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Monday, March 23, 2009 The New Dog By Diana Hsieh @ 12:01 AM Hooray! I'm so insanely happy to report that Paul and I adopted a dog yesterday afternoon from the Front Range German Shepherd Rescue. He's a one-year-old, 70-pound German Shepherd male. He's low-key, attentive, and affectionate, but inexperienced in the ways of the world. Right now, he's a bit agitated by his unexpected change in residence. Over the next few weeks, he needs regular exercise to build muscle, training in walking gently on a leash, and instruction on playing nice with the cats and horses. We haven't decided on a name definitively, but we're thinking "Conrad." As any cat owner might imagine, our cats are not so pleased by the introduction of this interloper to their domain. They're in hiding. Labels: Animals Share |    E-mail Diana Hsieh     PermaLink ()    Comments (New Page)   Subscribe to NoodleFood Blog Posts via Feed Reader   via E-mail Subscribe to NoodleCast Podcasts M4A via iTunes (MP3)   via Feed Reader   via E-mail

Comments
	Sunday, March 22, 2009 at 23:33:21 mst Comment ID: #1 Name: John Harris E-mail: John.Harris00 at gmail dot com Congratulations on your new dog Diana, and Paul. John.
	Sunday, March 22, 2009 at 23:57:11 mst Comment ID: #2 Name: Fortitudine E-mail: canadian.republic(at)hotmail.com URL: http://www.thecanadianrepublic.blogspot.com Why Conrad? Shout out to Conrad Black, perhaps?
	Monday, March 23, 2009 at 0:22:46 mst Comment ID: #3 Name: Jared Seehafer E-mail: jared(at)seehafer.net A handsome animal. I envy your house and open space (another way of saying I miss having a dog).
	Monday, March 23, 2009 at 0:26:33 mst Comment ID: #4 Name: Jared Seehafer E-mail: jared(at)seehafer.net Diana, Have you made any attempt to 'go Primal' (as Mark Sisson would say) with your pets?
	Monday, March 23, 2009 at 2:03:54 mst Comment ID: #5 Name: Michael Labeit E-mail: logician169(at)yahoo.com URL: http://unit-perspective.blogspot.com Congratulations on your new sibling. "Conrad?" In my name dictionary, "Conrad" means "Bold counsel." I don't know....whenever I think of "dog" and "counsel," I think of David Berkowitz.
	Monday, March 23, 2009 at 4:22:39 mst Comment ID: #6 Name: Flibbert E-mail: junk(at)treygivens.com URL: http://flibbertigibbet.mu.nu/ ADORABLE!!!
	Monday, March 23, 2009 at 4:45:14 mst Comment ID: #7 Name: Tom Rowland E-mail: trowland08(at)gmail.com I, too, wish that we had the space to have such a beautiful companion. Congratulations on the new addition.
	Monday, March 23, 2009 at 5:28:19 mst Comment ID: #8 Name: KWA E-mail: kwabrams(at)gmail.com Handsome dog. I've always love German Shepherds. How do you find dealing with the shedding? Aside from the time commitment that all dog ownership entails, the shedding issue with GSDs is the biggest reason why I don't have one.
	Monday, March 23, 2009 at 8:47:23 mst Comment ID: #9 Name: Amy E-mail: mossoffa(at)gmail.com URL: http://www.amymossoff.com What a cutie. He's got a great doggy-smile. Rescue dogs rock!
	Monday, March 23, 2009 at 8:51:28 mst Comment ID: #10 Name: Thomas Shoebotham E-mail: celloshoe(at)yahoo.com Lovely looking animal, Diana! And my cats would like to express their solidarity with your cats, and wish them well in their hiding.
	Monday, March 23, 2009 at 8:55:53 mst Comment ID: #11 Name: Diana Hsieh E-mail: diana(at)dianahsieh.com URL: http://www.dianahsieh.com/blog Thanks everyone! I've been feeding about half raw food to the cats and dog since last July. I recently switched the other half of their food (wet and dry) to grain-free. Conrad has already had his first bites of raw chicken last night. He thought it was delicious! (I'm going to add that slowly to his diet.)
	Monday, March 23, 2009 at 9:56:33 mst Comment ID: #12 Name: Kelly E-mail: kellymcnulty(at)gmail.com Congratulations! He looks like a sweetie! :-)
	Monday, March 23, 2009 at 10:59:25 mst Comment ID: #13 Name: Sascha Settegast E-mail: sascha.settegast(at)gmx.de Now that's what I call a beautiful dog. :) I hope you will enjoy its company!
	Monday, March 23, 2009 at 13:10:08 mst Comment ID: #14 Name: Jim May E-mail: seerak(at)gmail.com He is indeed a beauty. If you can get the cats to like him, I'd love to know how that went. I don't know how flexible are cats that grew up in the presence of other pets, but I do know that cats that are used to having full ownership of you, do not like to share it.
	Monday, March 23, 2009 at 14:00:06 mst Comment ID: #15 Name: Vibeke E-mail: vc(at)keproject.com Ooh he's beautiful! German Shepards are such great companions. Congratulations!
	Monday, March 23, 2009 at 15:02:08 mst Comment ID: #16 Name: Diana Hsieh E-mail: diana(at)dianahsieh.com URL: http://www.dianahsieh.com/blog I had to work very hard with our prior dogs Abby and Kate to get them to live well with the cats. We had both dogs when we got the cats. Abby would have been okay with them on her own, but Kate had as high a prey drive as I've ever seen. So Kate taught Abby to chase the cats. It wasn't pretty. It took some time to figure out what to do, but once I did that, the process was relatively quick. The key is to identify -- and ruthlessly exploit -- the dog's weakness. For Abby, that was pain. (She was a sissy!) So I only had to shock her once or twice on the lowest setting with a shock collar. She was convinced that the cats could shock her, and she gave them a wide berth thereafter. They got along fine after that. Kate was a tougher nut to crack. She's extremely stoical about pain; the shock collar didn't phase her in the slightest. However, the reason that she was so stoical about pain was that she was afraid of being abandoned by the pack if she showed her own frailty and weakness. So, the key with her was to keep her in a down-stay on the dog bed on a 30-foot leash. If she made any move to chase the cat, I would yell and holler and (gently) throw the 30-foot leash on top of her for about 15 seconds, then throw her outside for about 30 minutes. That was *very* worrisome to her, and I didn't have to do it too many times before she was uninterested in chasing the cats. Unfortunately, Conrad did chase our cat Elliot this morning. Conrad got away from me, and chased the cat through two rooms. So now he's very interested in poor Elliot, but not so concerned about Oliver. With a bit of watchful correction, however, I'm sure that all will be well in a few weeks. Conrad is definitely very eager to please.
	Monday, March 23, 2009 at 16:00:27 mst Comment ID: #17 Name: Thomas Shoebotham E-mail: celloshoe(at)yahoo.com Have you had the reverse situation before, where the dog was introduced into a home with cats? I've heard that often works better, especially if the dog is young and not fully grown and set in its ways. Some people say that the cats are less intimidated by a little puppy, and even if it grows to be a big dog, the early introduction tends to make it think of the family's cats as part of the pack, at least in a fair number of cases. We may have to try ourselves this someday...
	Monday, March 23, 2009 at 16:43:18 mst Comment ID: #18 Name: Mark Wickens E-mail: noodlefood(at)wickens.ca URL: http://randex.org/ Congrats! Hope your menagerie is peaceful soon.
	Monday, March 23, 2009 at 19:48:44 mst Comment ID: #19 Name: Anonymity Nice dog! Much as I love my cats, I do miss having a dog. I hope that Conrad's hips are good!
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