YEE HAW!

Summer is always busy around my house. I take Sophie out to the "pit" a couple times a week for a good run. She loves it. (although there are a couple of noisy dogs that pester her from behind a fence.)

Sophie did something amazing the other day. Now, you know ASD's are tough and all powerful. Well, Sophie snapped her tether leash. I couldn't believe it. It literally snapped.
I had to buy a new one. (consider that it is 9 months old leash...so there is a little wear on it).
But, nevertheless, she is one powerful dog!

I am training Sophie with our ducks to be gentle. She hangs out with the ducks all day (in an adjoining kennel) and doesn't seem to mind them, however, she gets a little excited when I put them together and immediatley smothers them. Feathers go flying. My meanest duck is the guinea pig for this experiment. heh heh....she never hurts them....just a little rough tho.

yee haw!

Sophie-lic-ious

Howdy.

The other night Sophie and I were hanging out. It was around 9 pm and I usually walk her around the house for 15 minutes or so before I lock her up for the night. Well, she saw a cat and took off like a bullet. Unfortunately, I didn't have a tight grip on my 15 foot leash and while she took off, I got a major rope burn.
I couldn't be mad at her, because it was my fault for not having the leash tight around my hand/fist.
I learned that lesson.

Then, last night we were hanging out and she did the same thing toward a roller blader dude. He came out of nowhere.
Luckily, I had her tight, but man, it scared me to think of what she would do if she got loose and took off like that.... (I don't actually think that she would actually hurt someone... she is just doing what she does...and that is gaurd)

Sophie is in heat again. I wasn't expecting her to go into heat until August....but I wonder if this is an every 3 month thing? I will be finding out.

yee haw.

Now that....

Now that Sophie is a year old, I will stop posting by weeks. I just thought it would be cool to keep a log about her first year and how she has grown.
We definately love her very much.

It has been raining, but otherwise, the weather has been fantastic. Cool 60's by day...and cooler 40's at night. This is my kind of weather.

Sophie continues to dig her little cavern beneath her dog house. I will let her keep it as long as the house is stable. Otherwise, it may need to be filled. I'll be keeping my eye on that.

Sophie has done really well with her new routine. (transitioned to more of an outdoor dog). She seems to bark more since she is now outside...and her bark is so dang loud...it dwarfs any other barking in the neighborhood.

I have learned that Sophie has a sensitive stomach when it comes to seasonings. Especially Montreal Steak Seasoning. Every time I give her a piece of meat with this seasoning, she vomits it back up. So I try to save her a cleaner piece.

I worry that Sophie needs a buddy. Okay, so she has the chickens, ducks and pheasants...but I would love to see her with another Anatolian companion.

yee haw.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Sophie!!!!!!!!

April 20th was Sophie's bday.

We didn't do much. She got a big juicy "fresh" ham bone.
Its so weird to think that we have had her for nearly 1 year now.
Time sure does fly by...

yee haw.

Recent pics April-2009

Here are some pics of Sophie. She has a chubby little friend who is a French Bulldog named, Jasmine. Sophie hates her bath. (as you can see in the pix) I bathe her in a very large horse trough that I bought at IFA for around $65. I am also enclosing pics of the wild ducks that come every year to our yard. They usually hang out for a few weeks then leave.

enjoy!!!!

yee haw

Sophie: 53 Weeks

Man, time is going by. Sophie is 1 year old in two days!
She has been a great dog. I have really loved having her around.

Yesterday she was a little rambunctious. I was trying to comb her and she was giving me fits.
She wouldn't sit still. I have realized that since she has been outside for the past 2 months, she needs a reintroduction to manners. I know, it's all my fault and I need to be better.

We have some annual ducks that show up and visit us each year. They hang out for a week or two and then disappear until next spring. Sophie is very curious about them and desperately wants to say hello. But they won't have anything to do with her. ha.

Ok. Here is a plug. I went to a pet store and saw a video about a grooming brush called the "Furminator". The images were unreal because they showed a dog sitting next to a pile of hair that was combed out by the Furminator. Almost too good to believe. And I noticed the price tag at $40...so its not cheap. I held off buying one at that price.

I got home and checked around. Most prices were within $30 -40 price range. Then I checked Amazon and found a new large brush for $25....and free shipping. So I bought one to "try". (yes..i was a little skeptical)
I got it in the mail yesterday and tried it out on Sophie. I couldn't believe the amount of hair that came out of her coat. I am serious...the pile astounded me. It is exactly like the images in the brochure and video. I kept wondering if there was a razor in the comb....I was also concerned about it pulling the hair...but I tried and tested it on a few things...including me...and it doesn't hurt....and it doesnt seem to be a razor. The comb has small metal teeth that extract the hair. And it makes mounds of piles of hair. All I can say is wow. It really does work.

yee haw.

Rain

It has been raining all day. I look at Sophie out in the rain, and she looks miserable.
I cant bring her in cuz she is all muddy. Dang.

I feel bad for her. At least she has her dog house.

yee haw

Sophie: 52 Weeks

I bought Sophie a huge rawhide yesterday and couldn't believe that she nearly ate the whole thing ina an hour or so. It makes me a little nervous that she can eat that hard stuff. I am sure it wasn't easy going in....and going out could be a near death experience for her. I sure hope not!

I am a little disappointed in her chewing habits. I mean, I know dogs need to chew, but she chews up her blankets, carpet in her kennel, dog house etc. I try to make her beds comfy....but if she wont leave them alone and intact, then she gets to sleep on the cold hard floor. You would hope that a dog would "get it". arghhh.

I have been looking into whether we would ever breed Sophie...but although pups would be a wonderful experience...(oooohhh soooo fun!) I think that we would have a much better dog if we had her spayed.
She is a little too rough with the girls in my house and sometimes, its not cool when she shows her strength when my girls are helping dad out with chores and they get splashed with mud, or clothes get torn up with her strong claws. My daughter was helping me the other day and Sophie jumped up in excitement and clawed her down the face...it wasn't bleeding....but it's still not cool to do that. My wife was really mad and there wasn't much I could do but be grateful that she didn't scratch out an eye.

So, needless to say.....I have seriously been thinking about having her spayed . When Oakley the Golden Retriever stayed with us, I realized why he was so good and well behaved. It was because he was neutered. I think that having a good dog is worth more than having one litter of pups....at least in the long run.

I think it would be really good to get Sophie a companion. Especially after seeing her love being with Oakley and having so much fun with him. I have heard that a male/ female mix is much better than a female/ female mix. I guess we will have to see.

yee haw....

more

Sophie: 50 and 51 weeks

Sophie has been a handful lately. She has decided to dig a hole under her doghouse. (it sits on a pallet) Its pretty deep. I keep wondering how deep she will want to go. She can currently fits nearly her whole body in it.
She had a friend over for the weekend. He is a Golden Retriever named Oakley. (he is neutered) They had a blast together, I love it when she gets to socialize with other dogs.
She loves it too.

We have had snow the past couple of weeks, but today was like 75 degrees. We are also getting alot of rain. Spring is still here, i think.

yee haw,

Sophie: 48 and 49 Weeks

Spring is here and it is so beautiful.
It has been fun to watch Sophie running around in the fields. She is such a powerful dog.
You can just see the muscle and strength in her stride. She is amazing.

I am looking for more Utah Anatolian owners to correspond with. I don't know many here that own an Anatolian....and the vets rarely see this kind of breed. (as they have said to me)

Sophie is registered with the AKC and has a great blood line. The only thing I have left to do is get her xrays on her hips. Then we will know if she will be good to breed down the road....however, we will wait another year at least. (and see what is happening in our CRAZY economy...I am teaching Sophie to hate politics and ALL politicians..ha!)

Our ducks have loved eating Sophies puppy ch0w and won't stay out of it....and she is just too nice to let them help themselves.

We will probably start seeing our golden pheasants lay some eggs in the coming weeks. We are hoping to get more than last years hatch.

see ya,
yee haw,

Sophie: 47 Weeks

Sophie made me laugh last night. I had a big piece of french bread that I stuck in my coat pocket.
I wondered if she would even notice. I took her on her walk and she kept sniffing around...she knew I had something...and she took no time in finding it. It cracked me up.

I am pretty sure we made it through her first "heat" experience. I guess we get to look forward to it again come August...

We should be done with the snow and are welcoming beautiful spring weather.
I am sure Sophie will be anxious to start playing in her favorite large field again now that the snow is gone.

I really enjoyed hanging out with Sophie last night. It was such a cool, peaceful night. We just sat under the stars and I gave her a rubdown. She loved it....
She is such a good dog.
I definately want to breed her in another year or so. We will need to get her hips xray'd to see if she has any problems....I suspect she won't. She is a beautiful dog.
I will have to post some new pics.

yee haw...

BIG Anatolian

Look at this big dawg.
cool huh?

I found this pic on the web....he looks like he would make a great gaurd dog.

Sophie: 45 and 46 Weeks

Sophie is still in heat. It's going on 4 weeks. We have worked through this fairly well. Our schedule is working out much better.

I hope to have another fence up by summer. It will give Sophie a larger space to run. I also am planning on a spot for a large garden this year.

Sophie is a beautiful dog. We are very happy with her. She loves hanging out with our ducks. They love to comb through her fur with their bills. Its a fast vibrating feeling and you can tell she likes it.

I haven't seen much difference in her weight or height. She seems to be at her peak...I guess.

Yee Haw.

Sophie: 44 Weeks

Sophie is still in heat. It has been 2 weeks now. She isn't bleeding as much, so maybe only a few days left.

This experience has actually been good for us. Sophie was getting pretty spoiled and hated going into her crate at all.
I stopped putting her in her crate at night so she could hang out in the kitchen. Sounds like a good plan. But I didn't realize that she would never go back inside. Well, we can't have a spoiled dog because sometimes she really needs to be in there. (being unruly, guests with small children, after a bath, etc) It got to the point that when I put her in her crate, she would whine, yelp, cry, and pant heavily so that slobber was dripping everywhere.

Since she has been in heat, she has been kept outside in her large kennel. I bring her from there into a smaller crate around 9pm at night and will let her back out by 6:15am the following morning. At first she hated the crate. She whined and cried. But after a few nights she has adjusted. Now she is fine. (she still reluctantly goes in after I coax her a couple times.) So, this has been good to reintroduce her to the crate.

The snow is nearly gone and spring is around the corner.

yee haw

Sophie: 43 Weeks

Howdy.

Well, Sophie is in HEAT. I really wasn't expecting this for another 2 months and to be honest, it caught me a little off guard. I had done some research and knew what to expect, although I have never dealt with a non-spayed female before. This is a very new experience for us all.

I went and bought doggie diapers....but they don't fit. Arghh. They are even Xtra large. I have kept her outside in her kennel during the day, and have her put in an inside kennel at night. She isn't adjusting very well. I feel so bad for her because she loves being around the family. And this has really messed up our routine. Normally she will lounge around in our kitchen and hang out near a warm vent. We all feel safe with her in the house....But since she is bleeding, I have had to keep her outside.

It hasn't been easy on any of us. Hopefully, we only have another week or so to go.

Sophie:41 and 42 weeks

I better get my groove back on.
I am getting behind in posting again.

Sophie has decided that she needs to chew the corner roof of her doghouse. Man, that is frustrating...especially after making it so nice for her. arghhhhh.
I have heard that bitter apple spray works to keep dogs from chewing....not sure but I'll check into it.

Sophie changed a lot in the past couple of weeks. I have noticed that her diet has changed. She won't eat her 3 cups in the morning and will normally eat it at night. Then when she is finished, I will give her 3-4 cups more and sometimes she will eat, but sometimes not. It has also affected her bathroom habits. She will go # 1 for me at night and in the mornings, but won't go #2 unless it is in the middle of the day. Oh well. As long as I know she is eating.

She has also become more alert. She will bark if someone is outside the back door, and she will bark at things we have no idea of why she is barking. This is new to us because she has been so quiet.

We have taught her lots of new tricks such as jump, lay down, sit, stay, come, up, and my kids taught that when they say bang, she falls to the ground like she is dead. Really. I didn't believe it til I saw it. Its really comical.

Sophie sheds a lot. My wife doesn't like that part of having a dog too much.

She loves the snow and will play for hours in the cold. Sometimes she acts like she doesn't want to come into the house.

I will get some more pics posted.

yee haw

Sophie: 40 Weeks!

I am way behind in writing.
I need to catch up for 35, 36, 37, 38, 39 weeks....

I will try to catch up.

Sophie seems to be thinning a bit. She hasn't beefed up like I thought she would by now. She is eating once a day, but I leave the food out all day for her to eat at her convenience.
I noticed that a few weeks ago she seemed to be really hungry, so I started feeding her 8 cups a day. But that has tapered a bit.

Sophie wants to be wherever I am. Sometimes, I need my space, which can get irritating cuz Sophie likes to be curled up at my feet. One day I will trip on her and break my neck.

We bought her a big doghouse and painted it "Barn Red". She seems to like it. I even layed carpet for her to keep warm and comfy.

I gave her some de-wormer from IFA the other day. She had a worm in her vomit the other day. How in the world do you get rid of those stinkin worms? Man, its frustrating. I read that some breeders swear by ivermectin capsules that is used for cattle and horses....I am a little skeptical in giving something I am not sure about that might affect my dog. But, I would like to know she is 100% free from those worms. ugh.

That's about all I can remember at the moment. I'll try to keep consistent again.

Yee Haw!