An intro

I've been posting to LJ for awhile, but maybe doing a blogspot journal for me will be more conducive to me having a real training journal for the dogs :)

I guess now is a good time to intro the beasts, right?

Rah... where to start with Rah. the light of my life, the shrieking in my ear, the smirk on my face, I love the dog and he drives me crazy. I adopted him almost 2 years ago next month from Doberman Rescue Unlimited in Sandown, NH (jesus, it's been that long?!?!?!?!) where he was guaranteed to be an adolescent male dobe that would be returned to rescue multiple times because he was That.Bad.Of.A.Dog.

Rah is incorrigible. In fact, if you look up the definition of incorrigible, you see a picture of Rah next to it - the correct spelling of the word is incorRAHgible. Rah is bad beyond correction. I don't know what I expected giving my dog the name OohRah - a dog whose name is so guttural (yes, it's the marine call - see his registered name?) , a dog whose name is such a good word to yell when they are doing bad thing s- Rah is sharp, quick, and fast when you go RAH!, but you can also draw it out and whine it.... RAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah when he's being a brat. For three letters, theres so much you can do.

The dogs name also lends itself to Rahman Noodle. A dog whose nickname becomes Rahman Noodle - well, you're in trouble.

I adore this dog - he is so bad, he's hilarious. Even when he does terrible, horrible, very bad things - you cannot help but laugh at him. Yes, I have actually had to go into the bathroom to laugh while I am yelling at him, because he just gives you THE LOOK. I am trying to explain to him why we DO NOT bring poopsicles in the house and why if a dog DID bring them in the house (which I still discourage), we CERTAINLY do not encourage said dog to EAT THEM ON MY LEATHER COUCH (or even eat them at all, PERIOD) - and he's staring at me so intently, because you know, ATTENTION WORK MEANS that the end reward is you get to eat your treat. THe damned dog is giving me attention SO I CAN LET HIM GO EAT THE FRIGGIN POOPSICLE. I had to leave the room I was crying so hard.

(by the way, I didn't let him eat the poopsicle, to his dismay).

Rah is the blueblurry. He adores tennis balls, all sorts of food, chasing things, running around like a crazy man, and being pet. He has never met a stranger that he couldn't make love him, and despite his ridiculousness he is the best dog I have ever seen around children. He used to drive me crazy with how much energy he had - I used to work 12-14 hour days and come home and have to throw the tennis ball for 2 hours to just get him to go to sleep... He has the perfect balance of stable calm temperament mixed with will protect the mama, and most of all, this dog works.

I will stay that again - this dog works. This dog works his heart out - this dog works for hours on end, and works nonstop. He loves to work, and he loves it 100% - he doesn't do anything halfway, he does everything (tennis) balls to the wall. Rah is almost 32 inches of pure drive, determination, and will to work. He is a joy to work, but his drive can be frustrating for a novice handler like me because with a wonderful experienced handler, he'd be an OTCH already - he's so sensitive to me, that I can screw him up with just a flick of my shoulder, a slight lean of my body (as is with all good dogs!) - he really deserves a much better handler than me.

I do strive for perfection from him, and god bless his big blue heart, he gives it to me as best he can, and he humors me. Rah works with his tongue hanging out all the time, and his is the dumbbell with blood all over it because he bites his tongue retrieving. he quivers waiting to be sent for things, and he never takes his eyes off of me (I don't have such great control over the last 12 inches of his body, but being almost 4 feet long, I'm working with a lot more dog, folks!).

Rah has heart, and rah has a wicked wicked mind. Rah understands english and has figured out what all my instructors commands mean - he can end his own exercise (ok, exercise finished, break and praise), he also knows the change of paces (especially normal and to a fast!) - he doesn't even need me out there.

Rah works for pure love of the sport. Rah loves working with me, and he loves anything we do together. Rah will eat first, ask questions later, and Rah would sell his soul for a tennis ball. Rah is pure, unadulterated Rah-ness.