Our youngest of the dogs is Delta, she has so much energy and loves to play and just do anything that involves a game.  She is such fun and of course, the other dogs join in as well.  Here are some pictures after play time this morning, just hanging out, in the sheep pasture.

Arla von der Kleinen Wiese, Delta von der Kleinen Wiese, &

Aiko von der Kleinen Wiese, HGH

Aiko and Delta – just having fun!

“Faith Brings Miracles”

Wooooo Hooooooo!!!

I just wanted to congratulate Kris and Callie von der Kleinen Wiese on their latest title of CDX.  Callie is a wonderfully smart dog who loves to work and she is now working in Utility!  Kris is one of my good friends who owns Callie out of my “C” litter.  Callie and Kris are quite a team and are really racking up those titles now.  Not only did she get her CDX, but also second place at the Lower Bucks Dog show!  Way to GO!  I am so proud to see so many of my puppies doing so many things!  Keep up the great work!!!!!

Callie von der Kleinen Wiese, CDX

Below is Callie as a puppy.  She was always very bright and such a smart puppy!

The Untold Story of America’s Canine Heroes,

by Maria Goodavage

German shepherds play a key role in defending our nation as military working dogs, many of which are featured in the New York Times bestselling book Soldier Dogs:  The Untold Story of America’s Canine Heroes by Maria Goodavage, including Tina M111, pictured.  “If this doesn’t prepare you for Afghanistan, nothing will, “Air Force Technical Sergeant Adam Miller says.  He’s talking about the IASK course, a soldier dog and handler training exercise, in Yuma, Arizona.  It’s 114 degrees outside, and Miller has to carry his dog, Tina M111, to safety, demonstrating what a handler must do if their dog is injured in battle.

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I recently read the excellent book,” Soldier Dogs:  The Untold Story of America’s Canine Heroes”.  It’s a great book if you love dogs  and even more so if you have ever trained or owned a working breed.  You would appreciate the amount of training and dedication these dogs and the men and women of these dog team units put into their jobs.  These teams put their life on the line every day to save lives.  Solider Dogs is a book that enables you to feel the  strong relationships that these animals have with their handlers, the time, the dedication to do a job, and do it with accuracy.  These loving canines, who are loyal to us and committed to protecting us with their lives, are just amazing creatures.   These soldier dogs are of all different breeds doing things that us fellow humans are incapable of doing.  Dogs have such acute hearing and amazing scenting abilities that enable them to detect threats and save many lives.  And more than anything, these dogs provide unconditional love, devotion, loyalty, and protection, all for mere companionship and a simple toy or verbal reward.

What I love and take from this book is so important in working with dogs and that is that relationship/bond that these teams have.   The stories demonstrate the love and dedication that these dogs have for their work and for their handlers.  They aren’t just treated like equipment, but they spend every waking and sleeping moment with their handlers.  That is what most dogs want in life and more so with the working breeds, is having a job.  These dogs are happy to work, even when in danger.  This is what these soldier dogs are all about – they give you their everything!  And for so little in return, but to work for you!  The love relationship between handler and dog is just something that you can’t explain unless you have experienced it as a dog owner yourself and especially if you have worked a dog in any training exercises such as tracking, obedience, herding, schutzhund, etc.  These heart-felt stories really bring home the meaning of a great relationship between dog and handler.  These soldier dogs bring a comfort and love to these soldiers that is just beyond words.  If you own a dog that works, you know this is true.

I won’t go into detail about the stories, as that is best saved for reading the book yourself, but I will say the book covers some great stories of dogs doing amazing work that only dogs can do.  Furthermore, I like the way the author has really explained how some of these special dogs are selected, how they are trained and how important they really are to the military and to the men and women they share their life with.  It is nice to see that these dogs are well respected, taken care of and the men and women that work alongside these dogs truly love them.  No one wants to see a dog pass or get injured in war, least of all me, but no one wants to see the men and women of our country serving the military, become a victim of war either. These special dogs, ones that have to meet special criteria to serve, do a very important job in our military, and I think they deserve great respect and should be honored just as our men and women who give their lives for the safety of our country.

If you want to read some heart-felt and  wonderful stories about some absolutely amazing dogs and soldiers, then read Soldier Dogs.  I think if your a dog lover or just someone who appreciates the abilities of our canine companions and what they do for us, this book is a good read!  The pictures are great and the stories are ones of great heroes that include our very own four-legged, furry canines!

Ewe Lamb

Delta von der Kleinen Wiese

Delta above posing in front of the Spring flowers after playing fetch with a stick.  Delta will retrieve most anything you point to if you ask her to bring something to you.  She loves, loves to play.  This dog doesn’t need food to train, all she needs is eye contact and play and she will do most anything for you.  Sometimes all she wants from you is eye contact to know your paying attention to her.  She loves to work and have a job.   Here she is willing to pose and she has her eyes on me.   When she is finally tired at night, she lays by my feet, with her head on my toes as she has to have some part of her body near me or on me.   She’s a real love bug.

Delta is also having great fun going into the barn with me when I feed the sheep.  She is great with the lambs and loves to check them out nose to nose.  She was out in the pasture with them today for the first time and she was great.  Very responsive to my voice, even when speaking softly, she came immediately when called.  She is really a super biddable dog and so intelligent.  This dog loves to work and plays hard!

Summer is almost here!

 Here is one of my most favorite ewes, Jersey Girl, with her newborn ewe lamb. 

The lambs are doing really well and now they are several weeks old and really active.  They are jumping around in the barn and playing together.    Here are a few more shots of the wee  babes.

Lacey & Licorice

One of the twin lambs first born – Hope

I love lambing season as these little ones are so innocent and beautiful.  The dogs enjoy watching them from behind the gate, but Aiko and Delta have been in with the lambs already.  The dogs are as curious about the lambs as the lambs are about them.  It is quite comical to watch the lambs nose to nose with the dogs.  These  dogs as they are so gentle with the lambs and they seem to just know they are babies and they are naturally gentle with the young ones.

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