My dear Kuvasz Kodi has been diagnosed with osteocarcinoma.

Hooray Kodi!
Hooray Kuvasz!

Lucky little new rescue.
She's going to be loved.

Aren't you back yet, kuvasz!?

Good news....phew...I'm so happy for you and Kodi!!
I honestly can't believe how much I care for you and that pup. I suppose it's because your postings are so beautiful and heartfelt: the love just oozes off the screen. Every time I see that this thread has been added to; my heart skips a bit and I'm hoping it's gonna be something positive.

New baby.....can't wait for pics.

Just got back with the new pup! I had gone to the kennel to pick up an 18 week old female, but when i got there there were two kuvasz pups in the yard. the first one who saw me started barking and moving away, while the other one just got up and wagged its tail at me. I could not tell which one was the female or male. when the owner of the kennel came out and picked up the barking one, the female and brought her over to me she snapped at me. which was okay since she had never seen me before and she was apprehensive. the male walked right up to me and nuzzled my leg.

the kennel owner and i sat under a tree for a while as he held the female, but she was still very much suspecious of me, all the while the male just jumped up and licked me on the facee.

so I brought home the male. as a pup his face looks like a combo of Abba and my first Aja

His name is RAJA!

it was a long trip home, and i stopped by burger king to get some burgers for the dogs as a treat and diversion and fed them just a few minutes ago. then i opened the side door to the van and brought out Raja.

sweet jesus, what a spectacle! he was afraid to come in thru the gate as the pack ganged up around him and i had to pick him up and carry him into the house because he would not move from the entrance to the gate. I have shut out the other dogs from the house for now until things calm down.

I left my camera in the car and will not get it until i have calmed all parties.

usually i bring a new dog into the pack during daylight, but could not do it this time. unfortunate to say the least.

Raja is a real sweet dog and is as easygoing as any kuvasz i have seen or owned. he is big for his age, and his dad is 140 pounds and his mom is about 110 pounds, so he will be the biggest dog in the pack within 2 years. since he is not a dominant dog, things should work out once the pack reassigns positions.

right now Little Bit is on my table looking at Raja and thinking "what the hell is that thing doing in the house!?"

while i have been typing everybody has calmed down and stopped barking and scratching at the door, from both sides.

I think i will let things be for several hours.

time to get that bottle of wine now.

Raja! That's perfect! Why not wait until tomorrow to introduce the lil guy to the pack?

yes, you are right and i am now resigned to cleaning up puppy pee and poop in the house tomorrow morning..looks like Little Bit will have the whole bed to herself tonight.

I just went outside to feed the pack some more food and the excited crowd around the door looks like the box office the first day concert tickets to the grateful dead went on sale at madison square garden in 1980 and somebody just said jerry garcia is in the doorway.

Raj is now sleeping in Kodi's spot in my library. peace at last.

And Kodi looks so good today. no pain present in her face or gait. first time i have seen that in months and months. it is so gratifying t see it.

Can't Kodi come inside for the night too? Don't you have seperate rooms and doors and such? I feel badly for the old lady.

Wow, what a bunch of great news. Looking forward to pics.

Opened the front door several minutes ago, one by one each dog has passed down the hall looking in on the new pup as he howls in loneliness

I sat in the library doorway, aja and doc and abba in front of me and raja behind, alternating petting each one as they sniffed each other. as the pup whines Kodi lets out a hellacious series of barks from the porch.......haven't heard that sound in months! and it sounds great. its music to my ears, the beardog making her presence known far and wide. doc and luckie each checked out raja and he was wagging his tail. now aja is sleeping in the hallway in front of the library door way and raja is sniffing her as she sleeps. doc and luckie are asleep now on the couch, abba is nestled next to Kodi on the porch as they share a food bowl....and little bit is asleep on my lap.

i think this crisis is over...and another begins, my wine bottle is now empty.

I can not imagine anyone without years of doggie anthropology under their belt being able to deal with this and not have fur and teeth flying all over the place.,...these dogs have taught me well.

i think the very best news is that i now see that kodi is sleeping again on her left side. she has not done that since i first noticed her limping 8 weeks ago, apparently the therapy has abatted much of the pain in her.

Such wonderful news. You remind me a friend of mine in Athens, she's a dogophile as well.

Sounds like a great home-coming - dogs are definitely great instructors.

The Bossman asked me to say "hey" to you, Kuvasz.

Hello

Glad you took the male from those pups.

I hope your pack of dogs is okay with him now. Raja, huh? Good name.

How many dogs do you have? My two together = 100 pounds. That is, to me, a huge handful of canine care-taking, but I've thought of getting a smallish dog to go with them. After two, what's one more?

hello back. I hope you are enjoying the saga here of the kuvasz ranch and Kodi's health situation..

as to pifka's remark.

kodi is 125 pounds.

abba is 120 pounds.

aja is 110 pounds.

doc j is 80 pounds.

luckie is 65 pounds.

little bit tips the scales at a big 9 pounds.

raja is 40 pounds (only 18 weeks too)

and this morning there was another break out, with luckie and doc still on the run and abba and aja back inside the fence. they chewed the one 3 foot area i did not place barbed wire that i had missed.. damned smart doggies...i've strung so much barbed wire i feel like a lineman on a catle ranch

Good grief. That's way over 500 pounds of dog. I don't use barbed wire... I think it is dangerous for anything but cows.

Mine are:
Poppy 48
Penny 51

We have a fenced yard that connects with a horse pasture. If I close off the gate to the pasture, we're dog proof... the inner fence is mostly standard 4' woven pasture fencing and Mr.P ties down the bottom with buried iron grating (for concrete work) that is cut into 2-foot long strips and runs all along the bottom of the fence. It was a lot of work but nobody gets in or out. In the horse pasture, we've deliberately left holes for them so they can get out of the way of hooves, but they know they're not supposed to leave the property. I mostly leave the pasture gate open and the dogs don't get out except when we'll be gone a long, long time, or if other dogs are here.

Do you think the two little ones (hah... 65 & 80?) are fearful of the bigger dogs and that's why they left?

gracious no, luckie and doc are not afraid of abba and aja. they all sleep in the bed together (leaving little room for me at times). i am afraid that reading jack kerouac's "on the road" aloud to them has instigated their wanderlust. Doc and Luckie are local rescues who came my way years ago when they wandered into my yard. they (and Little Bit), unlike the others are true strays (or dump-offs) who fended for themselves long before they found doggie "Camelot" here at the Kuvasz ranch.

and pound for pound, luckie is the toughest dog in the pack. she only backs down for Kodi, and Doc acts like the dominant dog after Kodi, but Abba can kick his butt if he has a mind to, and has, but usually doesn't even bother to get into it with doc. sometimes when doc growls at abba, all abba does is look at me with a look that indictates "dad, do I have to kick this guy's butt AGAIN?" then snorts at doc and walks away and lays down on doc's favorite spot as a challenge to have doc move him off doc's spot...then abba just stares at doc as if to say, "if you want to get into it, go for it!"

On The Road? Well, remind 'em to stay away from the hard stuff.

It sounds like there is a full-fledged pecking order going on... love the stare down images. It is amazing how dogs and all the rest of the animal kingdom can quickly get things figured out without having to go to war.

I just saw a picture of Kodi\Aja\Master

I know a load has been taken off your shoulders. I think it's great that you have more time together. I'll send good thoughts that you keep each other company for a long, long time.

I take Kodi back to the oncologist today for a check-up. she might have another set of x-rays to see if there has been any noticible change in the cancer in her leg or if it has spread to her chest or lymph glands. so far I have seen no negative hanges from last week, But I am always alert to any changes in her ability to move, appettite, or just her general attutude and smilely face.

she is moving okay lately and appears stiff only in the morning. happy and smiling at me as always. the tramadol helps her immensely and allows her to move better than in ages.

today at 6:30am i had to call luckie and doc away from their escape route under the fence a ways in the back of the property, and they came right back to the porch, but by the time i had made coffee and fed kodi her chicken noodle soup spiked with meds, they had crawled under the fence. so, we all went out to the far fence line to fix it. even Kodi, so it was the four kuvasz.....followed in the rear with Little Bit. so Kodi walked about 200 yards out and back to the fence line and sat watching me mend the fence, then laid down and rolled around in the high grass like a pup. as to the pup! he is now interacting well with the other kuvasz, (not so much with Luckie and Doc)and is pestering Aja.. who normally is the most active and foolie dog in the pack, so it is funny as hell to see her now trying to avoid the rambunctuousness of Raja, who will walk up behind her and bite her back legs to play. even Kodi has done several "sniff-byes" on Raja and seems to have accepted the pup....so long as the pup does not come near Kodi's food bowl, she taught him a lesson the other day on that, and Kodi bite his butt and left Kodi with a mouth full of white hair that made her look like a crazed canine fu manchu... the pup learned a valuable lesson and lost only some hair.