[nagdu] A New Chapter Begins to Start

[Buddy Brannan]

Oops. This accidentally went just private instead of to the list.

 Hi,

I plan to blog, perhaps podcast as well. 

I went to see the breeder on Saturday. Met her and her dogs. Sharon is very no nonsense, very direct, doesn’t mince words. I liked her a lot. I liked her dogs (and cats), and they all seemed to equally approve of me, although the cane made them a bit nervous. They were OK once I put it away though. 

Granit, the male, was BIG! I mean about up to my waist big. I mean a hundred pounds and maybe a bit more big! HUGE head. He was looking pretty good though and was very friendly. Sharon had to tell him to stop licking. Her and me both. I didn’t mind especially. From afar, he looks like he’s black, but he’s got a red undercoat, so really it’s just the tips of the fur that are black. Comb it back and you’ll see the red under. 

Cecania (AKA CC) was a lot smaller, with a rougher coat, probably closer to 60 pounds. She was thin like many GSD’s, but still in nice shape. She’d run up every so often, but she didn’t stay still for long. 

Grischa was my pal for most of the visit. This is the girl that Sharon believes will be the right mother for my pup. I think Grischa approves. She’s a big bigger than CC, and, unlike CC, has some meat on her bones. Super laid back, although Sharon tells me that she changes when she has puppies and is very protective of them. Also tells me that she’s the guard dog. Anyway, she and Granit both have nice thick coats, and of course, all have those great GSD ears. Anyway, grischa laid next to me for most of my visit, as I sat on Sharon’s kitchen floor. She practically crawled up into my lap at one point. 

We visited for over an hour talking dogs, breeding, dogs, other critters, dogs, and…we might have mentioned a thing or two about dogs. She sees the same vet I do, and she tells me that the vet has referred several folks to her for pups, so I’ll have to remember to ask them about her. 

She believes Grischa will have pups near the end of the year, and they’ll be ready to take home in February. That’s how she thinks it will happen. CC, she believes, will have pups first. Although she also said things might change, and sometimes nature foils our plans and changes things up, and Grischa might go first, though she seemed to believe CC would be first followed by Grischa. February would be just about perfect, even if I wouldn’t say no tomorrow, the parents were just such nice dogs.

If you want to find out more and see Sharon’s dogs, she’s building a web page. It’s still under construction, but there’s stuff there anyway:
http://www.entwerferhausgsd.com/


On Jul 7, 2014, at 9:44 AM, Marsha Drenth <marsha.drenth at gmail.com> wrote:

> Buddy, what a major and wonderful undertaking. I'm sure that you'll do wonderfully at training your new puppy. It would be very interesting to hear how this all goes. Do you plan on blogging or podcasting?
> Keep us updated,
> 
> Marsha drenth  
> email: marsha.drenth at gmail.com  
> Sent with my IPhone  
> Please note that this email communication has been sent using my iPhone. As such, I may have used dictation and had made attempts to mitigate errors. Please do not be hesitant to ask for clarification as necessary. 
> 
> On Jul 1, 2014, at 6:17 PM, Buddy Brannan via nagdu <nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
>> Hi,
>> 
>> Well, been talking about it for years, and now I’ve decided I’m jumping in.
>> 
>> I’ve decided that I’m going to train my next guide dog. 
>> 
>> First, I want to make one thing very clear. I have nothing but the utmost respect for guide dog schools. This isn’t some anti-authoritarian down with the establishment thing. In fact, I may never do this thing again after the one time. Or maybe I will. No one knows, not even me. This is just a thing I’m doing because I want the experience of raising and training my next guide dog, simple as that. I’m under no delusions here; I don’t, for instance, think that I’ll do as thorough a job with traffic training as the Seeing Eye does, but, and meaning to cast no aspersions, I don’t think *anyone* does as thorough a job of traffic training as Seeing Eye does. I do, however, believe that I will do a safe and adequate job of it, otherwise, I won’t pass my dog out of training. 
>> 
>> In this case, and for my purposes, this is more about the journey than it is about the destination, important as that destination is. Whether I take two years or three, or even whether I (and my dog) am/are successful, I will have the experience, and I expect to learn something valuable from it. 
>> 
>> I’m in no rush. Leno and I are coming up on our fourth anniversary at the end of August. That means, if he holds to pattern, I’ve got at least two more years of working with him, and he’s showing no signs of slowing down. Even if I started with a puppy today, I don’t anticipate being done any time before dog’s second birthday, and probably later, and really, I’m *not* starting with a puppy today. 
>> 
>> I’ll be visiting with a breeder on Saturday. I’ll be surprised if I have a new puppy in much less than a year from now. This is a thing I’m nervous about, excited about, and looking forward to. Also perhaps dreading slightly, if for no other reason than puppy parking in the middle of the night. Still, it’s exciting stuff, albeit a really, really large undertaking that has an uncertain outcome. 
>> 
>> So that’s my bit of fun. I fully expect to be bending the ears of the owner trainers here, because, well, I’m going in on new territory. Fortunately, Leno will be around to help me through it. 
>> 
>> —Buddy
>> 
>> 
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