instructions on getting the gel inside his lid to help reduce the swelling. Within 3 days there was a great improvement.

As for Jack, we had been noticing his hair seemed to be getting thin. At first we thought he was just losing a coat in order to get his winter coat. But then we noticed some balding patches. Of course, I immediately jumped on line and discovered it could be parasites, mange or stress. Yikes, my dog is stressed. After Doc Lepley looked him over he thought it was a thyroid problem. The vet sent us home with some thyroid pills and said we should see an improvement in Jack's behavior within 7 to 10 days and that his coat would start growing back in about 6 to 8 weeks. The doc was right on. After about 5 days of the meds Jack had much more energy and now almost 2 weeks later we can see a world of difference. Thanks doc.

A heads up to all of you who own dogs. Jack is only 4 years old, he will be 45 in January of 2011. Pay attention to your dogs behavior. We kept saying, "he's getting older", "he doesn't want to be bothered by Joey", "he's just a more serious dog", "he must have worked hard on the hunt".....all these excuses as to why he wasn't acting the way he normally does. We should have taken him to the vet sooner, these were all warning signs of something being wrong.

We do have a happy ending. Jack will have to be on thyroid pills for the rest of his life. No big deal. But Jack is full of energy and running circles around his younger brother.