Chris came out today and we’ve done some training. Not only did we do our SAR Homework, trained the indicator, build drive for her reward toy, the swissies but we also did the re-call as well as obedience with Yukon, Zenzy, Judge and Chris’s dog Ronja.

Chris and Ronja Heeling

Judge and me heeling

Personally, I like that picture of Chris & Ronja

Ronja, Zenzy, Indra & Judge chasing each other after the training session

More pictures will follow as soon as Chris uploaded them 🙂

Eigentlich haette eine Freundin von mir Judge abholen sollen. Es war alles bereits durchgeplant. Sie holt ihn ab, Petair kommt und holt ihn aus Heidelberg ab. Leider machte die Army uns jedoch einen gewaltigen Strich durch die Rechnung. Ihr Mann wurde in letzter Minute zum Dienst geordert und sie wollte nicht alleine die Strecke zur oesterreichischen Grenze fahren. 

Einerseits kann ich sie verstehen auf der anderen Seite war ich stinksauer. Wenn man zusagt dann sollte man das auch halten, vor allem wenn man weis das derjenige darauf angewiesen ist. Sie schrieb mir eine Nachricht ueber Facebook und rief nicht mal den Zuechter an. Der wartete naemlich auf ihren Anruf und als ich am Morgen dazu kam die Nachricht zu lesen fiel ich aus allen Wolken. Vor allem da der Zuechter zuhause hockte und auf den Anruf meiner Freundin wartete das er an die Grenze fahren soll. 

Ich rief ihn dann an und erklaerte ihm was los war. Er erklaerte sich bereit Judge selbst nach Frankfurt zu bringen und so wurde alles fuer einen Tag spaeter umgebucht. 

Lufthansa Cargo rief am gleichen Tag an um die Buchung zu bestaetigen. 

Rebekah erklaerte sich bereit mit mir nach NY City zu fahren und so machten wir uns am naechsten Tag um vier Uhr morgens auf den Weg.

Die Fahrt war lang und die ersten zwei Stunden waren von Schneefall bestimmt. Danach war alles klar und wir fuhren durch eine wunderschoene Landschaft gepraegt von viel Wald und Huegel. Nach ca. 5 Stunden kamen wir in NY City an. Ich hab in meinem ganzen Leben noch nie soviel Abfall gehen. Egal wo man hinschaute, ueberall lag Muell und die Leute sahen alle miesgelaunt aus. 

Der Verkehr war nicht so schlimm. Im Prinzip war es nicht anders wie auf der A5 zur Feierabendzeit.

Als wir dann endlich am Cargo Gebaeude ankamen wurde uns mitgeteilt das wir ueber eineinhalb Stunden zu frueh seien und so entschieden wir uns zu tanken und etwas essen zu gehen sowie Yukon, Zenzy und Indra laufen zu lassen. Die hatten wir naemlich dabei. Ich kann mit Recht sagen das meine Hunde weiter gereist sind wie so manch ein Mensch. Sie sind nicht nur durch ganz Deutschland gereist, sie waren unter anderem in der Schweiz, Oesterreich, Frankreich, sind ueber den Ozean geflogen in Washington gelandet und von dort aus dann ueber Virginia, Pennsylvania nach Upstate New York gefahren und waren jetzt auch noch in NY City und zu guter letzt sahen wir sogar noch etwas von der Stadt und entschieden beide das wir uns hier mit unseren Hunden wohl nicht sehr wohl fuehlen wuerden.

Nachdem ich die Papiere von Judge hatte mussten wir einmal rundherum um den Flughafen fahren um Judge zu “verzollen”. Ich reichte alle Papiere ein, musste einige Fragen beantworten und mit einem Laecheln sagte der Zollbeamte “Go get your Puppy.” 

Wir fuhren also wieder zurueck, die Papiere wurden nochmals von der Lufthansa Cargo eingesehen, dann wurde ein Foto gemacht, ich bekam einen Pass und wurde in die riesige Lagerhallte gefuehrt um Judge abzuholen. 

Als ich den Kennel sah, fiel ich wieder aus allen Wolken. Der war gross genug um einen ausgewachsenen Schaeferhund zu beherbergen. Fuer einen vier Monate alten Welpen also viel zu gross. Der arme Kerle hatte ja ueberhaupt keinen Halt darin und ich hoffe mal das er nicht zu stark durchgeschueltet wurde.

Wie auch immer, das Auto wurde beladen, die Hunde allesamt eingepackt und wir machten uns direkt auf den Rueckweg. Dieses Mal waehlten wir die Interstate, zahlten unverschaemt hohe Maut und waren somit jedoch fast zwei Stunden frueher zuhause. 

Gut eine Stunde bevor wir zuhause ankamen wechselte ich jedoch mit Rebekah. Ich war so fertig das ich keinen Meter mehr weiterfahren konnte und nach einem Tag voller Abenteuer kamen wir alle wohlbehalten, zuhause an und fielen eine Stunde spaeter, total uebermuedet ins Bett.

Wow! What a trip!!!

After my friend couldn’t pick up Judge his breeder agreed to drive him all the way to Frankfurt and hand him over to Petair. He had to be there at 6AM in the morning. It must have taken him like 5-6 hours to get to Frankfurt which is pretty much the same distance we had to get to NY. 

We got up early in the morning. I set the clock for 3AM and around 4AM, Rebekah and I hit the road. It was still snowing and the roads weren’t plowed yet. It took us over two hours to get out of the snow zone but from there on it was a great trip through New York State. The TomTom took us around all the toll roads and we arrived safely in NY City. 

One thing that got us was all the garbage on the side of the road. We both have never seen so much garbage. Tons of garbage. Driving in NY City wasn’t much different from driving on the A5 during Rush Hour. Seriously, it’s like driving on the Autobahn during a traffic jam. 

I am so glad that Rebekah came with me. It was so much easier to make this drive with her than it would have been without her. It didn’t feel as that long of a drive and it was much easier to get through the City since she could take a look at her SmartPhone Navigation while I tried to follow the TomTom which lead us through funny parts of the town.

Anyhow, after the TomTom lead us somewhere close to the Airport but not directly to the Cargo Area, Rebekah used her Navigation System on her Smart-phone to get us where we needed to go. We found out that we are one hour and 45 minutes early. We decided to go to the next gas station to get some gas and then get some food. We went to a pizza place in the suburbs. It was small and run by actual Italians. We had Pizza that we never ate before and it had an interesting taste. 

Afterwards we walked the dogs, went back to the Cargo Area to find out if Judge has made it. 

The Lady made me sign the papers only to find out that she has given me the wrong papers to sign. After that was corrected we had to drive all the way around JFK to get to the Custom & Boarder Protection. They checked the papers, asked me a bunch of questions and then we were free to go and pick him up. 

Back in the Lufthansa Cargo Building we heard a puppy cry and we knew it was him. They led me through the door into the back of the hall where three kennels were placed. So Judge wasn’t the only dog shipped via Petair. We carried him outside and let him out of the kennel. Surprisingly he had a collar on. When we shipped the other three we had to take the collars off. Thank god Judge had his on. It would have been a pain to get him out without a collar. Especially since he’s a puppy, not knowing where he is, completely bewildered.

The minute he got out, he had to give hugs&kisses. He was so happy to get out of that kennel to get some love. Once he got his hug he started to play with the leash. We walked around the area to see if he had to potty but he was so happy to get out that he did not think about going potty at all. 

We then loaded the Jeep and headed back home. This time we did not avoid the toll-roads. It was a much faster but also pretty expensive way. All in all we spend around 20 Dollars in toll. One time it was 6.50 Dollars, the other time it was 1.25 Dollars and then another 9.45 Dollars. 

We could have taken the Highways but all we wanted was to get home and get him out of the stinking kennel he puked and peed in. Especially since we sat in the same car that now smelled like puppy-puke. I rolled the windows down several times because the smell was kind of overwhelming. Other than that we had a great trip home. 

An hour before we got back to Watertown I was so exhausted and tired that I switched with Rebekah. It was such a joy to stretch my legs and to relax a little. 

We got home a little after 11PM and oh boy… were they hungry. 

An hour later we went to bed. Judge spent the night in the crate and I slept like a rock. I woke up when hubby got ready for PT and then fell back asleep waking up from Judge’s whining. I knew he had to go outside and potty so I got up and let him outside. Good boy. He hasn’t had a single accident yet. 🙂

Can’t anything go right… ever?

A friend of mine was supposed to pick up Judge today and Petair would have picked him up from Heidelberg to ship him to Newark. However, my friends husband was called into work and she let me know via a message that she is unable to drive down there. I can understand why she backed out. She has a baby-boy and she did not want to drive all the way alone but it literally left me with a slight problem to re-arrange the entire “Shipping Judge” story. 

I called the breeder to let him know and he offered to take Judge to the Airport himself, All I have to do was to pay his expenses which will still be cheaper than paying Petair to go all the way down there and have them pick him up. I was surprised that he’d offered it at all. 

So five minutes ago I got a call from the JFK Airport to confirm that I’d be picking him up there and I was like “Wait a second. I booked NEWARK, not JFK…” so now I am going to JFK to pick up the puppy and I am somewhat frightened to go all the way to New York all by myself. 

One thing is for sure, I will be taking at least one dog with me.

We are finally out of our old place and moved into the new place. It’s a little crazy with seven (in two days 8) dogs and four people but it’s only temporary. I love the new place. The landlady is, like Rebekah said, amazing. The house is cute and I love the woodwork. All the cabinets and window frames were once handmade by the landladies husband. 

It’s quiet. 3.18 AM. Audie is on the couch and I let mine out of the crate to so they can enjoy a little bit of freedom to either wander around or lay down where they want. It’s the best time, everything is quiet and they don’t get in each others way. Right now, because it’s so cramped, they don’t have a place where they can retreat to, so it’s a little different than usual. The only place where they have their own space is the crate. 

Rebekah and her husband are moving out soon and it does make me a little sad that they are leaving. But thats the Army life. Once you get to know new, great people, they have to move on but I wouldn’t be surprised if we would run into them again. The Army is small.

Also, I can’t wait to get back into training. The dogs seriously need to be worked. They already start acting up like little kids.  Don’t listen as well as they usually do and simply lack manners. I can understand though. Moving from Germany to the US, moving twice within a month, crated for hours, no training for at least three months in a row because they stayed at my parents for most of the time, once our furniture was gone.  No wonder they are acting up. I’d be acting up too. 

Because we have that many dogs in here we are rotating them in the crates. So mine are crated as well as Rebekah’s little dogs. While I don’t like the whole crating thing it’s necessary. I hate to see the little ones crated just as much as I hate mine crated but right now we don’t have a choice and since it’s temporary I’ll get over it and the dogs will get over it too. 

I do make sure that they get out as much as possible so they can stretch and run but the main reason, why they act up is because of the serious lack of training. The mental stimulation is missing and that is what makes them bored and rambunctious.