Sexy Tilde On A Walk With The Danish Hovawart Club

Around 15 Hovawarts and their people showed up on a drizzling Saturday afternoon in one of Copenhagen's most beautiful parks, "Dyrehaven". It was a colorful group with Hovawarts in all ages, sizes, genders and colors, except black - black Hovawart owners, please remedy this next time?

Nothing To Show For

I hardly had any clinical signs to show for. Usually, whenever Viva or Kenzo had any health-issue, there always has been some kind of physical sign, how tiny it might be. The vet always complimented me, for spotting things early on.

But this time I had not much for the vet to go after other than a change in Kenzo's behavior. Tilde, as a youngster probing her boundaries, had started to bully Kenzo. Not something out of the ordinary, as that is what young dogs do, especially young Hovawarts, and I already expected there would come plenty of opportunities where I would have to help her remember bullying is a no-go.

Tilde's Sister Tulle

Tulle is Tilde's sister, and unfortunately up for adoption again. We visited her earlier today in the shelter from "Dyrenes Beskyttelse" in Roskilde to say hello. She is a kind and beautiful young Hovawart lady, full of life and very affectionate. Next month she will be two years old.

Tilde was a little too overwhelming for Tulle in the beginning. But after a long walk together, it was Tulle's turn to invite Tilde for some rough play, like I like to think only Hovawarts can. Tilde was ecstatic about our visit, not only did she meet Tulle again, but also the shelter people who had cared so well for her in the past. Especially when she saw Mie, Tilde went through the roof.

Patiently Earning A Very Important New Best Friend

Meet Dok-Dek.

He is that handsome gentleman standing beside Kenzo. A rescue from Thailand who came to live in Denmark, with some of our closest family.

Over in Thailand, in the rescue that took him in, Lanta Animal Welfare, he acquired quite the reputation. Through the years, Dok-Dek wore down volunteer after volunteer on his insatiable walks, and he was the welcoming committee for dog after dog that went through the rescue.

When A New Door Opens

We have an announcement to make.

Actually, it's a BIG one.

"OMG?!"

"Has Tilde lost her antics?"

"Kenzo became a tracking World-champion?"

General Kenzo And Sergeant Tilde On Patrol

It might be just my imagination, but...
It might also make sense my friends nicknamed Kenzo, "The General".

Tilde Hits The Office, A Christmas Miracle

At least fifteen people were working in the office that day and all heads turned towards the door, to see who was coming inside.

Tilde stopped in her tracks, closed her mouth and took one step back.

Even for Miss Social herself, it was a lot of people, looking at her all at once in a new environment.

Observations From An Outsider

"Kenzo is an exemplary dog", my friend said.

"Really?", I mumbled in surprise, stunned to hear such a statement coming from him. He knew Kenzo since puppy-hood and never seemed to approve of the grown-up dog, Kenzo had become.

Actually, he always has been Kenzo's biggest critic. When Kenzo was young, my friend always had something to complain about. Kenzo didn't listen. Kenzo pulled the leash. Kenzo barked. Kenzo was never happy to see him. Kenzo .... and the list goes on - I agree on the never happy to see him point though, and fully support Kenzo in that excellent choice.

Keep On Smiling

It's very difficult to be sad with Tilde around.

We had a bad week over here. First, we learned that Kenzo's best friend Joska the Viszla had passed. Then our cat, Jule, also passed.

Loss had hit once more, and we were automatically drawn to travel to the West-coast. Away from human troubles and every day life. In a place that for us like no other embodies the end of the world, and where nature does its work of repairing the soul. Maybe we could pick up a sign from Joska and Jule they were ok, once we were there, too.

Tilde's Paradise Shelter Days Caught On Camera

I mentioned it before. The shelter did an excellent job socializing Tilde. My little princess herself is living proof of that.

And now I have got my hands on some video clips to give a small peak into Tilde's shelter life, and what they did to socialize her!

Have a look, and see if you can find Tilde The Puppy between all the dogs:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jafbg5T2MD0

I Told You So

It bothered me. Kenzo didn't allow the young German Shepherd dog anywhere near Tilde.

He hardly allowed him to move at all actually.

A few days later, the same happened with a sweet Staffordshire Bull Terrier.

Kenzo and me usually agree who we would like to meet and who not, but sometimes he sees more than I do, and I learned to listen to him. I know I can trust his judgement.

But this time, I didn't agree with Kenzo.

Are Two Dogs Twice The Work?

With two Hovawarts, I occasionally get the question from people we meet, if two dogs are twice the work.

I remembered when I only had Kenzo, I asked others that question too.

"Not at all", has always been my firm answer.

Some people buy it, while nodding their head with a smile. Some people don't and say "Really?". I am so glad they asked.

We do have twice the nails to clip, twice as much fur to groom, twice the meals to prepare, twice the bills, twice the vet visits, and I can go on. Clearly something is not adding up.

Groundhog Day Has Arrived

It seems our achievements to make a perfect Hovawart lady out of "you know who I mean", is suffering a minor setback.

I am afraid to call her by name, as I am sure just mentioning her name will wake her up for a new round of mischief.

It all begun, when I felt waking up started to resemble a lot like going through groundhog day.

Sleeping Apart Together

The day after Tilde's arrival, we bought her a nice dog bed, an upgraded deluxe version of the one, Kenzo was already using for years. She was quite fond of it, and already on the same day, she claimed it as her own.

But sometimes, one bed, isn't enough. And at bedtime, she rushed ahead to pick her spot for the night. "Which dog bed do I, the princess, like to sleep in today?". Kenzo followed, and patiently waited for Tilde to make her choice, after which he trotted towards the remaining empty spot. Just before he could step in, a growling Tilde was rushing over to occupy it for him.

Sheepshit

"Tilde? ... Tilde!!", I shouted, to no avail.

Ah yes, you might have noticed, a lot of my recent posts seem to start with exactly that shout, although eye-witnesses claim I use the F word.

Before you read on, I want to reassure you, no person or animal got hurt, other than yours truly's confidence in having any control whatsoever over Tilde, was dented once more.

The "Shitbag" Checklist

If you have been reading Jan's Chickenshit post, well, Tilde wasn't finished with us yet. And this time, she was caught on camera.

I was looking forward to the weekend, and also to meet Emil in person - as Jan mentioned in her post, we were spending a weekend with friends we know for quite a while from FB - I always followed Emil's story on Dina's FB page, and watched him grow from a shy and insecure puppy mill dog, into a happy and thriving Hovawart.

Chickenshit

Today I turn the blog over to Jan Wolfe about what should have been a textbook display of Tilde managing the "Leave It" command.

Note to self, never go on a weekend with a blogging friend.

***

It started out as a quiet Saturday afternoon walk in the woodland surrounding our rented cottage at Henne Strand – six humans and three dogs enjoying the warm September weather and each other’s company.  The dogs were sniffing in the undergrowth and reading the various scents as we would read a newspaper.  We humans were chatting about this that and the next thing and enjoying the meeting that we had looked forward to for months.  As we walked, we passed numerous cottages, each of which we admired and passed comment about, and wished that we owned or at least could live in.

People Skills

We just hit the trail and I could see in the distance, one of our pals was on it as well.

I stepped up our pace to see if we could catch up with them and then play a little, maybe.

I noticed our friend had seen us. She waived, waiting for us to catch up.

Tired Dog, Good Dog

You have heard the cliche before, "a tired dog is a good dog", or, "... a happy dog". Although it takes a lot more than that, I like it enough to say, it is one of my favorite motto's.

Tilde clearly never got the memo though, and she challenged us in this department in a way we could never have imagined. From almost day one she was like an energy bomb bouncing around.

The Beauty and The Beast

I can see most dogs think twice before they approach.

On one leash I have the Beauty, wriggling like a worm, bouncing as much as the leash allows, while the smiles on her face work like a magnet, "I want to lick you up!".

And on the other leash I have the Beast, sizing you up, to determine if you are worthy of approaching his awesomeness. And not in the last place, approaching his Beauty too.