German Shepherd Rescue Alliance of Wisconsin

Hi guys!

I wanted to give you another update on Ava. She is still as sassy as ever. She still finds ways to make my head spin like the girl in the Exorcist.....Let's see......

1--She learned how to open the garage door and let herself out, so we had to install an alarm on so we'd hear when she was "going for a stroll." 

2--She ran away on one occasion and found a nice man who gave her water.....apparently the water at HER house isn't as tasty!

3--Last Christmas, she decided to rip open all the presents while we slept.....Did a good job ripping them all open, but not wrecking the actual gifts.

4--She decided that the cat litter box downstairs would look better dragged up to the living room and spread all over her rug.

5--She likes to go through the garbage and empty it one by one piece of garbage at a time.....But, if she pushes the empty garbage can behind the kitchen table, maybe no one will notice!

6--She "saved" my step-son Andy from the mean furry stuffed animals in his bedroom by eating all of their eyeballs off!

7--She, when she let herself into the garage one day, discovered this whole box of nice black Frisbees in cardboard holders (an old record collection) and had a fun time tossing the black Frisbees all over the garage.

With Ava, each day is an adventure! You never know what to expect from her. But despite all her little adventures that are listed above, she makes us laugh all the time! She greets you every time with a HUGE puppy smile. If you don't acknowledge her, she will either stick her nose in your behind, or bark at you for attention. This, in itself, is hilarious. See, Ava's bark never grew up with the rest of her! She sounds like a Chihuahua with it's tail slammed in a door! For a big girl--she is 89 pounds--she sounds ridiculous when she opens her mouth!

She likes to think she rules the roost.....She will NOT let you cuddle with HER, but if you are laying on the floor, she will spoon against your back--but don't you dare acknowledge that she is there, or she gets miffed and stomps off.....If you call her to "come", she won't...but if you hold up your hand and tell her to "stay", she COMES!

But again, she is a riot to have around. I swear, she can tell when you have had a rough day, and she makes it her goal to make you smile and wrestle or chase her. That makes her worth her weight in gold.

She is only two years old....seems like she's been in our lives a lot longer. I have no doubt she'll grow up into quite the lovely lady! We are blessed to have this whirling dervish in our lives!

Joyce Foy

Hi Sue--

I thought it was about time to give you a formal update on Ava for the web page, instead of the tidbits I have been sending you here and there.

Well, we are coming up on nine months since Ava (formerly known as Jessie) came into our life. Sometimes it feels like it has been years! I thought we were in big trouble when on Ava's first week at our house, she ran out of her crate, went straight to the nativity scene we had on the fireplace, picked Baby Jesus out of the manger and chewed up his head! I took that as a sign of things to come....

I have only had one puppy in my life before Ava, that is Klaus, and he was a DREAM. I was really spoiled by him, and got the wake up call with all the challenges of a German Shepherd puppy with Ava! But, no matter what Ava did, whether it being difficult to housebreak, her constant herding you by nipping your behind, or stealing food off the counter every chance she got, she always had a big puppy grin on her face, and you'd have to laugh along with her. I don't think she has a mean bone in her body--she smiles non-stop, even when she's "sassing me" with her high-pitched "you WILL give me what I want" barking. I have never heard a dog have a hissy fit, but Ava has perfected it--and she knows it. She'll start her fit, and glance at you out of the corner of her eye to see if you are going to give in to her, and if not, she starts in again--LOUDER!

She seems to love Klaus. She loves him so much, in fact, that she has designated herself the "official food tester" to make sure everything Klaus gets is okay. If I give them both identical treats, she always grabs Klaus's away and eats it--just to be sure he wasn't being poisoned--I'm sure!

Ava went on our family vacation up in the boundary waters in MN this year, along with her foster mom, Deb Turner. Deb "followed up" on Ava's adoption almost every weekend after we adopted her. She claimed that she had to visit to make sure Ava was adjusting well, but we actually discovered that Deb fell in love with Klaus, and likes to come visit him (not to mention that Ava's new mom is really cool to hang out with--ha ha!).

Anyway, Ava had a great time on vacation. She was hesitant about swimming--and Klaus LOVED that. Klaus is the best swimmer, and will dive off of the dock into 20 foot deep water and have the time of his life. Ava wouldn't do this, and got agitated by not being able to be by Klaus. I think Klaus purposely hung out in the deep water and got a respite from Ava's constant attention.

Ava finally did swim a bit--after a very LOOONNNGGGGG and hot hike, she followed Klaus into Temperance River to cool off, and didn't realize that there is a sharp drop off. So, she did do the dog paddle a bit, and managed to get back to shore just fine.

Ava also has been going thru private obedience lessons, and she is an ANGEL at class. She can go thru a 45 minute long class without a correction, and then get home and decide she's been good long enough, and run around nipping everyone to get them to chase her. She starts with Klaus, if she gets no response, she moves on to me, and as a last resort, she will go after Pat, my husband. Pat has the power to just look at Ava and she'll run out of the room. She considers it her lucky day if she can sneak up on Pat if he's laying on the floor watching TV and "big time" him by smacking him with her paw or snapping her jaws at him. She lights up like a Christmas tree when she pulls that feat off.

I recently took Ava to a pet "psychic". Ava told her that she is treated like a princess (gee, is her patent leather and pave' rhinestone collar a giveaway on that?), but she'd feel more like a member of the family if she had HER OWN CHAIR! She also bragged that if there was a fence around the place, "she could jump it" (I still have to boost her butt into the truck when we go places), and finally, she will "give me a minute to give her the food she wants on the counter, and if I don't, she'd going to help herself!".

All in all, Ava is the ultimate comic relief, besides being incredibly beautiful. She is going to mature into a great dog! Thanks for saving her, and providing the means for us to be able to bring her into our lives.