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Nolte von der Wienerau, better known under his Alias "Zuni"   ;-)

psychic you say?  

    Well, in the beginning Zuni had a horrible time bonding with me.   He was 3 when he arrived, came from a very structured life style of living in a kennel & crates for traveling, and training regularly.   He had diarea for 6 weeks for starters and sore paws for the same amount of time due to our harsh high desert prairie environment.    Plus, lets not forget, a greenhorn in what a trained dog was all about... 

So he arrives in Doggie Heaven... where there are rules, but not too many.    Two female mutt dogs who will teach him the ropes of the good life...  (the equivalent of the hammock and a Margarita) & I felt out of control, out of touch with this great  dog, who I purchased strictly for home protection  (and of course to love & spoil rotten too), since I was finally, after 20 years of working my way through the USA ladder, able to afford a true GSD. 

After many cries of help to several much more experienced folks, (the seller was pretty out of the picture to help) I started to understand, that this boy needed ME to relax... So, I finally threw my hands up in the air and said "fine, you can stay, i'll relax, & i'm sure we'll figure it out...."

I stopped and talked with SAR trainers, cops with k9s and slowly figured out how he was trained.  He was finally responding to me, because I started to clue in that he was very well trained, but how, was the question.    So, he did his searches, and retrievals, and if i hide he comes to look for me, but I was wrongfully convinced by one so called dog trainer that I should not do the bite work training myself.  So, i left that out for a year.  Sorry to say...

When i did get a bite sleeve, the soft kinds from Belgium because they feel real, and that's what I want,  he grabbed it like he bad outta hell.   And, "aus" means nothing to him...   So, now I was finally able to do the bite work with him too.    And, he does it inside or outside, as well as searching.  

The psychic tests came when I was uncomfortable in several situations we've now encountered together.   And this is where that amazing instinct lives in a dog that bonds with its owner.   This is what I want to put forth in his progeny.

On one dreary day, I had to interview a couple of handy man at an empty house i was about to remodel.    One of them gave me the creeps, and Zuni noticed it.   He would circle the guy, punched and pushed him with his nose, tried to dominate him ;-),  and would not let up.    I apologized forever to the guy, but I also kept Zuni with me, as I thought Zuni thought something was wrong with this guy.  

Of course, he picked up on my anxiety. 

Another occasion with a handy man who had been too touchy feely with me (and I was about to deck him for it), was picked up by Zuni.   He instantly started to 'dominate' that one too.   And, I might add, he NEVER does that for any other reason other than to tell men who's boss.

Yet one more incident in a remodeling job where a drunken laborer stood half naked (it was ugly) behind the stove cooking himself a gross breakfast.  Oh yeah, it was 9am Saturday morning, and he was supposed to be sober and working...   Anyway, I proceeded to tell him to GET OUT.  And, of course, he refused while swaying left and right.   I said, "are you sure about that?"  And he's like, '"ITS SATURDAY" and I'm like "yeah, and you were here to work, not to sleep and party"  so, he continuous with some profanity and I went "ZUuuuuuuuuuuuniiiiiiiiiiiii, Here.....!"   And I told him to stand next to me.  Which he did, ever so innocently.   Just standing there made the guy get his stuff and get the hell out of my house...    Zuni was just doing his job in the most appropriate way he knew.   He knows how to size up a situation!   Its amazing.   

Then, a near car accident we were involved with.   Some moron passes me on a spot with NO visibility, thereby heading directly into an oncoming car who's driver swerved off the road onto the bank of the country road.   I pull over, run up the hill like an 18 year old...puff puff, and forget that I left Zuni in the car with $50 worth of steaks...   I make sure the woman is okay first who almost got hit, but thankfully didn't get hurt , though she hit his car but landed against the fence.   It was her lucky day.   After about 10 minutes of reeming the moron and waiting for the cops, the ambulance showed and the girl was ck'd out for any damage.   After about 20 minutes the cops showed, and a lot of folks are standing around and I suddenly realize Zuni is in the car with the BEEF!!! So i run downhill, open the door and he had not touched a thing!  I get him out of the car and walk him uphill (he pulled me, so it was easier the 2nd time around) and I start talking to the cops, the girl, the neighbors and Zuni behaves exemplary ignoring everyone and everything quietly standing next to me.   Then he suddenly goes into ALERT mode and barks fervently towards a certain direction.  So, we all look up that way, and low and behold, the moron that created this accident is coming our way.  WELL, until he noticed Zuni, that is...    Unbelievable, since he had not seen this idiot before, but knew instinctively that this was the person that had created that anxiety in me!!!

I've taken him to the Vet for checkups and i'm never worried.  So, he behaves great.  The time I took him to the Vet to have his hip X-rays reviewed for a second opinion (to see if it was worth it going through with the OFA Certification) I was nervous.   Now, remember, Zuni normally knows who I'm anxious about.  This time, he couldn't pinpoint the culprit (it was the Xray, not the Vet) so he barked and threatened everyone who came near me, making sure he'd cover all the angles ;-)   We muzzled him... (OFA GOOD by the way.)

A huge spray of water flies over me just as i'm walking into my garage to go play/work with Zuni.   I had a heart attack and thought my waterlines had frozen and busted.  You don't want that with an adobe (mud) walled garage...  So,  I scooted Zuni and Hummel outside so I could go find out where the water was coming from but kept freaking out more as i couldn't find it fast enough in my panic.   I'm sure he knew and was again in the dark as to why I was so frantic.    I called my neighbor Steve whom Zuni had met maybe 3 or 4 sporadic times, and the neighbor said he'd come over right away.   I, meantime found the shutoff but wondered what happened with the neighbor coming over 'right away' and as I went outside to go ck, Steve comes up hill and says  "I would have been here sooner, had it not been for Zuni blocking my way"   He said Zuni did an excellent job in preventing him from coming nearer to the house, and it wasn't until Jan, his wife, who Zuni knows well, came up and was able to 'convince' Zuni to let Steve continue.   Steve said it made quite an impression on him to see Zuni and Hummel come run high speed towards him...  Yep,  That'll make your heart stop...

The last story is about us going to the Waste Station.  (county dump).  Where a VERY obnoxious guy (used)* to work.   He would not let you do this, or that and always be sending you from one bin to another for NO reason.   So, i thought i'd be ahead of him and ask him which bin does he want me to use ?   He says A, right.    We start unloading quite a large load and while Carlos is hauling a HUGE and heavy doghouse onto the bin, the jerk changes his mind and says for us to take the doghouse off and put it back in my trailer and drive it to the other bin... I THINK NOT , knowwhatimean...  

I look at the guy and tell him he must be out of his mind to think that i will do that and he starts approaching me yelling and screaming that I HAVE TO DO WHAT HE SAYS bla bla bla...  And, I go "if you want to get on my nerves some more, go for it "  and he starts getting really close in my face.  I'm not afraid nor uncomfortable.  First of all, there are 3 witnesses and Zuni is in the car with the back window open, so he can jump out if he needs to.   He knew i was not scared, or whatever and just laid there while i was literally SCREAMING on the top of my lungs at the guy.   Now that is knowing the difference.  Most other dogs would have been out and into action biting away for NO GOOD REASON.  This boy doesn't back down in situations he's not supposed to, but will NOT act either when he knows I have the situation under control. (And this is WHY the guy USED* to work there.....)

7/4/03   I traveled with Zuni to see one of his pups, Zoltan, in Eldorado.  Since Zoltan had just had his 'operation' I could not let Zuni see him as Zoltan is crazy about his daddy and would pop a stitch, so I left Zuni in the car with the windows half open as it was pretty hot.    Well, within no time Zuni had popped thru one of the windows to be near us, and Zoltan indeed was in pup heaven for a second as I put Zuni back in the car and rolled up all four windows to about one feet of space this time.    Speaking of determination (which Zoltan inherited too, but that's another story) Zuni crammed himself thru my front passenger side window, hurting his leg somewhat and nearly neutering himself :( i'm guessing.  He's 26" at the withers and hair was all along side the top of the window where he pushed himself thru.   What i'm trying to indicate with this that if ever i'm in trouble, he'll go thru hell and back to get me out of it.  This time he just wanted to be visiting with his son too as he had been there several times before and didn't understand WHY he could not come out...   In training he does great on the long down for example ;) 

I've heard so many stories about dogs and their skills ( i could give many examples), but none of my other dogs have this quality.   This is not a skill.  But, then what is it?   psychic...