Tick Bite Fever......

The Munchkin is sick.... she has tick bite fever (Ehrlichiosis). Poor Munchkin. She was not eating last week and very tired. A Munchkin that doesn't eat or play and just sleeps all day? Mmmm - something's wrong. What to do? To cut a long story short, I took the Munchkin to the vet last Saturday morning, diagnosed and Prescribed 21 days of  a Doxycycline derivative. As an aside, some of the people training with the Munchkin and I have since been diagnosed with tick bite fever.

While we wait for the Munchkin to finish her medication, here are some more photos of her as a puppy. We need our daily Munchkin photo fix.

Did I ever mention that the Munchkin has to help sweep the floor. She loves a broom. This photo is of her watching the broom that Thoko is holding, It's hard to believe that she was once a baby puppy.

The next photo is of the Munchkin at the last training session. It's hard to believe she was already sick here......

The good news is that the Munchkin is on the mend. She will soon be back to doing what she loves best, playing...... 

It's Playtime Mom!!!!!!

Back to the beginning... or at least a few weeks after the time the Munchkin came to live with us.She loves playing. Her favourite game is finding people. This first photo is of her after a busy day. It was one of the first times we took her out to play.

The next photos are of her actually working aka playing. I hid behind a bush with my camera for one find and then I stood behind her as she raced off to find the lost "victim". The Munchkin doesn't do anything slowly so it's quite difficult to catch her on camera.

She was still watching the "victim" run away and hide. As soon as she sees the person run away she starts yapping and crying - "I want to play Mom". "Why must I wait?" All these questions.

Electra is being rewarded with a game with her favourite toy for finding Lisette.













In the following photos she comes racing round a bush to find where I was hiding. She's so proud of herself when she finds her victim...

She's running back to the car after finding me. She actually went through a stage of not wanting to play with a toy after she found her "victim". Just finding the victim was a reward enough.

She has advanced quite quickly from finds where she sees the victim leaving and hiding. Then we discovered she is trailing the victim - not air scenting. So we are working on that.... more about that in another post. 

Meet Griffin AKA "The Gwiff"

Griffin is a Malinois boy who is 4 weeks or so younger than the Munchkin and is also a search and rescue puppy in training. His mother arrived in South Africa pregnant. Unofficially he is an imported puppy but, because he was actually born on South African soil, he is considered a South African puppy. Who cares? He is an awesome puppy and, for all practical purposes, the Munchkin's partner in crime.

The following photos were taken by my son Ben last Saturday morning when we were out training near a small town in KwaZulu-Natal called Eston. Don't the purple flowers look pretty around him?

The following photos are of Griffin finding his handler when he was about 12 weeks old. It's all a big game rewarded by his favourite toy and a game of tug and war afterwards. What fun....

A tough training day

Before I start.. the photos spread out in this post are of a much younger Munchkin searching for me in much shorter grass. Why post these photos you ask? Well... every post about the Munchkin needs photos of the Munchkin. :)

Back to the story.... the Munchkin worked hard yesterday afternoon. It was a hot, albeit windy day and Robyn from the Gauteng K9 SARA unit was visiting us for training. We trained on a piece of ground on the side of a hill. The wind was blowing straight up the hill. This is going to be easy, I thought..... We sent "the victim" in to hide - I didn't pay much attention....why pay attention when we have trained on this ground previously and the Munchkin always finds her victims. What is the old saying - "Pride cometh
before a fall". The end of the story is that the Munchkin found her victims but we had to work very hard to find them and I realised how much I have to work and learn. Back to the story, before I get too side tracked....

While I was waiting for the victim to finish "losing" himself, I worked though a search pattern in my head, noted the way the wind was blowing etc. But, because I was being "watched", I was nervous. How silly.... but I only realised that later.

The Munchkin and I went into the grass to look for the victim and, wow it was tall and thick with brambles, black jacks and Khaki bush. There were also big holes that were hidden by the grass. Thoughts of snakes hiding in the grass went rushing through my head but... what can you do? At times I to see the Munchkin.  I could just hear her bells jingling. I also assumed that the victim was hiding on top of the hill in the Blue Gum Trees not at the bottom of the hill where the Munchkin found him.

When the Munchkin indicated that she had picked up the scent of the "victim" at the bottom of the hill, I thought "no ways - it can't be". What is rule no 1? Always trust your dog. Anyway, to cut this long story short (there is another story)...... The victim soon popped out of the bush with the Munchkin hanging onto her favourite toy. Well done Munchkin!!!!!!





Robyn then proceeded to "crit" the exercise. Wow, my mind was blown away with how much I learnt just with her watching us work. It's going to take a while to absorb everything she said.

We then sent another "victim" into to lose himself... but that is a story for next time....

Photos, photos and more photos

Because I love the Munchkin so much and can't stop looking at photos of her, I decided to share some more photos of her as a baby puppy. 

The Munchkin has a friend at home called Aimee. Aimee is a Belgian Shepherd Groenendal, We took Aimee to play with the Munchkin before she moved to her new home. These photos are of Munchkin and Aimee playing - the Munchkin was keen on pulling Aimee around be her lead. 

My son Ben was sitting on the grass playing with the puppies. As you can see, they were climbing over him - he loved every moment.

 This is a photo of the Munchkin travelling in the car. She didn't really enjoy it in the beginning - she was carsick a couple of times. Now she loves travelling in the car. Travelling equals Munchkin adventures.




















Where are the cats Mom? I'm sure they were here a moment ago.....

The Munchkin playing and sleeping with Aimee.

Better Late Than Never

About 5 months ago (13 August 2014), a litter of puppies was born in a leafy suburb overlooking the Inanda Dam (outside Durban, South Africa). One of the puppies is a special little girl who is officially known as Mythic Electra Blue, aka the Munchkin.

Before I forget, the Munchkin is a Belgian Shepherd Malinois. She is my first "Mali". In the past I have owned and worked Giant Schnauzers. I love the Giants but this little girl has captured my heart even more than Alex, the Beloved Giant Schnauzer - more about Alex on another day.

Photo - proud mom, Chernobyl and  newborn babies.

I was privileged enough to visit the Munchkin for the first  time when she was only 2 days old. Of course, anyone who knows about choosing puppies knows that it's impossible to choose a puppy before 6 weeks old. I picked up the little pink girl (refers to the pink collar she wore as a young puppy) and said to the breeder, "This is my puppy".  Yes, yes I know.... I couldn't get my hopes up because she was only 2 days old. But.... she is mine, all mine...

As time went by the puppies graduated from the puppy room during the day to play outside on grass like big girls and boys. They soon realised that there was a very big garden to run around in. They chased each other, and their toys, up and down, dug holes, chased insects and generally had great fun. When they were tired or hungry Mom was always there to look after them and feed them. The photo below is of the Munchkin playing with me on grass when she was about 5 weeks old or so.


There are so many photos of her "first" events - the first trip in the car to the vet, her first trip to the beach, her first night at home etc. It is impossible to upload all these photos. The photo below is of her first night at home, in the crate (like all good puppies should be) with her Tigger kindly donated to her by my son.

The Munchkin hated the crate. She could hear what was going on but couldn't be with her humans so she cried and cried......Needless to say she graduated to the bed very quickly. Oops... the purists frown.. Seriously, it was easier for her to sleep on the bed because when she moved I woke up and took her out - sorted out the accidents in the house and we could sleep at night. The cats were not amused, especially a beautiful red Burmese boy aka Sir Sprocket.

Life with the Munchkin is one amazing adventure after the other..... As the old cliche says.... What this space for more exciting updates of the adventures of The Munchkin and I