Hi Vijay!
We now have Vassily's sister for almost two weeks, Her name was Iota, but we've named her Sasha. She gets no respect (so far) , LOL! I've had people ask me is she is a Labradoodle, a standard poodle, twice asked if she is a portugese water dog and one elderly man stare at Sasha and then tell me I had "one strange lookng dog,lady"

When I tell people she is only 4 months old, they are shocked and want to know how big she will be as an adult.

On Memorial day Sasha walked in our township parade with our son and the cubscout pack that he is in. One of the other parents, Mike and his wife (both in the FBI and raise dobermans and do shutshund training with them) were walking one of their one year old dobermans in the parade, as well. SHE got respect!!! People would comment "Whoa, there is one of THOSE dogs", refering to the Dobie, and wouldn't get near her, and strangers wanted to pet Sasha. Mike commented to me that what people don't know, is that full grown, our BRT could potentially do more damage than his doberman because Sasha will be larger, but people fear his doberman and look at our dog and go "Aw, look at the cute fluffy black dog"

Sasha was 37 pounds when I took her to the vet at 4 months old...........

I've been meaning to post a message introducing myself and Sasha--but we've been crazy busy (and Sasha is right there with us, running all over the place). We absolutely love her! We live in NJ and have an alpaca farm, are taking care of my mother-in-laws home and yard (she is a devastated widow after my father in-law-passed away a few months ago, the night before our sons 8th birthday) and now my husband is also responsible for his 93 (yes 93) year old grandfather who is still alive and living on his own!!! And in the midst of all of this our beloved bernese moutain dog died of cancer at 6 years old. It has been a really rough time for our son and our family. It was unbearably sad to come home and not have our dog, Laci, there to greet us and go places with us. (she had even been camping in our RV with us while we were at an alpaca show a few days before she passed). Sasha is helping our family heal after so much sadness in the last few months...........

More info to come, Selina Rose

Thanks, Helene, for posting this. Selina has also posted the same message on the Vassily Update Thread and I responded there

Vijay

I thought it was a good post and I wanted her to start her own thread. thanks for welcoming your "sister" to the group!

LIFE IS GOOD! (who has a bigger smile? Trent or Sasha?)
(this is my first atempt to post a picture)

More photos of Sasha:
Image #1---the drive home form the airport when we picked her up.


Image #2--after her bath.


Image #3--Where'd the tennis ball go????


Image #4--Socializing with one of our cats at meal time.


Image #5--I wasn't trying to dig up a mole!! What are you talking about???


Image #6--at the lake with Trent(L) and his friend bobbie after the Memorial day parade.


Enjoy!! Selina

Welcome to the BRT family Selina. Hopefully 2010 will improve for your family. Glad to see that Sasha is helping! She is a beautiful BRT.

Selina, thank you thank you thank you for posting those pictures. I love to keep up with my babies. I still have 2 of her sisters (and mom and dad) here at the house and they do have a bit of the look of a muppet (think ROLF). I have more than once called their mother (Laika) ALF - if you remember that reference. I can see that Sasha is happy to be with your family and I am so glad to see it. Good thing she's socialized to cats...that's one nervy cat you've got.

Hi Jeannie,
I'm glad you enjoyed the pictures! I have to tell you I saw your Facebook link on one of the forum posts and I scolled back to when the litter was born and looked at Sasha(Iota). I enjoyed them!

The orange cat in the picture is one of our three barn cats. "Sunny" is allowed in the house occasionally and does not fear dogs at all. When Sasha arrived, the three cats were so used to our other dog, that they walked right up to her and started rubbing on her (the cats are extremly lovable). Sasha has been more interested in the barn cats than the 20 alpacas staring at her! Sasha is REALLY good with the cats-although when they run off (when they are done with us) she wants to chase them.

It's so funny that you mentioned the muppets--Sasha had her first obedience class last night and she just wanted to lay down the whole time-- and the trainer refered to her as a "bathmat with a tongue"-- I was a little offended and late last night when I was thinking (stewing) about it I was thinking to myself "A muppet, yes---a bathmat, no!" (And I'm old enough to remember watchng Alf !)

Obedience class didn't go so well---I've never met a dog who was not interested in treats!?! She had had her dinner of raw chicken about 3 hours before class and she might take the first treat, but the second time you asked her to do something she'd take the treat, drop it on the floor and look up at me, as if to say "You have GOT to do better than that!" The trainer suggested that next week I not feed her dinner and bring cooked chicken, liver or organ meat with garlic powder. (I just hate to make her wait for her dinner, because we won't get home till 10:15 pm--class is 8:30-9:30) I don't know if it is because we are feeding raw (alternating with ProPlan Performance), that she doesn't like store bought treats. If I give her a dog cookie at home she plays with it and rarely eats it. (I've tried several brands). I did buy cheese today and worked with her this afternoon before her dinner and she was much better. There are only 3 dogs in the class (including Sasha). One is my friend and her 8 month old blue healer (they are total show-offs! that dog will do ANYTHING for a treat!!!) the other dog is a mutt who barked at Sasha the whole time (one of those piercing barks--left with a major headache!) He was sooooo annoying!!The trainer had to put up a divider so he could not see her. Hopefully next week wil be better...........

My husband is jealous that Sasha is getting chicken every night. We are so busy I haven't cooked much lately. On tuesday I got home from work late, and I threw Stauffers french bread pizza in the the toaster oven and cut up Sasha's chicken. I handed Jack his pizza and he held his plate next to Sasha's bowl that was on the counter and said "There's something wrong with this picture, she get's chicken and I get bread!" (keep in mind, he's 6'3" and 240#---and a builder--he's a big, strong, boy with an appetite. LOL!), but, we were running late for cubscouts. I've cooked every night since......

Sasha is a REALLY a good girl! We love her! I told your mom she follows me everywhere and I've almost fell over her backwards because I didn't hear her walk up behind me (with those big fuzzy feet) and lay down behind me (when I'm standing at the stove).

She discovered drinking out of the toilet a few days ago (so now she has a towel that is hers in the bathroom to have her beard wiped, as well).

It was so cute, our 8y.o. son found one of Sasha's baby tooth molars on the couch (probably from when he was playing tug with a sofa pillow) and later he went to crawl in Sasha's crate, and I told him to "get out of there", and he told me he was putting her tooth in there for the TOOTHFAIRY! (I told him she only comes for humans).

The evening that we picked Sasha up at the airport, we brought her home and fed her her chicken and then gave her a bath. Trent ran upstairs to his room and came down in his bathing suit to help bathe her. We let him stay up late that night. I expected Sasha to wake me up to go out, but NOOOO, it was Trent who woke me up at 5A.M., fully dressed, shoes and all, and wanted to know if he could take her for a walk! (Sasha was still asleep!). Trent is a true animal lover the way I was as a child!

Well, got to go for now. Best Selina
(Ps I wil post more pictures soon)

Each dog is different as to their motivation. Sasha was always very strong-willed, so you'll really want to find out what is her motivator. Don't worry about letting her get a little hungry before an obedience session, and test out different kinds of treats. She may be thinking that her regular meals are better than the treats, so why bother. Also, she may simply not be food motivated. Some dogs just aren't. You might try different toys, or belly rubs, or a ball or whatever. Her mother Laika is an absolute velcro-dog. She would do anything just because she loves me. She likes treats, but is more motivated by my praise and attention than anything else. Just experiment a little bit and you'll find the thing that works.

Sweet and innocent Sasha with my Mother-in-Laws goldens--Winnie & Beau! (I can't believe they actually sat there for a picture!)


Mischievious Sasha getting "Beau" in BIG trouble! (Beau is not allowed on the pool cover and he knows it. But, Sasha lured him onto it, and he decided to cool off!)


Sasha is doing 100% better with her obedience training. Just had to find the right treats (and take her to class with an empty stomach). She needs hearts,gizzards,ham,cheese, hotdog,chicken and a few morsels of cat food mixed up and an empty stomach to motivate her ;^)

Enjoy the pictures, Selina

We have another family who just took home Sasha's sister...and also named her Sasha. What's a breeder to do??? I will still have to call them by their prior names - Sasha Iota and Sasha Gamma...or Sasha North and Sasha South. I am so glad you are enjoying her and have found out her training motivator.

Hi All,
I just weighed Sasha/Iota/Northeast (LOL) this evening (before her dinner) and she weighed 49.2#!! She'll be 5 months old on the 20th. Almost 13 pounds in 3 weeks! Too much too fast? I can definately feel her ribs. She has gotten taller.

I was worried that I wasn't feeding her enough 'cause she doesn't finish her breakfast (ProPlan) sometimes and occasionally leaves a piece of raw chicken (very few snacks in between--except when we're doing obedience). She also likes raw pheasant.

I think she is probably still smaller than her siblings?

Thanks, Selina

Selina - as I am known for doing - I will tell you as well - DONT compare her to her siblings or other brts- she is doing fine!! They will all grow at their own pace and in their own time - she sounds healthy and in good shape - not too fat and not too thin - if she is "ribby" that is preferable to being a "chunk" (speaking as a chunk I would definitely rather be ribby ) and with a 13 pound weight gain dont be surprised if next week she looks like her belly is touching the ground - they go through growth spurts that amaze you at this age - 1 week all legs and long lean body - next week they look like they swallowed a water balloon. Keep up the good work - you found her motivators so expect her to excel at the obedience class and become the teachers pet in the next week or 2 .

Selina,

I know exactly how you are feeling, I used to feel stressed that way too about Vassily - if I saw a post from Jackie or Kat stating their pups to be a certain weight, I'd instantly check Vassily's weight and worry if I was underfeeding him or overfeeding him etc.......I just stopped doing that with time

It took me a while to realize what Helene's told me a few times - that different pups grow at different rates and in different phases, so as long as he's looking, eating, playing and sleeping well enough, I don't really bother too much. And for what it's worth, Vassily weighed 50 lb 2 days ago, so I think Sasha's weighing around the same

Vijay

Thanks Helene and Vijay!

I know I shouldn't compare ---I was surprised and worried she was gaining too much too fast after I weighed her on our vet scale in the barn yesterday. Thinking in my head, she should grow slow and steady? Too much strain on hips and joints if she grows too fast?

I won't worry about it.
Thanks! Selina