[nagdu] Tall vs Short dogs / and the color of Belgians

Mardi Hadfield wolfsinger.lakota at gmail.com
Tue Feb 10 22:20:00 UTC 2009


Hi every one,  My current guide, Nala is just 23 inches and I have had no
problems with balance as I am sitting in a wheelchair,and balance is not an
issue. However, I have noticed that when trying out several dogs,as possible
guide candidates, the smaller ones felt like they pulling down as well as
forward. I think some one mentioned that in an earlier post here? When I
tried out Tokala,who is only about 20 inches, My hand was being pulled down
as well as forward and her little legs could not keep up with the pace of
the wheelchair for any length of time. I did teach her to guide me around my
yard,just to give her a job, so she would not be so destructive and that has
helped. I definitely could not use her as a regular guide as I feel she is
too small for me. If I were walking , that might be different.  At this
time,Shaman is 24 inches tall, but he is a young dog so he might grow a
little taller. Wanagi is 24 inches tall and when I started working her in
harness, I felt more comfortable as my hand was only being pulled forward
and not down. With Nala , it is slightly down and forward, but not as
uncomfortable as when I tried out smaller dogs. Lily was 23 and 1/2 inches,
so I really did not notice much difference between her and Nala. I think if
I used a dog that was taller than 25 inches, I would not be as comfortable
as my hand would would be puled up  as well as forward and that might cause
problems with my wrist. I also have a shoulder problem from using a manual
wheelchair for many years that is affected by the height of my dog, and the
degree of pulling into the harness she does.        Ann , I thought the same
as you about the color of the Belgian Tervuren. I had only seen the black
and tan ones and did not know there were any other colors. I had seen many
of the black Belgian Sheep Dogs, and the fawn Belgian Maninois. Shaman is
even lighter than a Malinois, but has the same black nose  and dark points
on his ears and tail.  He has the long coat of the Tervuren. The Malinois is
a short coated dog. Shaman is the color of a very light golden retreiver,
almost a gold/cream color.Evidently, the Tervuren also comes in a redish
color, with the black points, as well as the black and tan and Shaman's
color is pretty rare according to the breeder that told me what he was. She
also said that they darken with age so he may be darker when he  gets older.
Any way, I learned a lot more about the breed than I knew before and he is a
beautiful dog. We are working on obedience for now, as he has had no
training at all. He has learned sit and down, but he is better at down than
sit. He likes to go for walks and runs with the wheelchair and keeps up with
me very well and stays in the proper position for guiding and this is very
important with me. He also follows me from room to room in the house. He has
a very out going personality and gets along with all the dogs here and the
cats. He likes people, but is not over friendly. When Nick or I speak to
him, heturns his head  looks at us. Some of my other dogs ignore me. I think
he will be an easy dog to train as he wants to please me. He did learn sit
and down in in 10 minutes, and is remembering it.  He is easily distracted
though. PUPPY BRAIN!!.  I think he is younger than 1 year as he still has a
puppy coat. The breeder thought he was about 8 months . We will see what the
vet has to say tomorrow.  Have a great day,   Mardi and Nala,semi-retired
and Shaman, gdit.



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