A New Family Member

Axel

Not quite sure what possessed my DH. But he decided that WE wanted another dog. He was undecided about the breed until just recently. Like last night. His first trip to South Africa he was introduced to the South African breed of mastiff called the Boerbul. You can find more information on the breed here . I have met a few of the breed and they are a nice dog, but they don’t make my heart sing. But if that was the dog my DH wanted then that is the breed we would have gotten.

See I came with a dog to the relationship. A 5 pound Yorkie; a Foo-Foo dog. He was MY dog until he met my DH and then he changed his allegiance -the only person that would do for him was the DH. I only counted when the DH was gone. That little guy lived for 15 ½ years. In the meantime I also acquired a cat (Spaz), and we had another dog or two (rescues). And then we got Axel. While we were both in on the deciding… Axel was my dog to train and house break, etc. The housebreaking went very well, and the training… well he knows what we’re saying, but doesn’t always DO, and when I leave the house he lays by the backdoor waiting for me to come home. DH says he mopes.

So after all the expenses of Axel, and they are ongoing due to his allergies, DH decided we needed another dog. So we had a lead on an excellent breeder. She had 2 females (3 months and 5 months) and a litter due later in the month. We had already decided on an older pup and when we saw her - well he fell for the 3 month old, actually we both did.

Meet Linzy.

They are both German Shepherd Dogs. Axel is more of a ‘working’ look, think guard or police and our new one is the more traditional GSD, and they are really different than the ‘work’ model, although… she is pretty enough to show and maybe trained in Schutzhund, see more here , which we just might try.

To our surprise Axel has been the model surrogate parent/friend to the pup. He has always been rather selfish with his toys (never gives them willingly), rambunctious and protective of me. But he has been patient; curious and most surprising of all very giving with all of the toys. He has been so very calm it’s scary. Due to the size and weight difference, they have not been allowed to play off lead together, but we have let them interact freely in the house, but under supervision.

I hope the integration continues to go smoothly, and they become fast friends. One of them will be undergoing a certain surgery in the very near future. Not sure if it will be Axel or Linzy.



As to the names- I generally don’t go for naming pets with people names, but he was an A -litter dog and his name needed to start with the letter ‘A’… Apple, Arnold, Axis, Ace – NO they just didn’t sound right. Axel… came up and we were in a car… so … Axel -is for a car part… the Axel o f the car. His full name is Axel vom Barnhart; and if we had the opportunity to name the new dog… it would have also been a car part or a car. But she came with Linzy and she responds to it well enough, that it will stick.

So now we have Axel and Linzy, both people-ish names….

More Later!  Beth