Vlad and Barkly have such gorgeous coats! What kind of dog is Vlad and how big is he going to get?
I'm so sorry for your recent losses of Dannyboy and Sharky. Looks like Barkly was very sad to lose the dog who probably raised him and happy to have a new giant friend to cuddle with!
Vlad is a Black Russian Terrier and he will be anywhere between 100-130# once he's finally grown. Here is the international (
in.+cm. lbs-kg given) growth chart that breeders encourage you to keep up with for the 1st 10-mths:
http://siberiandarkness.com/growth.htm They mature a lot slower than other breeds (
and it has to be encouraged so their bones develop properly), so we won't know his actual size until he's somewhere between 18-24 mths. Airedales were one of the first breeds used to develop them, so he's got a lot of Dannyboy's traits. It's just not like looking at a mirror of Dannyboy which is helping me.
Thank you. I'm still not quite over it all, but I've had to do what was best for my kids--animal AND human. Barkly was VERY sad for 6 weeks before we got him a new friend--though he was very subdued for the 2 weeks before I had to make the decision. He almost quit eating anything & we were considering some antidepressants until we could get him a new friend b/c of that. He automatically became happy when we brought Vlad home.
However, it was nothing like Dannyboy losing Sharkly. We all watched Sharkly just fall dead right before us on a Sunday night 3 weeks after the seizures began--I have to add here that this was a week after my father-in-law died so my son (
actually his dog) was home on leave from deployment to see it. (
A month later I started finding tumors in Danny and they didn't recommend another surgery after it was determined there was no way they could remove them all) Dannyboy became a demanding monster that wouldn't let me leave him alone in the house until we got Barkly. We took him with us to pick up Barkly & the clinging just quit within 24 hrs. of getting Barkly.
I can honestly say that from Jan 2011 to Jan 2012 has been the crappiest year of my life. Some days it all just rushes back at me in a huge wave and makes it hard to even breathe, so I sit down in the floor hugging my new babies while trying to stop the crying. I know that alarms them, but they're amazingly patient until it's over with--to me, dogs are the most wonderful beings on earth.
Thank you! I think their coats are the way they are b/c I feed raw. I know they're a lot healthier looking than any other dogs I've ever had before--and I'm hoping the outside is showing the truth about the inside. I'm hoping with my studying canine cancer prevention through limited vaccination (titer tests) and diet that I can prevent it from ever happening to this family again. (
I know the dogs of my childhood lasted a lot longer without these problems living on their very limited amounts of processed dog food diets.) Though I've had dogs all my life, Danny & Sharkly were my first "replacement children" who got a lot more attention than others had once the boys were in late teens and growing away from mom.