Fun with Dogs

We enjoy doing many things with our dogs! Snuggling, short hikes, walks, agility, nosework, tracking, obedience work and trips to the dog park. We take them shopping to the pet store, hardware store, nursery for plants and yard stuff and even dining out to pet friendly places with patios.  The majority of vacations are pet centered, which is a bit of an adventure with big dogs! :-)

Our experience with large dogs

Living with larger dogs - Think BIG!

1.  Big dogs mean big vet bills.

     a. Most medications are prescribed by weight, so more weight             means more meds which means greater cost.

     b. Luca had a urinary tract infection last year.  The antibiotics              prescribed were $160 all by themselves.  Total vet bill $350.  

2. Better be ready to dive and save that drink on the coffee table           because big tails and big butts tend to knock things over.

3.  Counters- nothing is safe when all that is required is a head turn      to investigate possible things to eat.  All food needs to be stored      in the pantry or fridge.

4.  Rest and digest - 30 minutes minimum after every meal.                  More important with larger dogs with deep chests to prevent              bloat/GDV.

5.  Bigger dogs eat more and quality food is essential.

6.  Bigger dogs need specialty ordered Heartworm meds, at least          our BRT does.  The cost is actually less expensive than getting it        through our vet, who prescribes it for us.  

7.  Big dogs need more room when transported.  We have a mini-          van with the middle seat taken out for this purpose.  

8.  Most big dogs do better with a raised feeder and Luca has her          custom feeder suited to her size.

Our promise to you - the breeder.

Our Promise 

We promise to make a lifetime pledge to you and our dog. We hope our relationship with the breeder transcends that time span.

  

We will turn to you for advice and help whenever needed and hope that we can return the favor with our experience as well.

We will send you photos, videos and probably more emails than you need. We will be proud Irish Wolfhound parents and it will show.  

We commit to all of the time and dedication that it takes to give our puppy the best start in life.  This means quality veterinary care, great food and appropriate toys.  It also means regular socialization and training so he develops into a confident, well rounded hound.

We commit to puppy proofing our house and giving him an environment to succeed.  We accept the mistakes that will happen, no matter if they are of the potty or chewing variety.

We will do what we can to help you further your kennel and your particular line if our hound is of show quality.  This means we will try to show him and compete in appropriate AKC events to allow him to earn various titles.  He will be our pet first and we will let him decide what he enjoys and try to encourage and nurture that interest.  

Our current pack- Mystic and Luca

Our Dogs

Mystic

Mystic is our 5 year old 52lb Australian Shepherd/Border Collie mix.  We have had him since he was a puppy, so he is not really a rescue, although adopted from a rescue.  He enjoys agility and some nosework with Luca.  He is pretty laid back for a herding breed but typical personality wise in that he wants to be constantly near us.  He is fixed, registered with AKC Canine Partners program as Mystic Fluffybutt and has his CGC title.  We will be testing for the next level of CGC, the Community Canine next week.

Luca

She is our almost 2 year old 110lb Black Russian Terrier rescue that we adopted at 8 months of age.  We had to go through a pretty extensive adoption process to be allowed to adopt her, including a home inspection.  She was spayed prior to adoption, at approximately 4 months.  We were told she is a Black Russian Terrier & Mastiff mix, but we do not see the Mastiff, except when she drools at meals and after drinking.  If we had a dollar for every time we were asked if she is an Irish Wolfhound, we could pay for our new hound and have change to spare!  Further research suggest she may be a smooth coated Black Russian Terrier, and she certainly has the temperament and personalty of a BRT.  No matter what she may be, we love her.   She is a 110lb lapdog and loves to snuggle! 

She has completed basic Schutzhund obedience work but she did not care for the bitework and we chose not to force that. She loves tracking and nosework which we continue to train her in regularly. She is also registered with AKC Canine Partners as Luca B Longlegs and will be testing for her CGC next week.

She had a rocky start in life and that, combined with her natural breed tendencies, has made her fearful of new people.  Luca is the epitome of a one family type of dog.  She is slow to give her trust to others.  She is almost a completely different dog than when we adopted her and is definitely a more confident, relaxed dog. Because of previous incidents and the general public's lack of knowledge in approaching dogs, we choose to muzzle her in public.   This is why you will see a plastic basket muzzle in some photos of her.  We take our dogs many places and this allows her to work on behavioral issues, safely.  We do not want to put her in in a position that could end in euthanasia and it is important that she join us in our family activities, so a muzzle is a win/win for us. The other question we often get is if she can defend herself.  The answer is yes.  She knows she is a big dog and can muzzle punch and use her weight to the best of her advantage, as evidenced by her play sessions with other dogs. She can eat, drink and lick to to her heart's content as well.

Luca was recently diagnosed with Idopathic Epilepsy.  After her first seizure, our vet sent us to a veterinary neurologist at a specialty center in Denver.  We were fully prepared to pay for an MRI, which our vet said was a possibility.    It turned out to be unnecessary, as all signs pointed to her being an otherwise healthy dog.  She is on Potassium Bromide for now, and hopefully she will not need more but we are fully prepared to give her all the support she needs.  A 110lb dog having a grand-mal seizure is not a fun sight to see.  We sit by her and talk her through it and, so far, there have been no cluster seizures.  We continue to live life the way we always have and let her do all that she has done.  

The Basic Facts

Who are we?

We are happily married with 1 teen girl in the house.

George is a high school principal who has summers off and frequent breaks.  It is not unusual for the dogs to accompany him to work, one at a time.   Our new puppy will probably do this frequently for socialization and just because we can. 

Shawna is a Certified Veterinary Technician, although no longer practicing.  She maintains her license by staying current with continuing education. 

We nurture our desire to help animals and owners through our part-time dog training business.  We are working on becoming Certified Dog Trainers with an emphasis in behavior through CCPDT            (http://www.ccpdt.org)and are members of APDT                           (https://apdt.com/) currently.  We are also in the process of becoming AKC CGC Evaluators and will be happy to offer testing to IW clubs for free once we become involved with them.

We have 3 cats who tend to stay upstairs away from the dogs.  They maintain order through coordinated defense maneuvers.

We own our home and have a 6 ft fenced yard.  It has grass and large shade trees.  It is a home and not a museum and we live in it. We do not have valuable things and are more than okay with messes.  Life is too short to worry about such things.  We clean it up and move on!  :-) 

We are planning to eventually move to Oregon and buy large acreage there which we will fence for the dogs so they can enjoy freedom safely.

Our dogs are the center of our family life.  We spend most evenings on dog related activities and weekends are centered around hiking or other dog related activities.  Our dogs live inside and sleep with us in our bedroom.  They play outside, weather permitting, when we are away.

We have a family vet that you can check with if we get to that point. They have already been informed to expect a call from potential IW breeders.   Luca also sees a neurologist for her seizures, although only once so far.

We have a dog walker who we have come if we ever both have a long day at work.  We have him come every week regardless so the dogs don’t forget him and they always welcome him with wagging tails.  This is more important because Luca is wary of strangers. 

We have pet insurance through Embrace for our dogs, so we will not ever have to have to make THAT choice with finances being a factor.  This is for beyond basic care, which we cover on our own.  

Why a wolf hound? We have always loved the breed.  Beautiful, big and majestic, yet a gentle, friendly nature.  We feel this temperament is best suited to join our pack.  A laid back male IW will mostly likely not have issues with Luca’s dominant female attitude, especially if he joins as a pup.  We will slowly and carefully introduce the new dog to our family and they will only be allowed to play supervised until the new wolfie is older.

Daily Life with our Dogs

Fun Facts about living in the 

Stone Dog Household

Food:

Currently we feed Eukanuba large breed food twice a day.  We supplement their diet with yogurt, olive oil, vegetables and the occasional bit of meat.  

Luca has a custom built raised feeder for her food, as will our new hound as he grows. 

Pet ID:

Both dogs are chipped, have embroidered collars and tags as well. They are also licensed as required in our area.

Where they live:

They are family, so they live with us.  They both tend to follow us around the house and are are usually close by and typically underfoot, although they do know what "out of the kitchen" means. They sleep in our room with us, each in their own bed.  You will see that Mystic's is a bit dirty in his photo-he had been playing the mud and we apparently missed a bit when cleaning him up.  He has had this bed since he was a puppy and loves it.  

We do allow our dogs on the furniture when we give them permission.  We do not let them sleep with us but they do snuggle at bedtime and in the mornings.  We have actually discussed purchasing a California king size mattress down the road so we have room for everyone. :) 

Veterinary Care:

Both dogs see our veterinarian for their annual check ups and vaccinations.  Due to Luca's size and her seizures, we order ivermectin free heartworm medicine for both dogs through Road Runner pharmacy.  Luca sees a specialist veterinarian for her idiopathic epilepsy.

Grooming:
We do all our own grooming, bathing and nail trims.  Luca is pretty easy and does not require much grooming, other than constantly wiping her face after drinking since she drools.  Mystic is a double coated dog and requires regular brushing and sheds enough to make a sweater.  We take them to our local Wag and Wash for their full baths.