Khan's Show Stack

I was working with Khan just now, trying to keep him from sitting while I pretend to be in a show. There's a conformation class tonight but I'm on-call so I'm not really feeling up to it. I'll attend next week. :)
I think he will do well if I keep working with him. He keeps his feet still while stacked really nicely and I can "woah" him to a free stack using a treat. I still need to know what I'm doing and that conformation class will really help. We will work more on the free stack as that is really my favorite part. I'll take a pic of his stack soon so everyone can see how much he has changed. He's looking really good to me.

Benelli M2

So here she is, the Benelli M2. Pictured above is the 12 guage, black synthetic shotgun. She's not the most esthetically fancy but she is definitely the sweetest choice for my first shot gun. Granted the Cordoba or the Supersport would be even more ideal but they are also a bit more expensive too. The Benelli M2 is my happy medium. I'm interested in Browning Citori or Franchi for my stylish OUs and SxS. There is also the Browning Cynergy or the BT-99 that are nice. There are really a lot of very nice guns out there.

There's so much going on with the M2 to make it the best choice. The most important features for me are all the innovations which makes it the least recoiling 12 guage in this price range. There's the inertia driven action, the chevron stock, easily adjustable gel pad and even an adjustable comb for my cheek. I'm splitting the gun with Don so having it easily adjust to both of us is essential. These guns are about $1300 so splitting the cost will allow me to get started on shooting much sooner. If that doesn't pan out then I'll either have to wait until June or July probably just get the Super Nova Pump from Benelli.

I'll be doing trap shooting probably 90% of the time, at least for the first year or so. I currently live in Seattle and have a full time job so reality tells me I wont be hunting as much as I'd like. Besides, I'm a wuss when it comes to foul weather. I'll do my best to go out each weekend but at first, I'll be trying to get very, very good at hitting my targets. I need to handle the gun safely and have it be second nature. That, for me, takes a lot of practice too. Hitting my targets dead on is a requirement. I don't want to wound the animal. I need to make a clean, humane kill every time.

Trap loads have less kick back but I'm planning on shooting at least 50 rounds each day that I am at the shooting range. Hopefully I'm there more than once a week. After a while, I'm sure my shoulder will cry so getting the softest kicking 12g is very important to me. I really want to get good and am considering joining a woman's league as soon as I've learned how to hit the clay targets.

The Benelli M2 is also the gun used by Tom Knapp. I really like him. I've seen him on Bird Dogs Forever and he's a great guy. He's an exhibition shooter. He has the world record for shooting 10 clay targets, hand tossed, in 2.2 seconds. 10! Each one shot cleanly with a shotgun! He shoots Benelli. He also holds the record for fastest and most clays hit with a pump gun and that's also with a Benelli. His Benelli M1 has shot 480,000 rounds and is in a Museum. Benelli supplies the Marines with M4s too. I'm totally sold on Benelli.

I want their R1 Rifle and maybe even the Supernova Pump. :) But that's at least a year from now. Oh.. they are coming out with Vinci. It's funny because one of my co-workers wanted me to name my new puppy Vinci. Perhaps I should get the gun instead. :) I really wonder what this new shotgun is going to be like.

While on the Hunter's Education class, I happened to sit next to the owner of Adventure Sports in Lynnwood, WA. What are the chances? He was there for his son. Joel is great. I am impressed by him. He is really polite and he wasn't scared to answer questions in front of the whole class and he knew a lot about guns. They are both really good people. Very friendly and knowledgeable and have a passion for the sport. I'm definitely buying my guns from their shop. The Benelli M2 is only the first.

I'd also really like a sweet side by side and a really nice over-under someday. Mike, the owner, showed me a S&W, 20g, sxs today. I held that beautiful shotgun and wow. It was exquisite. It had this blue enameled thing going on with the action and it felt so light and easy in my hands. It is sleek and smooth, very clean and simple. It is elegant. As you probably can tell, I really liked this gun a lot. It was $2200 so.. it will be a while. I want to see many SxS and OUs before I make my choice. Instead of buying jewelry, I'm going to hand down my prized guns.

I want my SxS and OUs to be really nice collector pieces but not so nice that I'm afraid to use them. I'll be shopping for those in the future. It's a lot of money to start falling for guns. :) I'll start with my practical guns then get into collecting. :)

I'll never be able to buy a house in the city at this rate but that's alright with me. I think I'll just save for a decent piece of land out in the country to retire in someday. I'll be happy with that. :) Small organic farm, hunt often. Sounds peaceful. :)

Puppy Class

This is Khan's mom, the day before Khan was born. He was one of the big one's Sarah's sister spoke about from the ultra sound. :) Maggie really did look like a pot bellied pig.

She gave birth to the pups the next day, I think started around 2pm? When I called, number 3 was just born. That's Khan. By the time I was off the phone, she was on number 5. I was on the phone about an hour, I think. Number 8 was stuck for a couple of hours, and they all had to go to the vet. He survived and then out came number 9 which was pick of the litter.

Khan is the breeder's favorite. He's got a really great personality and doesn't get scared of things which will be great for all the things we will be doing. I'm considering agility and of course we will be hunting. I really love his coat too. He was my favorite when I saw everyone on the day of pick-up. I really loved the color of and pattern of his coat. He was impressively beefy. Real thick and wide. GSPs are not supposed to be super thick and he's not overly super thick, just heavy boned. Anyway, I figure I have to love the pup even if they don't champion so I better pick one that I like, so I chose the powerhouse. Number 3 became Khan. :)

We attended our puppy head start class and he made quite an impression on everyone! They all loved his coat pattern and complimented me on how beautiful he is. When he was done jumping on everyone and the kids, they realized how heavy he actually is for such a small thing. He's a real thick boned, beefy pup. He's already about 15-16" at the withers. He had a growth spurt but it has slowed now. The trainer used to show her Aussie and she was really liking Khan. He's gorgeous.

The class on our first day was mainly all socializing and lecture. Next week we are supposed to have our pups under much more control and sitting on command. We shall see how we do. :) I'll bring treats. Khan is VERY, VERY food driven. I'm really glad about that.

Potty whine

WOAH! Khan asked to go outside last night! He did the same same kind of worried whine sound at me as when he has to go from his kennel each morning. Made me think of him needing to pee so I automatically went for the door. He headed straight down the stairs from the deck to the grass and peed for a while. That makes me so happy. Now I hope he lets me know again.

Stubborn

Well, sure. He's smart and quick but also stubborn. He's intelligent enough to decide to ignore you too. I think I'll need the help of professionals or figure out a way to be smarter than the dog.

He retrieved a couple of times my way today so that is exciting and promising. He's gotten better at "sit" and "down" and "wait". They are much more comfortable at staying outside now too. They can still get a little whiny but it has gotten much, much better now. I just like to see them get some sun and breathe the outdoor air. They are both such wusses. Both want to be close to me all the time which is sweet and all but can be a little annoying. I need my space too.

He's doing better job at leaving Nadia's food dishes alone. He's very curious and sniffs around them but doesn't climb to get to them anymore. I still keep a very close eye on this and do remind him to leave it a lot but he's doing pretty well on his own now.

I can't wait for him to really get good at playing fetch. That's my favorite game with the dogs. Hank is almost perfect at it. I just don't like it when Hank "throws" the ball at me. I'd rather he fetched to hand unless I say "drop it". I need to tie Hank while I play with Khan also. Hank takes over and I can't focus on Khan to try and play fetch, then Khan gets distracted and plays with Hank. I should get a "chain gang" tie down and work with each separately. :)

He's so smart.

Khan is totally smart and quick, especially when food is involved. He learned "down" and "sit" right away. We do practice a lot and I'm not saying he's perfect but for a 13 week old pup he's pretty darn awesome. I'm probably just totally bias but, he's still an angel. I have such great dogs. :)

Growing fast

Khan has grown a lot just this past week. He's much taller, looking more like a regular dog now. I wonder how heavy he is. He was 17.3 at the last vet visit. They are both on Orijen. Hank on the Adult formula and Khan of course is on the puppy formula until he hits 50 pounds. That might be a little while since GSPs only weigh about 70 pounds full grown. He's growing really fast tho. I hope he doesn't get so big that he's disqualified from showing. That would be pretty lame and depressing.

He's still not potty trained and it's prolly because I'm doing something wrong. :( Hmm.... we will work on it.

Hank is Really Happy

Aww.. just look at Hank. He really is so happy for his puppy. I love dogs so much. If I had my own house and property I'd totally have more dogs. They are so much fun and so sweet. They are one of the best beings on this planet. I love them so much.



Ha ha, Khan looks all big and tough. He's just a little poop squirt. He's such a sweetie apple punkin' crab cake of a muffin.

He Retrieves!

YAY! We were playing today for about 10 tosses of the smallest "dummy" toy. He was bringing it back to me! I had to guide him a lot by calling and being all cheerful but at least he was paying attention to my voice this time! YAY!! That's the first time he's brought the toy back to me instead of the bed! I have a retriever!

He even lets go of the toy really easily. The first time I played fetch with him it was down the hall way so that he didn't have a choice but to run past me to get back to the bed. In order to get the toy back I would say "drop it" and put some pressure on one of his front toes. Ha ha, he opens his mouth right away and I think now he is a little bit conditioned to it.

He still tries to grab it back but I'm sure he will stop eventually because I'm working on it. For now I'm just really glad he actually brought me the toy back several times!! YAY!! He Retrieves!!

Still snowing...

Well, the snow is still here. I can't wait for spring. Snow is pretty but I'm nervous driving in it. :( Makes me want to move south to San Diego. The pups are outside but I try not to keep them out too long. Hank doesn't seem bothered by the cold at all. The little one is shivering a little. Poor youngin'. OK, ok, I'll let them back in. ;)

HURRIKAN KRIEG AUF VÖGELN

It was around 4am this morning when I took the pups out to go potty. I was really surprised to see snow. Khan didn't know what to make of it at first and had to drag him a little ways to the stairs to go down to the grass. He figured it out pretty quick and started to eat it. He's so cute. Hank loves the snow and cold. He was all rubbing himself and rolling around in it making his puppy dog snow angels. I love Hank.

It's just after noon now and it's melting away, pretty fast. That's how I like it. I am so done with being snowed in. I was so bored this year that I think I must have taken 30+ pictures of myself sitting in pretty much the same spot in the dining room. The snow was fun but I am sooo over it. No one was willing to come over and I was unwilling to go out driving. Lexi is just not designed for this kind of weather.

Khan was too young to be outside in the snow storms of 2008. From way up north here in Seattle, to way south in Portland, where he was, everyone was pretty much snowed in for a couple of weeks. It was the heaviest dump in years if not decades. Mail delivery even stopped in Portland. Then it all melted and the floods came to start off the year. It was pretty scary in some places and hundreds, maybe even thousands had flood damage to their homes. Some parts of I-5 was under 15 feet of water. That's so hard to imagine but it really did happen. :)

Speaking of catastrophic weather, Khan's name is weather related. I don't know if I have explained it on this blog before but here's some of the story. Sarah, owner and breeder of West Star Kennels, requested the names of the pups to be Hurricane related. This was due to the trouble and stress she had to go through in coordinating the breeding of Maggie and Jake. Hurricane Ike was fast approaching Texas and all deliveries would be stopped. Khan is an AI baby. Hurricane Ike was one of the biggest storms of the year. It was just in the nick of time and the great efforts of many people that Khan and his litter mates were made to be. :) In honor, all the pups are named in relation to storms or hurricanes.

So, since I couldn't settle for an actual name of a Hurricane, I decided to name him Hurrikan which is Hurricane in German. The sound Kan stood out in his name so I researched Genghis Khan and really liked what I read. I liked the name Khan and on top of everything about his name, Khan has the same letters as Hank. How perfect is that? :) Ha ha, now my friend Raven calls him Khannie and I call him Khanathan or Mystikhan.

Raven is responsible for getting me into GSPs. So far I'm really glad she did. :) Khan is the sweetest puppy. She takes her dog Blitz to shows and I really liked his papered name, IAT's BLITZKRIEG AUF VÖGELN (Lightning War on Birds). Its all German and crazy. Raven and I got to talking and dreaming about breeding GSPs and found that KRIEG AUF VÖGELN sounds pretty bad ass for a kennel name. So, Khan's full name evolved into WESTSTAR'S HURRIKAN KRIEG AUF VÖGELN. It meets the breeder's requirements and this way both of our stud dogs are already KRIEG AUF VÖGELN. :) I really like it. Now, the task is to champion them. We want champions in conformation and field so we have a lot of fun times ahead!!



Here they are outside on the deck. Aren't they adorable??? I don't know if this is a myth or if it actually works but I heard that if the dogs stayed outside in the colder air, their coats naturally get thicker. I'll have to look that up but that's one of the reasons I'm trying to get them to stay outside more and I think the sun is good for them too. :) They are so cute together.

Not quite potty trained.

I was hoping that Khan was just so smart that he was already potty trained but he's really not. He asked to go outside once so I thought "Halleluyah!" and didn't make any messes in the house for the next two days.

Well, yesterday we had two wet spots on the floor. He could have been whining and I didn't notice but I would think he would have peed by the door if he was truly potty trained. Well, I do hope he gets potty trained before he starts lifting his leg to pee. That will be a scarier mess to deal with.

He's growing fast!

Khan is so handsome and he's growing so fast! He's twice his size. Poor Nadia. He wants to play with her but he has no idea how heavy he is and how clumsy.

He knows his name now, mostly. He listens fairly well. He's staying out of the kitchen which is good for Nadia. This gives her some place to run to. He's doing really well and Hank has beed SUPER great with helping me raise him. I learn from Hank actually.

Cutie pie Khan

Aww.. what a cutie. He's growing up so nicely. Hank loves him. Khan is getting a little better with controlling himself with Nadia too. She's starting to hang out in the living room with everyone again. :)

Khan has these bursts of energy and he will run around crazy jumping on all the dog beds around the house. Outside, in the back yard he runs around all crazy too. He's starting to be a lot more active and I think it helps that it has been a lot warmer outside. I am sooo done with the snow. I think it's really pretty but it's just so cold. Anyway, Khan is doing great.

He will even stack for me but I do have a trick. I stack him on one of the half walls so he doesn't have a choice but to stay still or else he will fall. It's only wide enough for him to stay still. :) What ever works.

Khan at 11wks

Khan is 11 weeks this past Monday and he is looking more and more handsome as he gets older. He is starting to fill with muscle. He is really looking great. He's really a great pup. Intelligent, easy, awesome. I am becoming more and more in love with him. Hank loves him too. Nadia, is being very good about him. Khan is being hard headed so I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. He can't seem to help himself with Nadia. It's like he thinks she's another puppy and tries to play with her. He is twice her weight and size now. I think I will have him run around with a leash so I can correct him much better.

I can't wait to start walking. I'll probably hate it when I have to walk him everyday but for now, I have a month and a half to wait and I'm excited about walking him in the mornings. I'm going to walk them for a while then introduce the bike. I bought a smaller, fold-able bike just for the dogs. Someday walking wont be enough for Khan so I got a single speed fold-able bike that fits in my trunk. I figure Hank, Khan and I could do Greenlake or the Burke Gilman trail sometime. It will be fun.