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Johann The Dog

Johann

Johann TheDog


Last Updated: 7/3/2009

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Gender: Male
Status: Single
Age: 22
Sign: Cancer

State: INDIANA
Country: US
Signup Date: 9/20/2006

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Wednesday, December 17, 2008 

Current mood:  hopeful
Some of you may know that Mum and I have a blog called Rescue Me. We started it about two years ago when Mum would get on Petfinder and look at all the pups and get super sad and want them all. We wanted to do something, anything, that we could to help some of the pups that we couldn't adopt. So we started our blog Rescue Me. Every day we post a dog from a shelter or rescue that needs a furever home, like we have.

When we started the blog, we saw one of the pittie pups at my shelter needed a home. His name was Bosco. We asked the folks at my shelter if Bosco could be our blog mascot. And they said of course! So Bosco became our mascot and was in all of our promotional vids, logos and more.

Over the years the blog has been receiving a pretty good amount of traffic, about 200 visits per day, sometimes up to 600. We're pretty glad that folks come and look at the pups, search and find our blog, and we've heard that some of the pups have found homes, yeah!!!!

For over a year, Bosco was at the shelter, then moved to a foster home, had his named changed to Ernie, but was never adopted. Then one day we found out he finally found his forever home, but we didn't know who adopted him. Then, out of the blue this summer, we got an email from Sandra, Ernie's new Mum.

She had found Ernie's picture in the video that we did at the end of last year to help promote pet adoption. And she emailed us to let us know that Ernie was the first pup in the video and that she had adopted him.

We love talking about Ernie (who is now named Ernie Bosco, after Sandra found out his original name at the shelter) with Sandra. We share all the links to web pages that had Ernie B's picture and more. Sandra told us that he is her first dog as an adult, that he has a great yard to play in, loves people and other pups, and his favorite thing is to slide down a small hill in his yard on his belly.

So this year, when we did our year end video, we dedicated it to Ernie Bosco; our blog mascot and now a much loved and cherished member of Sandra' family.

And we wanted to share our video with you. Better get your tissues ready...Mum cries every time she watches it...




Tuesday, December 16, 2008 

Current mood:  hopeful
Mum and I wrote a letter to Santa last year. And since I was MIA (then as well as way too many other times :), we wanted to share it with ya...

My Letter to Santa!





Dear Santa,

I wanted to write you to tell you, you see,
That Gracie and I are grateful pups, she and me.
We love our life, friends and kitty bros,
We consider them part of our pack, and so,
What do I ask you for Christmas this year?
Well, I have a list that's near and dear.

I'd like for all pups needing a home,
To find a family and not need to roam.
I wish for all those scared, cold and hungry,
To be safe, warm and have a nice full tummy.
My hope is for all pets with no family,
To have one of their own, like me, finally.

For those afraid of some of us pups,
I'd like them to learn and shed their prejudice,
Realize that when they label us bad,
It's not always us, and it's very sad.
Help folks realize that breed doesn't matter,
It's the people that raise them, not all the chatter.

Help all the children to learn how to be,
Aware of how to love us, it's really key,
For great friendships with us all of their lives,
They need to understand us, so together we'll thrive.
Help their parents teach them how and to know,
The best ways to be with us, as we both grow.

And to those that keep way too many of us,
Let them know they aren't helping, they need to adjust.
They're making things worse, that's all they're doing,
They continue and continue, their constant pursuing.
We get hungry, angry, sick and can't thrive,
In conditions where we barely survive.

Watch over the pups who help humans each day,
That guide, search and rescue and calm those at bay.
The work that they do is very admired,
They save lives and help with skills they've acquired.
Please give them a special treat in their stocking,
And send them some love when you come a knocking.

For pups that are sick, please help them get well,
We'd be lost without them, we're under their spell.
And if they are old and it's time to go,
Help them make the transition, don't make it slow.
And help those who have lost their very best friend,
Comfort them and share, they'll see them again.

Can you tell folks who are way too mean,
That hurt us, scare us, and keep us too lean,
That they need some help to understand,
We can be their best friend, always at hand.
We'll love, admire and be more than expected,
If only we're loved and highly respected.

Another request that we have for rover,
Is to stop those who breed us over and over.
It's cruel and sad for pups to live that way,
They rarely get care and can never play.
We want to end horrific places like this,
Where only a fat wallet concern exists.

Help people understand, that whenever, and if
Their pup is bad, and starts getting in a riff,
That the pup needs a job, just like all of them,
To be the best they can be, a shining gem.
Training and working is what helps us behave,
It stimulates our mind, it's what we crave.

Please help those who think fighting us is fun,
It's heartless, horrible and something to shun.
While robbing us all of a wonderful life,
The pain and cruelty cuts like a knife.
Share info with all, tall and small,
We're pets to be loved, not to brawl.

I ask that you pay particular attention,
Give a pat on the back and a special mention,
To all the folks who rescue and shelter,
They care and feed and find us an adopter,
Over and over, they never think twice,
They give so much, to be very precise.

That's all I ask for my Christmas gift,
For you to bring these on your evening shift.
Thanks, Santa for listening, it's wonderful to know,
That you grant all our wishes and continue to bestow.
We wish you and everyone a great holiday,
With peace and love - it's the only way.

Loves and licks,
Johann
Sunday, December 14, 2008 

Current mood:  animated
We got a little snow a week or so ago, so we got busy with the video camera! Happy Holidays to everyone!!!!!

Wednesday, December 10, 2008 

Current mood:  energetic
We can hardly contain ourselves - Mum and I are hosting a new photo contest/giveaway on our website to ring in the Howlidays. It's called Johann's Howling Howliday Giveaway!

And the best part? I get to play Santa!

So what is Johann's Howling Howliday Giveaway? It's a photo contest and all you have to do is submit your photo, Mum and I will put it up on the website, and then people and pups can come to the site and vote! And the best part is they can vote as many times as they want for your pic. All the instructions are on the site.

Putting together the giveway has been loads of fun. Mum and I contacted lots of new friends we've meet over the past year at companies that have all kinds of cool products, foods, treats and more, for us pups. We got an incredible response and have loads of super cool dog stuff for prizes for our contest/giveaway, and more is on the way! Some of the goodies have already arrived in the mail!

Here's all the cool stuff that's already arrived. Have to tell ya, Mum had to pull out the cheese to keep me out of the giveaway loot!


We sure want to give our biggest thanks to the companies that have donated so far:
  • Dr. Harvey's donated some of my favorite treats - Power Patties.
  • Paw Naturaw provided us with some of their awesome raw, dehydrated pup food.
  • PetSmart is donating a Furminator Essentials kit valued at $100.00.
  • GollyGear is giving some lucky pup a $25.00 gift certificate.
  • RockStarPooch.com provided us with a really cool dog tee.
  • Sew Crazy Dog Lady is giving away a custom collar, and they're not just for small dogs, they specialize in big dogs too!
  • Chimpfeet provided us with some super cool holiday dog toys.
  • Rachael Ray is giving us a paw print stocking filled with Rachael Ray Nutrish dog foods and treats.
  • Hachette Book Group gave us their Indognito book to add to one of the prize packages.
  • Canine Earth is donating a bottle of their new Organic Coconut Mint Cleaner and spray.
  • Petside.com provided us with some cool two-legger tshirts and dog tags.
  • Clean Run is donating three $10 gift certificates.
  • And that's just the beginning, we've got new giveaways coming in nearly every day!
The contest officially opened on our website Sunday and we already have some cool buds with  cool pics entered.

We sure hope that you'll enter too! Just find the cutest, funniest, or howlingest, howliday photo and send it to me, ASAP. The faster you get your pics in, the more votes you can get!

Once you enter and want folks to come and vote for you, put this button on your site to remind them! Just right click the button, save on your computer, put it on your blog or site, and link it back to the contest page.



Tuesday, August 19, 2008 

Current mood:  accomplished
Category: Pets and Animals
Well, I'm braggin' again, sheesh!



Had a big US Dog Agility trail this past weekend. Had some up and downs, literally, but it ended pretty great.

On Saturday I had five runs - Jumpers, Standard, Gamblers, Snooker and Pairs. Even though Punky's pawrents were there to cheer me on (thanks you two for coming and watch, loved it!) I only came away with one qualifying run in Jumpers on Saturday.

We left feeling kind of down in the dumps. So Mum and I got our mental adjustment fix on and ventured over to the trial again on Sunday for another five runs - same events.

Amazingly I got another Jumpers qualifying run (fourth place) and got my Jumpers Champion title (that's 10 qualifying runs in the Master Jumpers event). That was super cool and very unexpected.

Later I ran Gamblers and didn't qualify, ran Snooker and didn't qualify and I wasn't being very speedy either.

So Mum pulled out a magic bullet (she didn't know it was going to be magic bullet until later). She gave me some of her Boar's Head White Cheddar Cheese before my Standard run (that's the one with all the obstacles), and I took off like a bat out of heck. Didn't miss an obstacle, didn't knock a bar, was super tight on my turns and didn't miss a single contact yellow. Finished that run with a super cool second place! Wowser, I've never gotten second place in Masters Standard ever!.

Then we ran pairs with another dog, and both of us were super speedy and we got another second place finish! Came away with some nice ribbons and a really cool Uzi stuffie (think it will promote violence in our household?)

So now Mum is buying stock in Boar's Head, and buying out the huge blocks of cheese you see in the deli case!

This coming weekend Gracie will be earning her keep and performing at a children's birthday party. And on Sunday she'll will be running in a Canine Performance Events (CPE) trial on Sunday - it will be her first real trial in over a year. Sooooo....hope she doesn't run off from Mum, like she did all last year.

Maybe if Mum takes some of that cheese? Hmmmm.....
Monday, August 04, 2008 

Current mood:  blessed

Wow, what a great party!

Saturday, Gracie and I attended the big ACRT get together in Indy, and we had a blast!

It was pawsome to get together with some of the the ACRT gang that live in the Midwest and meet them in person, well dogson, anyway. We met Boone, Regan and Eddie, Oakley and Atticus, Pieces, Eddie, Punky's sisters Gracie and Phoebe, and more!

Here's Punky, the host of the big event! Silly Mum was making mouthy sounds to get Punky's attention - duh!. So she made finger moves instead. Nice pose Punky!

Here is the really cool magnet that we got to remember the event.

And we finally got to meet our best bud Eddie! You know how Eddie is with cameras, so we had to apologize to him after we took this picture. I think he forgave us.


This is Me, Regan (Eddie's sis), and my sis, Gracie. Gotta tell ya, they became very fast best buds and had a great time together all afternoon. Arrroooing with the zoomies!

I got to spend some time in Eddie's Dad's lap, loved it! Very unusual behavior for me to want to spend so much time with someone other than Mum, she was pleased, and it says a lot about how great Eddie's Dad is.

You know about Regan and Boone's 'thing,' well it showed at the pawty. Kind of looks like a halo over Boone's head - wait, that's the water bowl...

And I got to meet a pup I've been wanting to meet for along time, my friend Oakley, a talented dude, BC through and through. Mum got to throw him a few Frisbees, or what was left of the Frisbee, anyway.

Then we got to meet - Miss Pieces! What a great gal. Pieces had fun chasing the reflections around throughout the afternoon.

It was so much fun, I wish I could share all the 100 or so pics Mum took, but...

I'm really proud of all of us, we really are best buds, and it siriusly showed all day.

When we got home, Mum let us have the presents that Punky gave us as parting gifts. Check this out! Really cool decorated and personalized bags with photo frames, tug toys and tennis balls and some really cool magnets to remember the event. Thank you so much Punky. Thanks for inviting us, and all the hard work you put into the pawty! It was the best pawty ever....

So, when and where for the next one!!!!!
Wednesday, July 09, 2008 

Current mood:  blessed
Category: Pets and Animals
Hey everyone!

Big, big apologies for not being around for a long while. So much has happened....

My Grandmum passed away in January after a very long illness...we miss her alot, but are really glad she is in a much better place.

I pulled a muscle in January too, at an agility trial. I had to go through major rehabilitation to recover so I could compete again. Luckily I healed up very well, and am back to competing. It took a few months before I was running well again, but now Mum thinks I am in the best shape I've ever been!

We competed in the US Dog Agility Regionals last weekend and our 3-dog team qualified for Nationals. And some of my runs were the best and fastest of my 'career'!

Mum and I participated in three seminars this Spring and Summer with some top World Team Dog/Handler teams and have learned a lot about agility, handling, and getting more speed and tighter turns. And we've been competing about three weekends a month for the past couple of months. Too fun!

Mum had been really busy with work for her marketing businesses, my blogs, my website and other stuff.

One of my blogs (Raise A Green Dog) was featured in this month's (August) issue of Dog Fancy Magazine, and there's a really cool pic of me, Mum and Gracie!

I have so much to catch up on with everyone! We've missed you guys a lot. But sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do, right?

We sure hope you are all doing well! And. I hope to get around to visit everyone very soon!

Woofs, Johann




Tuesday, October 16, 2007 

Current mood:  contemplative
Category: Pets and Animals
They say that absence makes the heart grow fonder - and that's true! I've missed all of you, very much!!!!

We've been extremely tied up with all kinds of stuff, here's a quick rundown.

1.   I've been doing about three agility trials a month, travelling to different cities. I hate riding that long in the car, but the good thing is that I get to do agility when I get there. We've had some great successes, and had some ups and downs.

I got my MX and MXJ in AKC - (Masters Agility Excellent and Masters Excellent Jumpers w/weaves) a few weekends ago. These are the two titles earned just before the top title of MACH. I've gotten first places, second places third places, fourth and more - and got eliminated too! In USDAA I'm one qualifying run away from my Masters Agility Dog title (it eluded us this past weekend, drat it all!) We've been having fun doing agility. The season is starting to wind down now - we could use a little break too.

2.   Mum started another business. This one is helping pet businesses with their marketing needs. We've already got folks lined up to help, so it's going well and we're pretty excited to be working more with pet folks! If you want to check out our website it's here!

3.   Gracie has been doing some agility and is slowly but surely making some progress. She's really great in practice, but still runs off some in competition. But she's starting to come back to Mum now. She even completed nearly 3/4 of an entire course last weekend at the USDAA trial. I was so proud of her. Maybe she's growing up!

4.   Mum has been working her buttocks off for her main business, because near the end of the year it starts to slow down. So she's spending a lot of time talking with technology folks about her working with them and helping them with marketing. I think the laptop is glued to her lap and often have to tell her to take a break and play with me!

5.   So far this year, I've stayed healthy. You may remember I've had quite a few injuries over my three years. And they have happened every November, every year of my life. So Mum has decided to wrap me in bubble wrap for the entire month of November this year, (BOL) so I'll be fully protected, and is keeping any type of undesireable ingestible far away from me. Should be interesting! Oh and she says I can't go anywhere!!!! But I'll do whatever it takes to break this curse.

6. This morning we had an exciting thing happen. We had submitted a vid to ABCNewsonline, asking a question. It appeared today and Cesar Milan answered our question. Here's a link if you want to see the video (we're second after the first lady).

We apologize to all our good friends about not being around much this summer. We hope starting in a few weeks we can be back much more often, like we were before. And this weekend, Mum may let me have the computer to catch up on some of the blogs we've missed.

We really miss you guys, but sometimes you gotta do whatcha gotta do. And absence makes the heart grow fonder, right?

Wuvs you!!!!


Wednesday, September 12, 2007 

Current mood:  amused
Category: Pets and Animals
I had a fun day today. Gracie and I went to agility practice, then ran errands with Mum (BTW, Gracie was fabulous at practice today, she's gonna give me a run for my money!).

On our errands Mum bought us a couple of new toys, 'cause we've gotten into a bad habit of trying to eat them (Mum just doesn't feed us enough!).

Gracie got an AirDog - which she ended up not liking very much....



I got a Wubba - which I liked for a while.



Then Gracie wanted my Wubba, so Mum went and got hers, so she would be happy.



By that time, I was bored with the Wubba, BECAUSE!!! It was prime bird herding weather - and Mum finally got a vid of me doing the deed. Hope you enjoy!!!!

Thursday, August 23, 2007 

Current mood:  accomplished
Category: Pets and Animals
Hi all! Hope you all are doing pretty good!

We had a big weekend last weekend. Mum and I ran in the USDAA agility trial here in our hometown. I did good!!! Mum did OK, well, with most of the runs anyway.

Highlights:

1.   I got a real nice Q in Masters Jumpers and got my Masters Jumpers title. Woo Hoo!!!!

2.   Got my second qualification in Steeplechase to qualify for the Cynosport World Games '07, in Scottsdale this fall. We probably won't go this year, but hopefully next!

3.   A 10 year old kid was picking up my leash, just as I sat at the start line for my Sunday jumpers run....well he got wayyyyy toooo close to me. So I turned around and started barking at him.

Mum called me over the first jump of the run. I jumped then turned my head to bark at him again, took another jump and barked at him....this went on for 2/3 of the run! What the????? Mum was proud that I stayed pretty focused. We were only over time by 1 sec because of all my barking. Kids shouldn't move behind me just before I run, I say!!!!

4.    Gracie is still having way toooooo much fun at trials. She only takes one jump or so and then runs off to find another pup to play with. But we keep trying. At least she does well in practice, so we know she can do it!

5.   I got my first Masters Gamblers Q on Sunday. Working about 25 feet away from Mum over a jump, tunnel, jump, dog walk and jump. This was our third try at Masters Gamblers, so we're pretty happy we got one! They are difficult!

6.   Mum totally messed me up on my snooker runs and I got nervous with the teeter on my standard runs, so no Qs there.

7.   I need two more standard Q's to get my Masters Agility Dog title. We're going for it by the end of fall.

Pretty fun time!