14 Months...

Last Tuesday was Spark's 14 month birthday! I am awed by how much he has matured just in the last two months. I can't believe I've already had him almost a year! He is a great dog and will make an amazing assistant someday.

14 Things You Might Not Know About Spark:
{Sorry to copy you  Em...But I liked your idea : )}
1) A lot of people ask me what type of dog Spark is... They don't think he is a Lab just because he doesn't look like your typical Lab. Usually people ask me if he is a Golden Retriever? Really? Where is the long, fluffy Golden coat? : ) Spark doesn't care though!

2) Spark doesn't mind being called a 'Pretty pretty princess'... Yes, one of my brothers (who I'll leave unnamed to save him some embarrassment) calls him that- I'm not really sure why. But Spark doesn't seem to be offended by this! So I guess I shouldn't be?

3) Little children are Spark's kryptonite... He LOVES little kids, the smaller/younger the child the more excited he is to see them! He only gets excited when he sees kids not adults or young adults (unless he knows them).

4) He always sleeps in the car... This is actually a GREAT thing. He'll get in the car look around for awhile and then he settles down and goes to sleep. It doesn't matter how long he'll be in the car for 20 minutes or 6 hours he sleeps.

5) He is super strong... I think all 67# of him are pure muscle. He would probably be really good at pulling a wheelchair ( if he had any other SD traits left!). He can pull my brothers around when playing 'tug' and my brothers are all strong.

6) He is submissive to a fault... Yes, Spark is submissive to the point that it is kinda embarrassing because Spark will try to get lower than a Jack Russel terrier. He can be be an alpha sometimes though. When his breeder described Spark and his littermates' personalities this is what she said about Spark: (not much has changed)
         "#1 in the pack goes blue collared yellow male.  He is the biggest, but not the “baddest” .  He uses his size and attitude/demeanor to enforce his own brand of “justice” to the rest of the litter.  Not really a fighter, he likes to patrol and play, loves to sleep and eat, but when he is needed to stop a fight, he is the first one there to keep the others in line.  Not your typical Alpha dog, this pup is more of a “lets just all get along……or else!” type of Sheriff.  This pup will do well in a working home because he is an obvious team player, loves to please, and gentle enough to be a great companion in the off season to a house full of kids." 

7) He has a really long, lean body but a small head and 'airplane' ears... A few of the other puppy raisers and I are always making fun of Spark and his tiny ears because they are a bit too small for his head. He looks a bit odd in his cape because it really only fits his shoulders since he is soo long but is too lean to wear the next size up.

8) He loves his comfort... I know this might sound weird but he really loves to be comfortable- maybe he is a little spoiled! He used to refuse to sleep in his kennel if he didn't have a blanket with him. He also likes to have a head rest and he will use whatever he can find.

9) He is so smart he gets himself into trouble... I love that he is so smart except for those times when he gets into trouble with his big brain. It can be really hard to outsmart him. For example: our chicken coop is inside of a metal shed in our backyard. In the front part is storage for random things Spark couldn't have and in the back is the coop. We keep the doors to the shed closed as well as the coop door. Well Mr. Smartypants this fall figured out how to shove the door open using his paws, so we tried  tying the doors but he chewed through that in no time. We finally figured out a way to tie it so that he couldn't get in but then he figured out that one of the two doors was weak on one side and that if he jumped at it he could bend it enough to fit inside. Now he can't get in (or at least for the past 3 months he hasn't figured it out), but to make it that way we had to brace the bad door and add a hard-to-use lock type thing to the door.


10) He thinks he is a lap dog... He loves to sit on peoples lap and cuddle, which I think is really sweet.

11) He likes to be sung to sleep... The first few nights I had him he had a really hard time sleeping at night and the only way I could find to quiet him down was to sing softly to him for a few minutes and by then he was relaxed enough he'd sleep. So now every night before we get tucked in my brother J, comes and sings to Spark which is really quite amusing.

12) He's good-looking... This might sound a little biased of me but it is true! So many people tell me how pretty, handsome, beautiful, etc., Spark is. I think I hear how nice he looks more than I hear 'is he a real Lab?'

13) He is independent... This is a good and a bad thing. The good side of this is that he can keep himself entertained for hours with his toys with little to no help from me. It is bad because he thinks he should do things his way, when he wants to.

14) He is a one person dog... The one career I know Spark will not get chosen for at KSDS is a Social dog. Because he just isn't 'social' enough, by this I mean that he loves people a lot but he cares more about making himself feel good as opposed to making everyone around him feel good. He is much better suited for one person because he will get attached to one person (like me) and show them love and whatever else they need when they need it.

Here are a few pictures of my big dog: