About Merlin

Birth date: 4.6.2007

Breed: Hovawart (without pedigree)

Colour: black-and-tan (as obvious from the picture:o))

Mother: Phoebe (HW without pedigree)

Father: Narsy Královské Zátiší (Freica v.d. Koboldshütte x Chiron z Páralovy zahrady)

Height: 62 cm

Weight: 29 kg (Merlin is not a big eater... when we saw him wet first time we were surprised how subtile he is - a remarkable part of his volume comes from his thick fur)

Exams:      

    ZOP (KJ Brno, 31.5.2008, Velký Borek, excelent) ... obedience exam

   ZZO (NZŘ - CZ national examination regulation, 1.11.2008, Žižice, excelent)  ... obedience exam

   BH (SchH/VPG, 27.9.2009, Velký Borek, excelent) ... obedience and behavioral test in traffic and other special situations

    ZPU-1 (NZŘ = CZ national examination regulation, 18.10.2009, Velký Borek, very good) ... obedience and nose-tracking exam

Merlin's character:  

Merlin is a very sensitive, skillful, smart and clever doggie, but also he is a spoiled little prince (mainly thanks to his owners). Already several times he surprised us with his skill to understand new situations and to behave correctly. This is a blessing, because there is never a problem to visit people the first time (even if they own expensive carpets, vases etc.) or to get visitors with fresh born babies, workmen or a truck into our garden. On the other hand, he seems to feel a lot bigger and impressive than he is, at least if judged from his behaviour against passing-by people and other (especially bigger) male dogs. Against people and cars passing our fence he barks like mad and already several people told us that they got scared of him. On the other hand, we have never seen Merlin really aggressive; it is just a big fun and show to him. The same holds true in his approach to other males: he does not behaves aggressive to them, just very arrogant and by that provocative, so that the other dog becomes fed up and turns aggressive (and gets the blame). So we better keep an eye on our little ‘angel’ in a group of free-running dogs. Merlin loves to be with us, but he is not a dog that comes to get petting, he rather is laying close by when we are in garden or house, sometimes copies our behaviour (if one of us starts digging, even only a single flower bulb, he starts also to dig, usually a much larger hole. And every now and then he would slowly approach, look what we are doing and take an item of our work (best are working gloves, plastic tools or pieces of wood) away with him and lay down again - happy and satisfied.

What Merlin likes

• Digging! One of his big passions since he was a little puppy. Merlin has a number of projects under progress across the area and whenever he is for a while in the garden he has to inspect them and to continue one of them. So first he sniffs to the existing hole, then come some few, still rather unmotivated scratches, then he goes more and more carried away with the work and finally, frenetically spinning legs drive the earth meters far and again and again the head is rammed with a ‘wooof’ into the hole till behind the ears! He is then completely absorbed by his mission and would not notice by-passing people, the birds at the pond or his owners calling him away ;o))
• Bubbling! For Merlin, a stick (or ball) and water can be combined only in a single way: his personal stick-servant has to make the object fly into the shallow part (please not less than 10 cm deep but not more than 40 cm!) and he would stalk behind, stand in the water and catch the thing. That is easy as long as the object is drifting in calm water, but much more funny if the object is sinking or the water is moving or both. He can spend long, long times with standing in the water or hopping behind his object if it is in a creek and take it out and let it drop in again, and take it out and let it drop, and take it out ……… Why it is called ‘bubbling’? That is the sound Merlin makes when his nose is under water and he releases air to prevent water from getting into his nose-tubes. And he gets not only his nose in, but his whole face until his ears are floating on the water level.
• Females! What to say on this point? Merlin feels like Don Juan and MUST inspect any female dog he comes close to. But luckily, he is also a gentleman and not importunate to his latest discovery, but polite enough. Anyhow, most females have a strict way of telling some youngster what they think about his advances and Merlin respects these signs. Since Merlin has no papers but dysplasia, he will never be included into a planned breeding, so his success with females will be low, but luckily he does not know that and enjoys falling in love anyway.
• Unpacking parcels! Whenever we think Merlin deserves a real pleasure, we take some biscuits or other treat, wrap it into paper, then into a paper box, then into a larger paper box (each of the wrappings tightly bound) and give it to him. He loves to unpack it, but like in many other situations, he is doing this gently: instead of tearing down the paper and boxes, he rather is holding the parcel by his front paws and carefully removes the layers or chews a hole into the corner until it is possible to stick the nose inside and to fish inside for the next level. He also does want it to last long, because often he stops unpacking at the moment his nose reaches the treasure inside, turns the whole parcel around and starts afresh from the other side, giving him double fun. And most he likes if one of his people is sitting next to him during the whole process or even holds the one end of the parcel; that is heaven!
• Clothes of his people! When Merlin has his people around him, he regularly goes and checks that everything is fine with them or, more regularly, stays close to them to observe what they are doing. But sometimes he cannot get to them, for example if one is in an area of the house where Merlin has no access or is not at home. In such case, Merlin would search the person and when he cannot find him, he would take some of the clothes the person has worn recently. It does not matter if it is a sweater, a sock, a sandal or even complete bedclothes; everything with the right smell is welcomed. With his prize he hurries to his blanket or to his resting place in the garden, deposits it there and with a very satisfied sigh rests his head on the cloth. Very, very sweet to watch this, and he never chews or destroys the cloth.

What Merlin does not like

•  Pills! For his hips, Merlin has to swallow two pills per day, one in the morning and one in the evening. And he does not like it, even after many trials to convince him by words, petting, treats or other stimulants. It still is the ‘hold the head – enforce the mouth open – press pill deep down the throat’ procedure each day. And the most important is the ‘deep’ in the last part, because if the pill in not very deep in, Merlin would look on you with his sweet look, take the treat he gets after pill, go out and spit the pill out and disappear with the treat! He is an unbelievable actor; even mimic the swallowing movement for you.
• Tickling! As mentioned, Merlin is very sensitive and most sensitive he is to tickling. Any light touch to him is answered by him hopping around and scratch the touched area with teeth and claws intensely. And he does not consider this as fun: if you tickle him intentionally, he will (after scratching) go from you and lay far away and offended. But it often is even unintended that one pets him and suddenly he starts scratching vigorously.

Well, that’s our Merlin!