Turkish Dogs - particularly Anatolian Shepherd Dogs

Geno sent some fun photos of Helmut from another ski trip that the family did recently. Above shows him taking up a lot of the back seat. He looks like he really enjoys road trips.

Having fun in the snow.

In the back of the truck with the boys, he looks so solemn.
Paolo, the young man hugging Helmut, is a friend of the family and he really enjoys Helmut. :)

Another nice, testosterone filled picture. Heehee :D

Here's Helmut after having had a bath. The look on his face is adorable.

What can I say? Boys will be boys!

Helmut on the road; snuggling time with Paolo.


L-R: Dom, Paolo and Helmut. Three handsome young guys!

Labels: Helmut, kids

Helmut taking off with his family for a June Mountain (California) ski vacation this March.

He was a grinning California beach boy last month and a happy snow doggie a month later! :)


Helmut sporting his doggie backpack in the snow.


Enjoying a good run!

Gangway!!!!!

I asked Geno if he got bowled over but he said Helmut never bowls him over, he's so agile.
I'd probably still want to duck or something! eep!

These big dogs really love snow!!


Powder faced, Helmut.
I absolutely LOVE this pic!
Isn't he cute?! :D

Thanks Geno!

Labels: 2006Litter, Helmut

L-R: Dom, Helmut in rabbit ears and Geno.

Helmut has a goofy grin in every photo so the top one really cracked me up. Everyone did a Helmut grin and Dom (the handsome young man on the bike above) gave Helmut ye ol' rabbit ears. Boys! LOL B)

Helmut left us at the end of last year and went to live his family in Huntington Beach, California. He seems to have become one of the Beach Boys. I read that he is doing quite well there and has a very active and social life!

Geno writes, "He goes to the beach [is not fazed by the surf], goes to the wildlife preserve, down bike and dirt paths, to soccer/baseball parks, all around our neighborhood."

Wherever he goes he's the belle of the ball as all sorts of folks want to know what type of dog he is and pet him. Sometimes I have to avoid eye contact w/folks so we can get to where we're going.

Big dogs seem to respect and play with him, some little dogs nip at him so I'm keeping him away from little dogs for a while now. I don't want him being nipped at by little insecure animals (jack russels are ornery and most white fluffy things too). He's not growled or barked since I've had him. His disposition has always been very happy and mellow and more than once person have commentted on his positive aura and energy.

People quite honestly seem to love him. Domenic of course loves him and he is showing very good manners and displaying very few social climbing signs. Domenic can walk him on a leash w/o issue already even at a beach filled with off-leash dogs. I take him eveywhere I can.

He seems to mostly ignore my cats and others on the block. All my neighbors think he's great. He and Dom are on the way to a very close bond. He lets Dom walk him and does not pull when Dom is holding his leash or collar. He's so even keeled. He really seems to love smelling all the flowers in my backyard.

Of course, he's been a little naughty. I read that he did some experiments on Christmas ornaments, and made a few mistakes (probably on purpose) to see if the rules were changing. But we're ready for this stuff and we're all hoping for the best.

Helmut provides dog power for skateboarding. Please note the grin on the silly dog's face! I like the play of light on his feathered tail.

More skateboarding. You can't see it, but I'm sure Helmut is grinning!

Now, here's Helmut grinning in front of Dom and his mom, Lisa.
Wave back, Dom is waving!

Okay here is Helmut and Dom, looking pretty natural together. Of course, you notice I didn't even mention a goofy grin here.

Now here are three boys, all of them looking so handsome! That's Dom, Helmut and Dom's friend, Paolo.

Now here's the grinning California Beach Boy himself.

Helmut has always been such a goofy, sweet, and happy boy. He is 15 months now, getting into his 'teen' period, so we'll be keeping tabs and watching out for him and reminding him to be good! Some of the last pics I have of him, from just before he left, are here.

Meanwhile, his sister Coco and older half sister Ruya, have been helping with our visitor Molly.
Wonderful to see such great temperaments!

BTW, I have pics of Helmut's brother Marlow in Idaho and still haven't gotten around to posting them yet! Hang in there!

Labels: ASD_Pics, Helmut, kids

Turk, aka Roadblock's Turkish Silver, in a cute picture sent by Tiffany of Roadblock Anatolians. He is now working and training as a livestock dog.

Seeing the eyes above, it reminded me of how expressive our doggies can be.

Above is a favorite of mine. The two pups are Coco and Helmut, giving Dave Koerner their rapt attention. I still wonder what he did to get that expression!


At fourteen months, Coco and Helmut above, giving my camera a quick look when I tried to get their attention by making odd noises -- and they do appear to be somewhat concerned. ;)

Now this is cool...
Here's a chance to add your doggie pics to a huge mosaic by Pedigree. I added Ruya and got an email response. Supposedly "RUYA1" will show up in the mosaic in another day or two. Pedigree says it will make a $1 donation* to The PEDIGREE® Adoption Drive for every dog photo that's uploaded to the mosaic. (up to $10,000)

Labels: ASD_Pics, Coco, Helmut, humor

Wink wink - Hi cutie pie!

The above is one of several shots of Helmut that I took a few days ago, and you can see a few more of them over here.

We have a big metal table on wheels in the yard. I was resting my elbows on it to steady the camera and get some doggy pics. Helmut adds to that by going up to the table and putting HIS elbows up there too so he can peer into my lenses and see what I'm doing! Above is one of the faces he made when I told him he was being silly. :) And yep, my camera lens ended up with a noseprint from him.

For Cuteness in Size Small (but that will change!)
Head on over to Marlene's place. She's got some of the cutest new faces on her blog!

Labels: Helmut

A happy Helmut who has nothing to do with the topic below

A significant amount of our immune systems is in our digestive tracts. It's a very complicated subject but the main idea to take away is that your body and its health is highly influenced by what you consume. This would be true for dogs too, but since the video is about people and this is an area of interest for me, I'm talking primarily about humans.

Quite a bit of our medical care is involved with treatment of symptoms via medications, without much understanding of the mechanisms by which the symptoms develop. Because of this particular orientation of our care providers, we are inundated with pharmaceutical solutions for the treatment of symptoms or prevention of those symptoms. Because the testing required for the approval of drugs has gotten extremely complicated and expensive, due to fears of their secondary effects, drugs are now very expensive. The action of the medications are not well understood, but the goal to achieve a 'better number' (on a lab test) or relief of a symptom -- without killing too many people, is used as proof of the medication's usefulness and relative safety. Therefore, actual disease processes remain unaddressed while the medications themselves put a damper on some aspect of normal metabolism, so that new symptoms and problems can develop. And the latter issue creates a circle whereby more review and testing must be done. Place a snake icon with the tip of it's tail in its mouth here and have it spinning round and round :O :(

Western medicine is not all bad. It has outstanding ability in the treatment of trauma and surgery, but it really has made little progress in the area of understanding what is needed to produce and maintain healthy bodies. This lack of progress in the latter areas has resulted in red herrings (false assumptions) becoming the foundation upon which other theories and fallacies of health are are borne. Because our country has such an outstanding reputation in surgical and trauma care, many other countries may sometimes assume that our preventive care is also up to par. This has not been borne out by annual studies by the World Health Organization (WHO). In fact the USA often lags by tens or more behind other countries regarding the relative health of individuals, lack of "age related" disability and the having longevity not impaired with disability. These differences are changing as more countries adapt "better living through chemistry" (prescription drugs) and more of our standard dietary practices and fallacies.

While the video below doesn't have captions so I can read what is being said, I'm familiar with the concepts behind the subject matter to post the video here. I urge more people to review what they may have been lead to believe in these areas and other areas of symptom treatment, such as gut problems. If after seeing the video, you'd like to read more, go and check out the website of The International Network of Cholesterol Skeptics (THINCS) if science is your thing. More generally, and easier to read, I also highly recommend Weston A Price Foundation as a resource upon which to review concepts ideas regarding better health. None of these groups are going to try and sell you something but do try to educate you on choices you may not have considered. It is only when our mainstream citizen is informed, that changes in this pattern can happen.

The video: Dr Malcolm Kendrick speaks about World Health Organization data gathered in their MONI-CA study.


Want more?
I do have a scan from Dr. Kilmer McCully's book, "The Heart Revolution", which may help you understand why processed foods can be nutritionally lacking. Additionally, a favorite link that helps one build on the malnutrition angle is a book review of Dr. Weston A. Price's "Nutrition & Physical Degeneration". Before you actually read the latter book review in whole, just look at the photos and captions on these people -- and if it interests you, go on and read the book review. The skeleton reflects the health of the body as it develops and teeth are part of it, which is why Dr. Price studied teeth to assess the health of the people he visited in the 1930s. After checking out the teeth, read the rest of the book review by going to part 1 (in the link at the top of the page). Check out those teeth!

Labels: Food, health, Helmut

Coco. Her chocolate color looks deeper in this light.

Pics below compare the siblings with each other.

Helmut, looking ever sooooo handsome!

He's a pet quality boy, but we're hoping he will fill out and eventually become nice and solid. Slow growth is typical and this particular boy needs the muscling and bone that naturally comes to a male that isn't neutered. He's much too leggy to neuter now.

Helmut, all gangly and awkward! Angle of me to him is a bit weird in this one, makes him look oddly proportioned.


All gangly Helmut. This shows his length of body better.

Checking the view away from the corral.

Helmut with his sister Coco. His coat is longer, silkier.

Despite the same birthdate... they seem to be growing undercoat at different times. She had little undercoat for a few months -- and that only lasted for only a few months. Helmut had more fuzzy texture to his coat while Coco's coat was rather thin. Now Coco's undercoat is getting dense, while his is silky thin. Coco's coat quality, length and texture compares to her older sister, Ruya. If not for Coco's feathered ears and her silky tail, you might not be able to tell she is longer in coat genetically when she is standing next to Ruya. She and Helmut are homozygous for the recessive rough coat. Both parents and half their littermates were standard coated so each parent donated a rough coat gene to both Coco and Helmut. See littermate Marlowe for his 5 month photos. He has the rough coat as well.

R-L: Coco and Helmut. Right now, the tails are both silky. They have undercoat on the tails, but it is not dense. Nice light diffusers! :)

Sisters. Coco and Ruya. Same mom, different dads. Body hair on both coats have similar feel and texture although Coco's coat is slightly longer. This angle also distorts Ruya as it did Helmut.

Coco is 11 months above. Compare Coco to Ruya when Ruya was about a year old.
Ruya at about a year.

Coco's enchantingly lovely face.

Her grandmother on dad's side (Boone is Dad) was also chocolate. Chocolate is just a 'shade' of black, which just didn't have "all the parts" to make a black as dark as true black. Way over simplifying but the idea is that chocolate is another shade of black. Think of some black breeds you know that have black and also come in chocolate. Labs, Newfoundlands, Springer Spaniels, Flatcoats, American Pit Bull Terriers. Sometimes chocolate is called liver and in some breeds chocolate is also called 'red' (red, red nose pit bull). Some breeds are are entirely made up of chocolate dogs, Chesapeake, Viszla, German Shorthair Pointers and more.

Those eyes! Since the eyes (and nose-skin and hair) of chocolate dogs, also don't have all the genetic parts "to build" true black, the color of the eyes stay a light amber although they are a crazy blue while the puppy is very young. So monochromatic. It is enchanting!

A bit excited in this pic, Coco.

Coco moving around...
Moving. The lighting in this one has more contrast. This enhances perception of the length of her hair.

Coco at 5 months. Dense undercoat. WAVY texture to her topcoat. It had a harsh feel to it.

Top view of Coco's coat at 5 months. Looks like she had a body wave.

Here's a similar topview of Helmut's coat at 5 months. It was very plushy soft.

Helmut at 5 months. Always gangly! Note that the texture from the side, is comparable to Coco's coat at the same age. It's just the top view where there are a lot of differences. Helmut's coat was softer and plushy, while Coco's coat had waves and harsh texture.

Labels: 2006Litter, Coco, Helmut

Inmates!

Long faces above... we had some work done on the property today so all the dogs had to go into the big kennel (the one that is strong enough to be Anatolian-proof!) while the gates were left open for lots of to and fro-ing for a few hours. The orange twine is for holding the kennel door open which it is most all the time.

Work done for the day, front gate closed. I go out to let them out, giving them a cheerful greeting. First, they give me happy, hopeful looks, because I'm about to let them out of the jail -- then I realized I should get the camera! -- Whee! snap snap...

After I got the camera, however, upon seeing the camera, instead of looking excitedly at me, they look resigned as I snap away... poor pups! All you peeps clamoring for pictures after my doggie picture hiatus. Look what you've done! LOL.

Close-ups of the Inmates--

This is taken from another pic, where they look to the front door, maybe accusingly at James who is just standing there watching. They are pointedly refusing to look at me. (lol) :D

Coco

Boone

Ruya

I had to move to another angle to get a better picture of Helmut. He looks happier than Ruya who is still glowering (it seems) at James in the doorway. :)

Helmut

Project isn't going to be done in one day, so they'll all have some more jail time, a few hours each day, in the next few days. sigh... Yeah, I'm not happy either but it'll be nice when the projects are finished. James laughed when he saw the photos of all the accusatory looking glances. The dogs are so expressive. After I let them out of jail, they all clustered around me for attention then each dog curled up nearby.

Boone snuggles against me as Helmut, his son, relaxes.

Labels: ASD_Pics, Boone, Coco, Helmut, Ruya

This is Helmut, after having a good time in the corral when I took some video.

Well, finally some homemade video! It's not Steven Spielberg or Pixar for sure but we had fun. :)

The two vids below are actually the same four minute composition in different resolutions featuring "Three Anatolians in a Corral". The Youtube one will be better for those with slower connections but it's harder to read my text additions. The larger one below it is huge .... well, normally I format blog posting widths to fit on small resolution screens but am making an exception for the high resolution version of this vid -- until this posting ages enough and I move with a link to it to its own page so it won't cause problems with viewing other archives with which that post is connected. IE users may or may not be able to play it online, so try the link to download.

I converted the MOV file from my still Kodak Z650 Zoom camera to AVI, after which I was able to explore Windows Movie Maker with the video. Okay the actually footage is not very good since my fancy digital Kodak camera cannot do Zoom while in video mode like a real camcorder can. But it's still footage that some may find entertaining, and I enjoyed it because it allowed me to learn some more tricks with my resident programs. Certainly any footage taken with less than a 1/4 acre will not suffer as much from lack of detail on the subject dogs, but I wanted this footage because I wanted to get video of the dogs romping around the corral. Boone is not in the video because Coco smells so interesting to him now (she's not in heat yet) and I just wanted focus on the current project.

The original video is taken in a large screen mode on my camera, so converting to the half size YouTube resolution causes some loss of detail in the text I added. I think the solution to that is to shrink the movie first, then add the 'captions' (grin). If you do have broadband speeds, then see the second version. You can also use your right mouse button to view the larger one in full screen because it is not a flash file.

Youtube version-



Windows Media Player version (High Resolution)-
you can right click for options like slow motion

Launch in external player - Watch full size for best detail

That's all for now, I think! Will edit this later, as needed. It was fun doing the videos. Hope you enjoy!

Labels: Coco, Helmut, Ruya, Video

I'm so behind on web stuff, email and everything else! But just wanted to say, doggies are doing fine. I'll be blogging about them again soon. Stuff has backed up, stress has taken me for quite a ride. Many posts I started (on MY dogs) were never published but need to be re-dated and finally put online. It's always more fun to make a photo blog and what happened was that I was never getting around to taking new pics. :)

Other stuff... I am so wanting to get back to finding time to play The Sims 2, I'm having trouble remembering all the tricks I used to know about the game so I'll probably have to relearn a lot. I am several stuff packs and expansion packs behind and have little clue what they involve and add to the game, aside from Seasons which is giving the game complications of weather and of the leaves on trees turning color (which must look pretty cool but probably needs lots more memory to run). There's a new expansion that lets you do Vacations, called Bon Voyage (boy I can't remember my last real life vacation!). I'm