Rudolph looks a bit intimidating to this one

My sister took this photo. I thought it was awesome! You could put some very funny captions on it! If you have a good caption write it in the comments. They will get published shortly after you send them.

Hawk from Czechoslovakia

Enjoying his raw knuckle bone! Keeping an eye on Gaia in her crate. Just in case she might steal it. I'm happy to say this big brute is wonderful about surrendering it to humans!

I'm so please with him. His temperament is fantastic and he's such a looker! 37.7 kgs yesterday at the vet. At 15 months! Not an ounce of fat on him. Passed all his health/breeding tests!

URGENT ANNOUNCEMENT

My computer/website has stopped working. I can no longer access emails sent to me within the last several weeks. I am very behind on my emails and I know most of those emails I have not responded to yet. Also, I can not update my website with the announcement of our newborn litter OR that I have another litter on the way! I have little time to spend trying to fix the problem so all announcements will be via this format until I have time to fix everything.

PVR is not working. Wifi & cell phone not working. And now my website and email! Good grief!

Mary Ann

Hawk meeting some of the pack

 

I ruined my 25+ year record! But I'm glad I did! PART ONE

(For those that can't handle waiting for the end of the story). I'm glad we ruined our record, because we have 5 beautiful puppies and a healthy Mom! Fia needed a caeserean section.

PART ONE - At 9:00AM on November 19, 2020 Fia started acting strangely. Here we go I thought! She was due to have her puppies on November 22 so I wasn't surprised by her restlessness and wanting to stay close to me. You could see she was having small contractions so we went into the whelping room and I sat expecting a puppy any time. By 10:30, nothing. That's not a good sign.

I felt inside and could feel a puppy head. It's mouth opened when I touched it. Good! It's still alive! Intervention was needed. The puppy was not proceeding down the birth canal as it should. It was STUCK! I had travelled to Cranbrook many years ago and taken a 3 day course on Puppy Intensive Care. Best thing I've ever done. I can't tell you how many perfectly healthy puppies I've saved just because of bad luck on their part. Too long in the birth canal and starved of oxygen, hip locked, placenta detachment etc. All the puppies are perfectly healthy, but without intervention would have died. I'm ever so grateful to Myrna Savant Harris!!

As it turned out, this puppy was hip locked. That means the puppy's hip is locked up with the Mom's pelvis. There's no way the puppy could possibly come out. Strangely enough, you need to push the puppy back IN! That unlocks the hips and hopefully when it is squeezed through the next time, it comes through properly! And it did! So at 10:38 in the morning, the first pup was finally born! A beautiful little Black and Tan girl! Two hours later, another girl was born with no problem at all.

And then we waited. And waited. And waited. It was now 5:00PM so a call to the vet. Fia was not in distress, so we waited some more. And some more. At times I could just reach high enough in the birth canal to feel a nose. Other times I'd feel for it and there was nothing. I could never feel enough that I could grab hold of it. I stayed up all night with her, giving her glucose for energy and calcium for strong contractions. In the form of ICE CREAM! Fia loves ice cream! But to no avail. The vet called me at 7:00AM to see how she was doing. I LOVE MY VET! We decided even though Fia was not showing any distress (sleeping soundly and taking care of her two pups) that I would bring her in to the clinic.

Part Two to follow...

King!

Could you move please! You make it really hard to do my yoga! Every time I give up a little mat, guess who takes it over!

Effects of Early Spay/Neuter on 35 Different Breeds

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fvets.2020.00388/full?fbclid=IwAR1KRgd5H9df7yX-dbkRPaw69_wgZ5kdbaBzGOqHM1VWLKX9P2L14IF_hVQ

Above is the link to the actual paper if you are interested.  If the link doesn't work, copy and paste it into your browser.  For those of you who are only interested in the GSD (German Shepherd Dog), the summary follows.

PYO - Pyometria - infection of the uterus usually resulting in being spayed.

UI - Urinary Incontinence - Unable to control the bladder

German Shepherd Dog

The study population was 514 intact males, 272 neutered males, 173 intact females, and 298 spayed females for a total of 1,257 cases. In males and females left intact, the occurrence of one or more joint disorders was 6 and 5 percent, respectively. Neutering males at <6 mo., 6–11 mo. and 1–2 years was associated with increased risks of this measure to 19, 18 and 9 percent, respectively (p <0.01). Spaying females at <6 mo. and 6–11 mo. was associated with a 20 and 15 percent level of increased risk (p <0.01), and spaying at 1–2 years with a 5 percent risk level (p <0.05). The occurrence of one or more of the cancers followed for intact males and females was 3 percent and 2 percent, respectively. Neutering at the various ages was not associated with any appreciable increased risk in cancers followed. The occurrence of MC in intact females was 5 percent and for those spayed at 2–8 years, 6 percent. Of intact females, 3 percent were reported with PYO. UI ranged up to 9 percent for females spayed from <6 mo. through 1 year of age (p <0.05–0.01). The suggested guideline for males, given the risks of joint disorders, is delaying neutering until over 2 years of age. For females, with the same joint issues as males plus the risks of UI, the suggested guideline is delaying spaying until over 2 years of age.

Hilarious! Zeus Plays Like Crazy!

How sweet!

Rommel & Cruz catching a quick nap while hiding from the youngsters!

You'll Never Guess What?!

As most of you know, I have been looking for a new stud dog since shortly after my beautiful, all black, Merlin, passed away.  Turns out that was 2.75 years ago.  Not 2 years like I had thought.  

Well, about a week ago, I saw a dog on the internet that was absolutely perfect!  But I had seen 3 perfect dogs before, so I dared not get too excited about this one.  Seemed I always JUST missed out.  Sold last week, sold yesterday etc.  

But this time I can tell you that FINALLY I was successful!  I didn't want to say anything, just in case...  but now I can say, without any reservation, THAT I HAVE A NEW STUD DOG!!!

He flew in from the Czech Republic a little over a week ago and he is now here at Guardian Angel Shepherds!  WOOHOO!!

He is a gorgeous dark sable, 12 months old, and great confirmation (IOW straight back) He has all his health clearances and is trained in protection.  He would be considered a green protection dog at this age.  But he is fearless!  He came out of the airline crate like he owned the world!  New smells, new people, new COUNTRY! Nothing phased him.  And he's huge for a 12 month old!  He looks like he's 3 years old!  Big boy, very muscular, can't imagine what he'll look like at 3 years.  

It will take a few months to get his papers and health clearances from Europe.  In the meantime I will introduce him to a life in the house with the rest of the pack.  He was born and raised in a working kennel environment so he knows nothing about house manners.  Or people manners for that matter.  He just about knocked me down 3 times when we first took him out of the crate.  Not his fault.  He was never taught!  So I have my work cut out for me.

His registered name is "Dak" but I have given him a call name.  He will go by "Hawk" from now on.  He is learning very quickly about house life but it could take some time for him to be accepted into the pack.  Maybe months.  He will never socialize with the other stud dogs, Rommel and Tazer.  Rommel is retired but he doesn't know that!  You would never expect stud dogs to get along.  Every stud dog must believe he is the Alpha of the pack.  So you could imagine the horrific event should they come in contact with one another.  Living with a pack is nothing like having a couple of dogs around the house.  You have to understand pack dynamics to have a successful breeding pack.

So that's my exciting news!  I will add photos as we get them.  But for now...

Introducing 'HAWK"