5 months

I just realize that it took me quite a while to write my first post. But I guess the day that the world is supposed to end (at least if it comes down to the Armageddon-followers) is a great day to start writing about my experiences with and my feelings towards Hudson.

When we decided that we were gonna get a dog, I haven’t even heard about Catathoulas before. The Catahoula is a breed that aint well known in Germany. Stu has been familiar with this breed for 10 years already and always wanted one. So he introduced me to it and at first I was a bit anxious. This was basically due to the fact that the breeders in Germany state quite obviously what they want from a future owner of their pups. From a nowadays perspective I think that is the right thing to do. But back then I had the feeling that I am not eligible of owning a Catahoula. To be honest – I had the impression you must be kind of a superhero in order to even be allowed to think of having one :-)

The problem was that I am not a superhero… But I decided that I am going to learn how to become one. So we got informed and suddenly knew that we can actually give what a Catahoula needs.  

So good things fell together and we met Anke Boysen who founded the EALC  http://www.ealc.info/en/ and is the owner of Indigo - a successful SAR-dog in Munich. Anke had her first litter when we met her and that’s how we got Hudson and fell head over heels for him. 

Hudson taught us to be clear in what we want, whether we really want it, when we want it, what we think and how he feel as he reacts to any uncertainty within a second.

As the Catahoula needs a job, I decided to start Mantrailing. This was actually supposed to be a hobby but this “Hobby-idea” never got realized as I had the feeling that this dog doesn’t just need a hobby - Hudson was ready to work properly!

With the help of Anke I became a member of a SAR Team in Munich. And I am so grateful, that I got introduced to the SAR work as this is something that  Hudson loves doing and also something that I love doing and on top of that you get the chance to spend real quality time with your dog and help society (also see “superhero” :-))

As Stu writes a lot about food and education, I will use the blog to write about my experiences with the SAR work as I and Hudson start from scratch and this might help other who want to follow on the way to become a SAR-Team.

I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

The trial of H and J

So, the story is typical and everyone knows someone who has had something like this happen to them. Its the type of story where you think to yourself that is so funny, that would never happen to me.

We have a Pug that is a direct neighbour in our building, his name is J and he is the pride and joy of his doggie parents. He struts the courtyard and the block with his General J K9 harness and breathes the world to into obedience the way many Pugs do. To make a point clear, I don't mind J, he is a well meaning dog that can't help the way he breathes. I would prefer it if he where a little better mannered, but hey, I'm getting older and am officially allowed to expect things now.

Hudson is pretty well socialised and we have made a good effort to make sure that he remains socialised. So we had assumed that after a short introduction that all would be well and that we could go for walks together and live blissfully in doggie harmony...

One fateful evening I was talking to a good friend and neighbour of mine in the courtyard when J came strutting out the front door and without pause came straight over to say hello and find out who this other dog was. No problem, just that the little Pug was in such a hurry he came straight at Hudson's face and was breathing so hard that spit and mucus was flying everywhere. As soon as Hudson got in range he was showered in J's cranial fluids. Not a good start, teeth out, hair up muscles flexed and bang we're off.

Unfortunately we couldn't finish the meeting as they hurried off real quick. But give them credit, a couple of days later they come up to us to see about a formal introduction. Only problem is, Pug comes bursting through the door and sniffs all around in his Pug like way and then goes in the kitchen and starts for the dog bowls. 'houla Hudson don't like that much and we are off again! Before we can finish the exercise they are gone again.

Now we have had two encounters, both of which negative, both of which ended with J being taken away without us resolving the issue and working through the stress. So we both, my partner and I, sat down with each other and discussed what we need to change to get past this negative stigma.

Since then we haven't met each other in passing very often. When we do however, the scurry away with frightened looks on their faces. At the time of writing, Hudson is five months old, so he cant be that intimidating to an adult human.

Then, we met each other very briefly, now J remembers Hudson's defensive nature and also becomes defensive. Leading to stress full situations with two dogs on guard ready to riposte. Now I can see that we need to work through this, but when the barking starts then J's owners get worried, pick him up and before you say wait, they are gone back inside.

 There have been times where we have met, but each occasion has ended the same way. Conversation cut of, and J being carried away to get him "out of harms way".

Early in December we had visitors and the ladies went out with the dogs. When they came back they where aghast. They had met J and Hudson had him in a bear hug and was going for him. At this point I decided that I will get in touch with a friend of mine who is a professional canine trainer/psychologist. The situation had escalated to a point where I didn't feel that the neighbours wanted to work through it and thought that an experienced and neutral mediator would help us work through the situation. The dogs don't have to like each other, but they should be able to ignore each other.

The following weekend after that dramatic incident, I was downstairs with Hudson as they came back from their walk. We greeted each other and both dogs where visibly on edge, but I noticed J's owner was much more relaxed and we actually got talking. I had to turn Hudson around to stop him escalating and J was near the door sideways to Hudson. So we had good body language between the two. We talked for a little bit about nothing, both smiling and although we where a couple of meters apart from each other the dogs started to ignore each other. This being after the attack in the park I thought, was a big step in the right direction.

So the next step is me going downstairs and asking for us to try and work the problem out between ourselves. If we cant do it then I will suggest that we get my friend in to help us both out.

We are all dog lovers and we love the fact that there are neighbours with other dogs in the house, we also find it a shame that they don't get along.

I can see it from Hudson's perspective, he got sneezed and spat on after being rudely introduced to another canine, no wonder that the situation ended badly. The next meeting was also rude and ended badly, the next series of meetings ended up with the crude behaving dog being carried away. I am not saying that J is a bad dog. He cant help the way he has to breathe. He is genetically in that situation, he gets excited and he breather deeper and harder, he just has no nose to keep it all in. That and the fact that, like many small breed owners, he gets forcibly removed "from harms way" before the situation can be resolved only intensifies the negativity between the two parties.

In January, once the festive season is finished, I will take it upon myself to go down and visit and chat with them in an attempt to sort the issue out.

I will keep you posted in the trial of H and J.

Week 13

I was a bit ambitious this week, I decided to see how long I can train with Hudson in one sitting. Then only rules I set where:

1. A maximum of 3 commands (Sit, Paw, Lay)
2. No session longer than 10minutes without a 1-5minute playbreak
3. An automatic session stop when Hudsons attention is drained

Now, given those we had a session that lasted an hour. Hudson never gave up and his attention never waivered! He wanted those treats and he was going to do what was neccessary to get them. His physical enthusiasm beat his mental though, as within a couple of seconds of having his last treat I noticed his ears droop. So I paused and fair enough, he head went down and his eyes shut and he fell asleep sitting. Not something I really need to repeat, but out of interest to see how long he can focus at this age I thought it was amazing.

After being shot down on a Forum by a bunch of people who probably never say no to their dog, I decided that not everything needed to be shared on that platform. it is sad to see how people react when they cant see the face of the person they are talking too.

We also set some rules for Dog Tug this week:

1. A release must happen upon command
2. Teeth may not touch skin or clothing
3. If a rule is broken we Time-Out for a minute to calm down
4. If there are 3 rule breaks the game is over

We havent gotten to 3 TOs yet and the teeth work has greatly improved.

My partner is still working with clicker and I am constantly surprised at how efficient it is to teach a new command with the clicker compared to teaching without the clicker.

We took care of a friends dog this week, she is a shepperd mix of unknown origin. Our friends rescued her from a pound and little Ronia has made great headway in getting over her fears. We had her little bed and put it by the dinner table, it was the first time she was with us without her owners so we where carefull not to overwhelm her. Hudson though didnt care, wherever she was he was and was wanting to play. She let him get away with murder, even let him kick her out of her bed. But then she had enough and within a short time Hudson was as quiet as a mouse and sitting like a bronze dog statue. Peace at last.

We had them both in our bedroom to sleep but kept Ronia in her bed on my side and Hudson on my partners side. Poor Ronia, I think she was that nervous that she never got 40 winks. But when I put my hand on her, she relaxed and since the lights where out Hudson realised that it was bedtime and that was that.

Week 12

Every day gets harder to go to work knowing that your missing out on some reat times with the little fella.

He is growing well and we havent had any issues with him really. The Housetraining is going well. There are of course accidents every now and again but we are getting the hang of when he needs to go outside.

Though there are times when he goes a little nuts and jumps on the bed and marks the pillows as his...those are annoying at best. Or when he marks his bed and his cot. That too is annoying, the hard thing his that we never seem to catch him in the act, when we do we are - naively - caught of guard and give out a Noooooooo but to no avail.

We decided that we are definately going to take him Mantrailing and are looking for a Rescue Dog Organisation to Volunteer at to train him up. My partner will be doing that and I will wait and see how much time and what days are left over to try and get him into an agility course.

I have recently found out that Catahoulas are on the restricted list of Hunting Dogs. Meaning that you cant take Catahoulas hunting here. I will have to confirm that because that would be a serious downer! I can believe that the Catahoulas would be restricted based upon their Baying style but I sincerely hope not. Despite the fact that this breed is so rare that I would be very surprised to find that it has any rules for it. But we will see.

We are noticing that his stool is not solidifying at all. He remains very Diarrhea like in his movements. We are still softening his food so I am not all surprised. But it is something we are keeping an eye out for. But he does seem to be able to control it. At least to this date he does not go indoors, at worst he will get out on the balcony and go there. Well, to expand on that, there are 3 rooms he doesnt go into, thats the guest room, my office and the dining room. Of course, we do find little presents in my office periodically. But again nothing really out of the ordinary.

When he goes into the office, that is not part of his notion of home, neither is the balcony, he neither sleeps nor eats there so its free game.

Because Hudson is so dark we have bought him a bright orange harness. The day care centre demands one but I personally think that they are not very usefull unless the dog is working. Since the Harness is designed to allow the dog to pull it is much harder to teach a dog to heel on the line in my opinion. The reason for this is simple, if your arm is relaxed and hanging to your side the lead would continue down to the D ring on the harness or the collar. Now a connection to the collar means the dogs head is behind your toes, whereas the D ring on the harness is behind the shoulders of the dog, meaning his head is in front of you.

The position of the dogs head relativ to your body has a dramatic psychological impact on the walking dynamic. If the dogs head is behind you, he is following you, if his head is in front he is leading you. This might sound pretty simple to us, but to an instinctually reactive being like a dog, that does not think logically it makes a very big difference. Who is protecting who?

We went to the Puppy class outside of town and loved the playtime Hudson got with his litter brother and the other dogs.

This week we had all the dogs together, watching them play together was great fun. There was a little toddler playground set up in the middle of the enclosure made up of two small towers and a wall no more than 30cm/12" high. Now Hudson got to chasing a smaller but quicker pup, Hudson realised within one lap of the chase around the castle that he was never going to get anywhere like this, so he jumped over the wall and body checked his playmate. We thought it was great that he could strategise so quickly and adapt to the situation. Hudson not only used this shortcut when playing chase but also when a situation got too much for him, he would jump up out of the way and no other pup would attempt to get up after him. Naturally the other puppy parents thought the shortcut he took was funny and everyone laughed. Though the Class Teacher told us that we need to nip his Hunting Instincts in the bud otherwise we would have trouble.

I was somewhat surprised at her comment, and both my partner and I thought about it on the way home. Now he does want to go after children under the age of about 10(ish). Though from my experience that is nothing unusual, that has more to do with how kids run with their limbs flailing and screaming and laughing. That represents a prey behaviour that exites the hunting instincts in a dog. Since we dont have kids and there are very few in our social circle it will be hard to teach Hudson that Kids are a no go.

From what I know it is possible to teach dogs not to hunt certain animals, so I will get my backside into gear and learn how to teach Hudson that kids are of the menu.

We also got a chance to meet and chat with the Sires owner whilst at the puppy class, she is the owner of Aquim, Hudson litter brother. It was great to see that they both get up to the same stuff and that they are both developing really well. She is a Rescue Dog handler and trainer so her raport with Aquim is much better than ours, but in my, obviously, neutral opinion I think that both Catahoulas are leaps and bounds in front of the other pups that we have seen at the same age.

The physical development is different between the two brother though. Aquim is much more athletic and I believe also more agile, whereas Hudson is taller and more powerfully built. It is all early stages yet but it is a great and rare opportunity to see how they develop in comparison to eath other.

During feeding I have noticed that Hudson appears to have a protruding rib or something. It is something that I noted a little while ago and thought that it would definately be something I wanted to keep my eyes on. It doesnt interfere with his movement at all and he does not appear in any amount of discomfort. as it turns out is normal skeletal growth. Apparently the last rib does not have an anchor point, much like our ribcage, so that it can appear that the rib floats. So given that piece of mind I am happy.

Hudson has been going to the day care this week also, they all love him there (I am not sure how many puppies they have). I guess since he is loud when he plays and still has his puppy licence among other dogs he can still afford to be cheeky. The girls there have taken to him well and I believe that they have done some research on Catahoulas themselves. They have asked us about Treeing, but we have not really tried that out with him, but we explained what we knew. When we picked him up they where all amazed that Hudson could manipulate his claws like a cat! Now they tried really hard to convince me so I thought, let me look at this.

So I kept my eyes peeled and also checked his feet and toes out pretty good. Nope, no claw manipulation to be seen. What I did notice however was how he moves his feet altogether. When playing with something he does appear to "grasp" it as best he can. That does tend to expose a little bit more of the claw than normal, but I was surprised at how well he can grasp an item, I guess that helps when Treeing. I cant remember any of my other dogs having such agile digits to be honest.

Week 11

The little guy is finally moving like a dog, less slipping and tripping and he is starting to try to jump with his hind legs now. You can really see improvements in his general Agility. We also notice how fixated he is with getting something in his greedy little - and somewhat sharp - gums.

I noticed he was mouthing the leg of the dining room chair the other day. I was about to tell him no then waited to see what he was actually doing. The legs are metal and it was a cool day so he was mouthing the legs to soothe his gums. He loves his little Kong, we put dry Kong Treats in there at the moment, but we plan on putting a mix of dry food and mince meat with perhaps some peanut butter in the Kong, then freezing it for him. That should keep him occupied for awhile...at least thats the plan.

He also has two "Knots" that he loves, the toys that are made of thick string and are tied into knots at the ends and have long tassles hanging off of them. He loves to chew on them and throw them around. I often play tug of war with him which he loves, often followed with a little tussle around the living room.

In order to really socialise him we have decided that we will book him a place in a Doggie Day Care centre. The plan being that he will not be isolated, which is not something we want to put any dog through. Dogs being community animals they need to have social contact, if they dont receive that contact they start to fret. Since we live in an apartment we really don't think it would be fair to keep a second dog here. The apartment would get too small very quickly.

Hudson is enjoying the Puppie status to the full, every other dog owner in the neighbourhood seems to know him and everyone in our immediate area (with the exeption of one neighbour) adore him. He knows about every dog and we know about every dogs name, but funnily enough not the persons name on the other end of the leash. Funny that.

Week 10

This is the second week that we had Hudson, the first was great. The great amount of time my partner spent with him really shows. He is great to walk and is attentive to every command.

He is motivated by food as are many dogs and this is a great way to get his attention. Though the advice is not to overwork the pups we have found that Hudson can carry his attention span for much longer.

We bought a larger treat pouch for him, since we figured he is going to grow anyway and this means that we dont have to refill it so often. This has proved to be a huge advantage when we go for impromptu walks.

By this time we have managed to establish some sort of rythm. We decided to keep the collar on him untill we are happy with the Housetraining. So at this time we still have him running around with his collar, the tags we put in a little pocket for him so that he doesnt jingle too much. He has in total 5 tags...3 official and 2 emergency tags.

We still dont have the right touch with him regarding Housetraining, we are often to late to get him outside. Most accidents occur after feeding, waking or playing. the poor fella doesnt have a clue whats happening when we suddenly run at him scoop him up and take him outside but he is pretty happy with the attention he gets when he does his buiseness outside. We just need to be patient and keep on going on. Over time it will get better.

This week we noticed that he doesnt like fast moving things that are coming in his direction when we are walking. If there is a cyclist or a jogger for example then he will either keep looking back and/or sniff at the ground. The latter being the most frequent. Since dogs dont like it when another dog comes at them heads up they will try to avoid the presumed conflict, this includes sniffing at the ground. If another dog comes up to us then he will retreat back behind our feet and sit down. Its realy nice to see this interaction. After a short introduction between the dogs Hudson is ready to play, leap and bark like they knew each other for years.

This week Hudson made a new friend, a Jack Russel called Nella. Apparently they got on great, my Partner had been training with him outside and a friendly mother was walking her daughters Nella. They played for a long time and we got loads of pictures.

Hudson didnt get to go to Puppy classes this week, since we had prior plans. But we did our Homework with him and taught him how to change sides while walking and started working on Stay. Which is shall we say in process.

We went to a lake this weekend and had a picninc with friends of ours who also have a dog. It was great to see the two get along so great. In the wide open space they both ran around and played with each other. Once we got to the lake they both hung around us, since the picnic was there it wasnt hard to kep them far from our food.

Hudson had his first swimming lesson, although he was shy of going paw deep with all fours when I carried him in and gently lowered him into the water he just started swimming and swam straight to my partner without any fuss. We did that for a little while and then took him back out to get some rest. We stayed in the last of the Summer sunschine for a few hours before heading back home. We will be going back to the lake often I think, its a really nice secluded spot.

Week 9

So in our first week with Hudson we went through a pretty easy introduction phase. Hudson slept right through the night and with only one exeption we got really lucky since then. Hudson sleeps right through the nights we only go out with him short before we go to bed and then first thing at 6am.

The House Training remains an on going process but we managed to get him out and about with very short walks in this week. Enough for him to relieve himself and get out some.

We also managed to keep him occupied and in this time my partner took him out and they met many other dogs and the first Training steps where taken. In this week alone my partner managed to train Hudson to be a fantastic Leash walker. Her patience and commitment to the challenge blossomed and her hard work and dilligence has resulted in our Hudson being realy easy to walk. He rarely pulls and seldom do we have trouble with him on the line. It really goes to show how much a little work can pay off to add to the enjoyment of a stress free relationship.

The 3 basic commands that we practiced where Sit and Heel. These where the 2 things we thought would be best taught first.

We live in an apartment in a city and, although we have a green strip right on our door step we need to cross a busy street to get to the nearest green. At that busy road are bike paths on both sides, so we wanted to keep him safe by giving us the tools to put him in an easy to control situation at those points. Luckily for us, Hudson is not sensitive to cars and bikes at this stage. Neither at night nor during the day does Hudson react negatively to either.

Human-Dog Exercise

Regarding exercise/play there are 3 types that I will look at with respect to the Human-Canine relationship:

1. Recovery
2. Endurance
3. Chronic

1                    Recovery

 This is a light movement based exercise pattern which will be used the most often. This type of exercise includes going for a walk around the block as well as going for a longer walk around the park.

This exercise pattern will be the most frequently used of the three groups. This allows the dog and owner to get out and enjoy the fresh air. 

There are two extremes of this type that we should be aware of that can be negative to the dogs health and well being. The first being the 1 cigarette walk. This is often to be seen in urbanised areas where the leader will take the dog out so that the dog can relief itself and get outside for the time it takes to smoke 1 cigarette. This over a prolonged length of time can have negative effects as the dog is not able to gather the experiences they need to become a well balanced dog. The other extreme is the stumpy paws walk. This is when the walk is too long for the dogs needs. Some owners want to get out and show their gorgeous hound of so bad they literally drag the poor dogs around until they lie down and simply can’t go anymore. This type of walk borders on Endurance work, but rarely allows the dog to really stretch out and run around.

2                    Endurance

 This is a longer and/or faster Recovery exercise. This would be the second most popular form of exercise. This can include, but is not limited to, such things as Bushwalking, Rollerblading, Cycling and Jogging.

Again a balance is required here as the dog is not built to cover great distances on a continued basis in this way. It does however allow the dog to really get out and exercise hard for a good long time.

This is a great way for a leader to promote good physical and mental health in their dog. Though, as with everything there must be moderation. In today’s urbanised world we walk on asphalt and concrete paths, these negatively impact our joints even with shoes, so imagine how it is for the paws on your dog. A balanced choice of paths is a great way to avoid concrete claws. By continued exposure to the concrete walkways we hammer our dog’s joints and wear them down. Also, these walkways heat up and cool down tremendously, the dogs paws are part of the heat exchange system and are sensitive to this. Softer ground such as lawns and natural paths are great due to their softness and less pronounced heating/cooling. Softer ground enables a dog to get better purchase which prevents slipping and enhances paw function.

3                    Chronic

 Chronic exercise should make up the smallest proportion of the exercise plan. Chronic exercise can be looked at like weight lifting and sprint work. This form of exercise pits us on the very edge of our physical capabilities and leaves us drained very quickly. If we where to do maintain this level of activity for a prolonged time, in one session or over a period of time, we will negatively impact the functions of our bodies. This can lead to a number of minor and major ill effects.

This type of exercise will most often leave us drained before the dog, but care must be taken that the dog is not consistently exposed to this level of exercise as overtraining is a terrible physical condition to be in and is hard to discern.

The first 8 weeks

The first 8 weeks we didn't get to see Hudson. As it was the breeder that took care of the litter was on the other side of the country and when we first made contact the pups where already 6 weeks old.

Hudson was born of a Dam by the name of Aranka Dogo Dogino and a Sire by the name of Indigo Louis Simici kridla at the Kennel Country Strong; he is among the pups born of the first litter of either dog. As is customary here, the dogs where named with A names. Our Hudson was thus called Country Strong’s Aiden.

Here is Hudson at 5 days old:

Eyes and ears still closed and curled up next brother Aquim in Yin-Yang style. Aquim stayed with Indigo and Hudson and he meet regularly and really go to town on each other when they get together. It is great to see them play together.

Here is Hudson at 3 weeks old. By now Nose, Eyes and Ears are all working. His eyes are no longer the blue that you can see here (reminiscent of the Melange Eyes from Dune).

We are not exactly sure how old Hudson was in this shot, but it would be around 4-5weeks old.

Here is the picture that made us fall head over heels for him:

Notice the change in eye colour already. Now you can begin to see his development. This picture was taken at 6 weeks of age. We were told that he has a strong stubborn personality. He appears to have a similar disposition to his father and looks similar to his mother. Though his brindling is not as pronounced.

 When we came to pick him up he was well adjusted with his brother Aquim. It was great to meet all three Catahoulas, though Indigo had just returned home from a SAR (Search and Rescue) Operation. So he was already in a relaxed state and more than likely tired. It was also great to see Indigo discipline the boys when they got too boisterous. A quick sharp bark and nudge and both pups sat quiet as a church mouse and still as a rock. Only when they both realised the situation is ok did they trot off again, this time much calmer. It was great to see how an older dog allows the pups to play and them reels them back in line.

When we left we just picked Hudson up and took him to the car, plonked him on our laps and that was that, within minutes the little fella was asleep.