Satchmo and Sophie's Dog Days - updated, 12/06/05

W E L C O M E

T O

S A T C H M O

A N D

S O P H I E ' S

P A G E!

Hello and welcome! This page is dedicated to my two pupkins, Satchmo the rottweiler and Sophie the bulldog.

Satchmo


Satchmo was born on New Year's Eve, 2003, and came to us when he was exactly 8 weeks old. He was undoubtedly the most difficult and challenging dog I have ever had to raise - full of self-confidence from day one, dominant, cocky and extremely 'spirited'.

These photos were taken on his first night home with us, at 8 weeks. It didn't take him long to settle!

At 6 months, I took him to meet a friend of mine who has owned rottweilers for 20 years. She'd never heard of a puppy as dominant as Satch, and to be honest, she was a little cynical he was as 'bad' as I was making out. At the time, she had a 16 month old male - Alfie - and we both hoped the two dogs would get on well and play for the few days I was there. At first, Satch was a little unsure about being in a strange house, but once he'd found his feet, he made it his mission to dominate Alfie. In some ways it was a bit of a stalemate as Alfie gave Satch 'puppy licence' and didn't seem to understand why a puppy of 6 months was trying to dominate him instead of submitting, and Satch couldn't get Alfie to submit completely. By the third day, Satch had pinned Alfie to the sofa, chased him round the garden relentlessly, growled at him and and humped him to within an inch of his life. By this point, my friend had conceded Satch was the most dominant 6 month old she'd ever known, and she was even worried enough to call her own breeder for advice. Alfie had also decided by now he despised Satchmo, and tried to snap at him at every opportunity - Satch remained completely indifferent and cocky as ever, and did genuinely like Alfie throughout. I must admit, despite his challenging personality and dominance, he was by far the more obedient of the two.

Very quick to learn, he soon started to display his obsession with tissues and socks. He'd love nothing more than a good telling off and to be chased. During his formative months, Satchmo was the doggy equivalent of Just William. He was, and still is to a certain extent, completely untrustworthy with anything interesting and anything he knew he wasn't supposed to have. On the other hand, he could be trusted to leave our food alone when unattended, and hasn't got an aggressive bone in his body. We brought him up to have no food or toy possessiveness, and even now you can take anything off him, any item of food from his mouth - we even play fetch with raw, meaty bones! From day one, he preferred us to hold his chews and bones for him to gnaw on, and unlike most other dogs, he prefers to eat his treats and bones sitting right next to us - he's never run into another room to gnaw in peace.

He loves to lean against you, especially for a fuss, and by God d'you know how much he weighs when he stands on your feet! Tummy tickles are a favourite, although as a puppy he'd get over-excited and try to chase your hand.

He has the typical rottie hatred for water and genuinely believes he's going to melt. For his only holiday so far, we went camping and it took so much coaxing to get him to attempt the sea - even then he made it quite clear he wasn't happy with the experience

At 12 months he started to show signs of mentally maturing, allowing me to brush him without it turning into a game of Chase The Hand/Bite The Brush, responding more appropriately to being told off, and generally being calmer around the house.

Satchmo's only fault, now he's 15 months old, is his obsession with people and othr dogs. Nobody is a stranger as far as he's concerned, everyone's his bestest mate ever, and anyone who comes within a certain radius of him is blatantly in desperate need of a damn good licking, which Satch is more than enthusiastic to provide - sometimes, you'd think he'd never seen a human before. There was a time when he'd mug anyone for love, but having put in a great deal of time and effort, he now only tries to accost people if they go to pet him - he's more than happy to sit quietly while I talk to someone in the street, which is a vast improvement.



Sophie

Sophie's history is a bit hazy. We know she was born on the 22nd November, 1998, making her 6 years old. We know we're her fourth home (at least) and we know about two of her previous homes - the only one we're not too sure about is her first one.

Having averaged a change of home every 18 months, she has spent most of her life in South Wales. We have reasons to suspect she originated in a puppy farm, and she has a very large, thick midline scar suggesting multiple C-sections.

Her second home fed her on a diet of cheap tinned dog food, chocolate and sweets, and subsequently she hasn't got many teeth left - though she's an avid bone-aholic now! Her teeth were completely black when she came to us, but after a couple of months on a proper diet, using enzymatic toothpaste and providing raw meaty bones, her teeth have improved greatly. This home gave her up, we've been informed, as their older dog died


Her third home - through Bulldog Rescue - was with a wonderful elderly gentleman, who provided her with vast quantities of love and a proper diet. However, after multiple strokes he found he could no longer provide the care she deserved, and reluctantly, but bravely, contacted Bulldog Rescue again. I have every admiration for this gentleman, but I also feel living with an 81-year old widower may have contributed to Sophie behaving more like an elderly woman than a middle aged dog.

Living in our manic household with a younger dog to stimulate and annoy her, she is rapidly behaving more like an energetic young dog again - she's finally learning her own name, learning how to play, and learning boundaries.


In many ways, I feel she has previously been neglected, but I also feel she has been very much spoiled. It is obvious she has been allowed to dictate things in her previous home - from pestering you for attention to waking the household up in the middle of the night so she can be taken to lie on a human's bed. She seems to have been encouraged to bark incessantly, especially for attention.

Those of you who have read Sophie's updates will know most of this, but, briefly, she has already lost 2kg, is far more energetic, responds to her own name, is learning to play, and understands household rules. She actually runs now, and leaps on Satchmo as much as he does her. When we first brought her home I didn't think we'd get more than a moderate speed waddle out of her, but she now seems to enjoy flexing her legs and using a bit of energy.


Satchmo absolutely adores her and, given half a chance, he'd pester her all day. When he gets tired of bopping her round the head with his plates of meat, he lies next to her and thoroughly washes her - if I sit cleaning her ears on one side, he'll do the other one. She takes everything off him and is a miserable big sister, but a lot of this is due to her not understanding how to play, and not understanding what Satch's trying to do. When she gets really fed up with him, she bites him very hard, and although we've not had blood drawn, I feel very sorry for him. Still, he refuses to bite her back and just lies next to her pretending - mouth agape, running his teeth round her head. She pretends to dislike him, but I do catch her sometimes sitting in front of him, eyes closed with a blissful expression while he washes her face. I've every faith, once they've had an opportunity to bond properly, they'll be best mates.

My Baby Girl!! - Sophisticated Snow Maiden

UPDATE! - 12/06/05

Satchmo

Not an awful lot to update you with about Satchmo. He's growing up a little more every day, his focus for work and training is constantly increasing, and he's really turning into a proper gentleman, with only occassional, brief spells of insanity. But I thought I'd put a couple of very recent photos up anyway

[img-big]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v644/archaeopath/Satchmo/image_00094.gif[/img-big][img-big]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v644/archaeopath/Satchmo/head.gif[/img-big]


Sophie

Sophie, on the other hand, has come on in leaps and bounds. Not only am I happy to say she has now got the idea of playing with toys, she's one hell of a strong girl! Playing in the garden one sunday, I tried her again with a tugger, and, lo and behold, she cracked it! In the photos below, she's not usually so filthy but she'd just been 'Satchmo'd'! She's even starting to chase thrown toys, which is excellent progress from the waddling, sleeping, disinterested mound we adopted

[img-big]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v644/archaeopath/Sophie/tug1.gif[/img-big]
[img-big]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v644/archaeopath/Sophie/tug2.gif[/img-big]
[img-big]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v644/archaeopath/Sophie/tug3.gif[/img-big]

The other good news is that she's learned 'down'. When she first came to us it was obvious she'd never been taught any commands, and as she's 6 years old I had no intention of trying to train her. She'd naturally sit for treats anyway, so I've been reinforcing that with the command for a while. Yesterday I decided, purely out of interest, to see if I could teach the down. She absolutely astonished me when, after about 10 minutes of gentle, simple training, she understood what I was asking for and lay down immediately for her treat! I honestly thought we'd have no success, and it wouldn't bother me at all if she hadn't understood, but I was over the moon that she'd managed to pick up something completely alien to her so quickly. So I've decided to proceed with training very simple commands - it won't matter if she doesn't understand or if we fail, but I genuinely believe it'll prolong her life and make her a happier dog if she exercises her brain once in a while.

After almost 4 months of having her, she now knows her name, 'off', 'out', 'sit', 'come' and 'down'. The next ones we'll try will be 'leave' and 'gently' as it's now obvious from play she's been very much allowed to snatch things in the past. I'll keep you all updated with how she gets on!

My little helper, Sophie:
[img-big]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v644/archaeopath/Sophie/hi-vis.gif[/img-big]

------------Thanks for reading!-------------

becs what great pics :smt049 :smt049
in the puppy pics satchmo has the devil in his eyes lol

aww becs thats soo interesting and the babes are gorgoeus!!

ooooh Becs..

I loved reading about Satch and Sophie

And great pics of both of them. I keep getting surprised about how tiny Sophie is compared to Satch

Absolutly brilliant Becs!!

brilliant pics becs i love the ones of satch in the sea

we need more piccies of satch

OMG Becs you are so brave lol

Your dogs are absolutly gorg and I look forward to more pics and stories of them

great pics :smt049

Very interesting and well written, brilliant photo's.

Great Pics - enjoyed reading their story