Maui
Chukchis Free Maui of Satsanga
When my husband and I went out to buy a companion for Sukie for our new place, I fell in love with a black & white blue eyed bitch, which I later called Chiquita. Stephan though fell in love with this sturdy little puppy with a much bigger muzzle and head than the rest of them. So this became Stephan's first show-dog.
At his first show, Maui cleaned up! Maui, shown by Stephan won Best of breed, Best Siberian Puppy, Best working group puppy and a 2nd place in the adult working group. That was over ten years ago at the Western Transvaal Open Show. Since then, Stephan showed him for a few months but the two of them prefer the trail. He is running lead on our team and teaches the youngsters what running is all about.
We maintained that all our dogs must be able to live together. We found out the hard way with Maui, that it is crucial to establish strict rules for pack living. When we went on holidays to visit my parents in Switzerland, a house-sitter messed up big time. Although we briefed her on how we treat our pack and how important it is to follow the pack rules, when we came home our once Alpha was so scared, he did not even trust himself to lift his leg on a tree. It was utterly heart breaking. Needless to say we never managed to rectify two weeks of wrong treatment despite involving a doggy psychologist. The damage was done. Several vet bills later with two bandaged and shaven and stitched dogs, we decided to place Maui in a beautiful pet-home. The couple was very enthusiastic and their child just loooved Maui. Unfortunately, they had a robbery, the gates were left wide open by the burglars and Maui disappeared for 1 ½ years. The Sukie experience revived? Ads in the Star, calls to all Spca's … fruitless… Due to Maui being micro-chipped, the SPCA Kempton Park had a fellow bringing Maui in (apparently he had found him wandering the streets). Maui's odor was horrific, he was not brushed, but he was definitely not wandering the streets for all the time he had been lost. He was in a rather chubby condition and must have been dipped against ticks and fleas regularly. Anyhow, as faith brought Maui back onto our door steps, we have decided to make one exception to the rule and have one special dog living in his own space. He chose to spend the rest of his live with us….so be it!
Update year 2004:
Since our domina Sagitta is wearing her silver harness, Maui is now re-united with the pack. Although he has preferences and dislikes, he gained his old Alpha Status back and teaches any upstart that he is not to be messed with.
We have learned though, when we go on holiday, our dogs will live in pairs of natural attraction and preferences till we are back!!
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Orion
Kamchatka Sher Khan of Satsanga
(HDOO)
This was to be my first "real" show-dog. Everything was promising. The lad looked outstanding as a puppy, got through all of his Vet-checks at 8 weeks, 12 weeks, 16 weeks, it was all set. At 5 months disaster struck. We moved from a rented Thatch place in suburbia to a Plot in Kyalami (Beaulieu). After trimming all the Sickle-bush trees up to man's eye-height, that our hooligans would not hurt themselves on the long thorns when chasing after each other, that seems to be exactly what happened. Our beautiful dream-dog hurt himself and could never be shown after that.
Orion ran at the SA Champs in Belfast (July 2006) into silver position in the 2 dog purebreed bikejorring class with Tuscany. This was his last official performance on the trail. In future he will teach the pups to feel comfortable in harness on short 1 km's trails as he is entering the autumn years of his live (born in 1997). Maui and Orion returned to being big pals. Orion is such a gentleman, he became Tiggers companion till she was ready to play with the "big guns". He is the ideal babysitter for our puppies. He has endured Beamers antics and showed the naughty German how to behave in a South African pack. Our pups have at least 2 - 3 hours of socializing as a pack under supervision every day, but while they are not yet 5 months, I can count on Orion to keep them safe when I am out.
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