Greetings from germany

[Jo_Bai]

Hello fellow fire addicts,

I am Jo from Lower Saxony in Germany. So far I was only forging on fairs and markets for around 8 years because I didn't have a dedicated shop. Now I bought a house with my wife with lots and lots of space and an extra building in the garden where I can do what I want. 

My goal is now to get better at blacksmithing because I only did small items so far (limitation of live forging). As starting place, I got the 3 books from Mark Aspery and will try my luck on the ABANA curriculum. There I hope I get better skills and maybe some critique here to improve.

 

Glad to be here,

Jo

P.S. There is also a picture, so you have a face (person not important).

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

Welcome from the Ozark Mountains. USA Some fine looking K9s there there is a thread about Show me your blacksmith pets our little Taco Terrier kicked it off.

I can't control the wind, all I can do is adjust my sail’s.
Semper Paratus

 

 

[Frosty]

Welcome aboard Jo, glad to have you. Your lap person looks pretty well behaved and friendly. 

I like the looks of your dog Jo, a northern spitz breed of a type I'm not familiar with. No?

Frosty The Lucky.

[George N. M.]

Welcoe aboard from 7500 feet (2284 meters) in SE Wyoming, USA.  Glad to have you.

It appears that your furry person thinks he is just a sweet little lap puppy who never gets any attention and suffers from attention deficit disorder. Is there another black furry person in the foreground?

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[Frosty]

Sorry but the edit function demands I delete content it won't delete.

My bad.

[Jo_Bai]

Thanks for the warm welcome, I look forward writing with you all.

On 12/6/2023 at 3:51 AM, Frosty said:

I like the looks of your dog Jo, a northern spitz breed of a type I'm not familiar with. No?

It's a newer German breed (around since 50 years). A mix from samojed, keeshond and chowchow named Eurasier. Its a great breed with a focus and health and temper.

 

On 12/6/2023 at 5:53 AM, George N. M. said:

Is there another black furry person in the foreground?

Yes, that is some mix from the streets from Croatia, with zero weird kinks and just a heard of gold

[Frosty]

Eurasier, I'll have to see what I can about them. Beautiful dog, how is he with children and strangers?

Frosty The Lucky.

[Jo_Bai]

He loves children and always want to play with them. So far, I can't remember an Eurasier who dislikes children. That's because the KZG (Eurasier breeder association in Germany) has rules, that puppies need to have contact with different children in their first weeks until they are given away.

With strangers, he is interested but a bit distant. Normally he has around 2–3 feet distance to them and only comes near if I tell them that the strangers are friendly.

[Frosty]

I like European dog associations for their strict rules. How does he take to little kid roughness? Our old Abby adored children of any age though toddlers and babies were her favorites. If toddler got too rough, say petting her face with full swing slaps she'd wrap them in her forelegs and lay her head on them till they went to sleep and they'd all nap together. 

When we raised pygmy goats and later sheep we kept Great Pyrenees Mountain dogs and if someone visited with a child and didn't let the dog take care of it the poor dog would pout for a couple hours. 

Good behavior towards strangers, a quick sniff, keep an eye on them and don't interact unless there's a reason to. I've been known to make friends with dogs like that while the owner was telling me they wouldn't make friends. Twice police dogs have sniffed, let me give them a chin stroke and then leaned against my leg so I'd give them a shoulder massage.

Dogs like me, a lot. The trick is to let the dog approach and decide before I offer them my hand. Ignoring them almost always makes them want to get my attention and we're friends. It almost never fails.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Jo_Bai]

I am with you on the dogs. I always paused my demos before, to pet dogs and have the same experience. Nowadays, people stop to pet my dogs but mostly try to pat the top of the head first and only one likes that. So the red one doesn't like strangers as much as he liked them as a puppy.

So far, my dogs don't experience children's roughness, as I don't have any of my own and don't let other children be rough to my dogs. 

 

[Frosty]

Sometimes Abby would give an unruly little one a good tongue bath to settle them down. She was a born therapy dog, she was drawn to people in distress anywhere. Deb and would be shopping and all of a sudden Abby was headed down a different isle so we'd follow. She was Deb's mobility dog at the time a certified service dog. Invariably Abby would find a lost child or one who was just really upset or on many occasions a wounded or disabled vet. PTSD was the usual issue among vets and Abby would walk up and lay her head on their leg or lean against them with a gently wagging tail and fix them. 

You could literally feel the pain, grief, fear, anguish, whatever being lifted and cleared. It never took a full minute for someone in tears to be smiling and stroking her head her tail wagging happily. Seriously she fixed them. We lived with a furry angel.

One of our Pyrs, Libby was a rescue. We got her from a couple who thought they'd make it rich selling pyr. puppies but weren't having any luck and wanted to give her away with all kinds of guarantees we wouldn't breed and sell her pups. Idiots. Poor girl was chained to a chain link fence within reach of two intact males on a concrete slab without shelter. Just a short chain in the open. They'd all been fighting and were dirty, matted and bloody. I managed to hold my tongue while Deb nodded and signed the non-breeding agreement. The fool guy followed me to the gate to unlock it telling me the whole way how she wouldn't obey, ride in a vehicle, couldn't be trusted, blah blah blah. 

I led her out with two fingers through her collar and said, "Let's get in the car Belle," and she lunged out of my grip, ran to the car and climbed in a partly open rear window. Great Pyrenees Mountain dogs are fiercely loyal and to see one run from her owner and scramble into a stranger's car is all that needs be said. Deb was on the phone to Animal Control before we were out of the gate.

The first pic is Abby, wearing her usually happy expression. The second is me thanking Libby for my life. We stopped calling her Belle to help make the break from her old life clear in her mind. This was a few months after my TBI accident when I was finally able to walk around outside. I'd been nearly killed by a tree I was felling and Libby raised enough fuss Deb heard her in the house and came out to see what the problem was. You know the difference in dog barks, from the "I'm HERE" bark, "strangers coming" or the, "Come NOW the world is ending," bark.

This is the first time she saw me since the tree hit me and strangers loaded me in a strange vehicle. It doesn't show but she's leaning into me but gently, I was still in pretty bad shape. 

Frosty The Lucky.

    

   

 

[George N. M.]

Frosty, I know you have said this before but what breed was Abby?

Thx.

G

[Frosty]

No telling, an arctic spitz breed and traveling salesman is our best guess. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[JHCC]

We had Samoyeds when I was young. Lovely dogs, but lots of fluff at shedding time!

 Chows get a bad rap, but socialization makes a huge difference. 

[Jo_Bai]

On 12/19/2023 at 12:27 AM, Frosty said:

You know the difference in dog barks, from the "I'm HERE" bark, "strangers coming" or the, "Come NOW the world is ending," bark.

Ohh yeah, that bark goes straight through your bones. 

The story with the breeder is something that is also happening here in Germany. That's why I chose an association with strict rules. Before you get a puppy there you have to jump to several hoops (A walk with a breeder to get to know you and a questionnaire, then waiting around 1-1.5 years until it's your turn, meet the breeder somewhere in Germany a few times and get to know them and only then you get a dog). In the associations' magazine was a story, this time about a mishandled puppy and the reaction from the association about it (got taken away and has a new home). Horrible stuff

They both look like angels, I would take Libby in a heartbeat with that look. I remember when I got the papers for Miki, he slept in my arm that night. It was a one time thing and I think he was too happy to have a new home. 

1 hour ago, JHCC said:

socialization makes a huge difference. 

They are stubborn as they can be. My breeder told me to get to know other dogs as soon as possible, otherwise Eurasier get racist and only play with other dogs who are fluffy and have a curled tail. I went with him everywhere, so today I got a dog, that is relaxed everywhere we go.

Samoyed's are great too. I always loved to pet them, when the owner was looking through my stuff.

[Nobody Special]

Welcome! We've already been talking a bit in the section on scrolling wrenches, but I've been gone a long while until recently, so I don't always know who's new. Love the look of your dog. Yours too, Frosty.

I've got two pits, Moonshine (black and white) and Whiskey (red nose) In our house, dogs are alcoholic beverages, cats are philosophers (Aristotle (orange tabby) and John Stuart Mill (grey tabby)). We don't name the bees.

 

[Frosty]

The sooner you socialize your dog the better. The one mistake I see people making with the more dangerous breeds is NOT establishing themselves as THE ALPHA in the relationship. When I say dangerous I'm referring to a dog's physical strength not their temperament. You can "guide" their temperament IF you're THE BOSS. 

Okay, I just deleted a long ramble, how I meet and deal with dogs works for me and the dogs. No need boring you with my maunderings.

Frosty The Lucky.