The story so far...

Well to start off, the purpose of this blog?  To let friends, family, and anyone else experience my life with my puppy, arriving here in just a few weeks now...to let me look back and remember things.

Trux Canis is kind of a misnomer, because Alsatian Shepalutes are about as non-ferocious as they come!  But I wanted to keep the naming scheme I'd set up for my things.

(Trux Canis = Latin for "Ferocious Dog").

There's a lot to write here because I've just started the blog, so bear with me.

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Okay...I'm sure a lot of you are wondering just how exactly I found this breed that nobody has ever heard of.  I certainly had no clue what they were when I stumbled across them...

I found Lois' web page through Wikipedia's Alsatian Shepalute page.  It was literally a freak accident...I wasn't even looking at different dog breeds at the time...in fact, I think at that point in time I had actually pretty much decided on getting a German Shepherd (long haired).  But you know how wikipedia goes...you start off reading about ancient Chinese technology, and somehow, around an hour later, you're reading about...Alsatian Shepalutes!

Needless to say I was intrigued by the claims.  Especially the health benefits...I wanted to avoid the kind of emotional pain GSD owners go through with hip displasia.  Of course, that can be better avoided by working with a reputable breeder, getting a dog from a WORKING line, not one of those roach-backed SHOW dog lines...but that's another rant for another time...though I do love ranting.

Now the temperament?  That actually wasn't too big a point for me.  I rather enjoy the hyper temperament of big working breeds.  But...I also enjoy the more laid back temperaments that breeds like the mastiff are famous for.  It's a moot point for me, but if it came down to final straws I'd probably say I would prefer a dog that would be just as happy to lay around with me for a few hours in the evening as he would to wrestle and roughhouse.  A more important point is that I knew my mother does NOT like big dogs because of this - the hyperness.

What next...well, the appearance was just what I was looking for.  Remember that I said I had originally decided on a long-haired German Shepherd?  I love long-haired dogs.  BIG dogs.  That was my first restriction in looking for a breed.  I like big, wolfy-looking dogs.  Drop ears are okay, but for the most part, I like them to resemble their ancestor...the wolf!  I didn't ever consider a wolfdog because not only do I not have the facilities to safely house one, I do not have the incredible amounts of time these animals take to train...they also suffer badly from separation anxiety as they are, of course, having strong wolf genes in them, VERY pack-oriented.  I needed a breed which, if work required, I could leave at home for a few hours and he would not fret.  No wolfdogs.

Schwarz Kennels Website

So...I've found a dog which fits my desires for health, temperament, and appearance...looking around for breeders...oh!  There's just the one, the founder of the breed.  Mmkay...looking around the site for a bit.  The more I see of them the more I'm sure this is the breed for me.  Over the next couple weeks that decision is pretty much solidified.  I did a lot of research and looking around, comparing her breeding program with others, looking for any potential complaints, etc.  I did not want to mess around with somebody who might be less than reputable.  However, everything I learned and everything I turned up seemed to indicate that this was not a worry to be had.  There was a lot of transparency - videos, pictures, her own explanations as to what she does, etc.

One of the things that REALLY struck me about the site was that EVERY health problem any dog from this breed has experienced was listed right there on the site.  Very open and honest.  Reading more of what Lois has written, I see a very smart, and VERY common-sense oriented woman behind these words.  Health was a strict focus...dogs already have much too short a lifespan for us people.  Some larger breeds may only live 8 or 9 years on average due to health problems...and here finally someone has buckled down and done an incomprehensible amount of hard work over a huge time span to fix this problem in a rather round-about way...by making a new breed!  And good grief does the Alsatian Shepalute ever fit the definition of what Americans want in their pet dog...I am still learning every day, circa three months later, how true this is.  Anyway, I really like what I see.  I see someone with strong opinions who does not putter around and half-way say something for fear of being politically incorrect.  I like that.  I also see complete transparency...yes, she has strong opinions, and she also gives me all the information I need to make my own decision.  I haven't spent too much time outside of Indiana, but I can tell you there are very few people like this.  All puppies she lists the good with the bad - what she sees that doesn't conform to breed standards, and what she sees that does.  I like this, means there are no surprises.  I have seen a lot of horror stories about people getting a "purebred" puppy that dies 8 months later from horrible genetic diseases.  Purebred is not just about the appearance...

The owner of Canyon, an Alsatian Shepalute from Schwarz Kennels, remarks that he was talking with Lois over e-mail about potentially getting a wolfdog.  He had not yet decided on these Alsatians - and never once did she try and talk him out of getting one of these wolfdogs.  As much as I absolutely LOVE wolves, I don't think I would have been able to do the same...I would have given him about ten different reasons as to why he should not get a wolfdog!  But perhaps that is why Lois is running a business and I am working for one :).

 So I finally end up contacting Lois...I never once mention my fears of getting a dog over such a long distance.  I was worried that I'd basically never hear much from the breeder (dog breeders are very busy people...even moreso if you are the founder and only owner of a kennel which sells your breed of dog, and you are still continuing the work on them!), and that I'd basically never see my puppy before I got him.  But I was committed, I was sure this breed of dog would fit my needs exactly.

And in retrospect...what a stupid fear to have!  I have seen plenty of videos and pictures ever since a mere hour or two after his birth!  Lois has written me enough information over email to fill a book, and that is not an exaggeration.  And it is not a reply two or three days later...despite the fact that I routinely stress for her to take her time if she is busy :).  I usually get a reply a few hours later...these essay-length replies full of all the information I could ever want and more!

Here is a picture of him, circa four weeks old.  The kinds of things I have seen out of this pup, and his other eight litter-mates I still cannot believe and I have seen it with my own eyes.  These pups do not cry much, they think.

In this video, the "P" litter is taking their first steps outside at four weeks old...but first they must figure out how to get down off this cliff (a step).  Mom is outside, away from them, and so are their people!  Notice that they do not cry and whine.  There is barely a sound...they sit there, they think, and look around, and try to decide whether this "outdoors" is a good idea.  It's pretty cold and there are all these new sounds and and smells.  Their mom walks right across their path...but who do they run to, once they are outside?  People!  Very oriented to their people-pack.


Lois has also sent me some videos that she did not put online.  Primo (short for Premortial Destiny, his pedigree name (I haven't decided just what I'll call him yet)), if I can't pick him out from his coat, can always be found sitting down and watching and listening to the camerama...camerawoman!  Thinking first, not doing...and at such a young age.  The other pups do this too, but it is most noticeable in Primo...of course, this may be an issue of owner's prejudice...I am looking at him and I'm already attached so I think it is more pronounced than it is...it is difficult to be objective, obviously, but I think it is a more pronounced behavior in Primo.  He is also very aware of his surroundings.  When another pup charges toward his direction, or starts backing up right into where he is - he is long gone by the time they reach him, having slowly retreated to get out of their path of movement.  Very aware.

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I also wish to address a side point here, partly because I have seen some very nasty, ignorant comments online about this breed, and partly because it was also a thought I had before I knew everything about Alsatians.  And I don't wish any of my family or friends to be running around without the "full picture" in their heads.

So, what are they?  Well, like any other dog breed, they were created using other dogs...GSD's, Malamutes, English Mastiffs, to name the primary breeds.  No wolf!  Wolves have a very poor temperament for an easy-going house pet.  Don't get me wrong, a wolfdog is a very loving, devoted animal...but they are not a house pet.   At any rate, reading about the genetic makeup of these dogs, my first reaction (before I had any information) was that "isn't that kind of a glorified mutt?"  But then I thought...well, no, that doesn't make much sense.  A mutt doesn't have any discernible breed to him, and his parents likely didn't either.  All Alsatians can be traced back to the original AKC registered foundation stock, used to being the breed.

Okay, so they're a crossbreed.  Nope, wrong again...a crossbreed is taking two different breeds of dogs with known pedigrees, and crossing them.  This is where we get dogs like the "labradoodles" and all those other poodle crosses.  These definitely started as crossbreeds...and Lois does outcross with dogs that possess all the traits she wants in her Alsatians...but it is a bit nonsensical to consider them a crossbreed at this point, when two of these dogs can consistently reproduce themselves.

At some point, however, you've got to get to a breed.  When does this change happen?  Well, you can read about it on her website, but I'll attempt to sum things up here, too.  Basically, a breed is a breed when they conform to a set of specific standards by consistently begetting themselves in appearance, health, and character - which is exactly what Alsatian Shepalutes do!  Not perfectly, of course, but no breed will produce offspring all of which conform 100% to breed standards.  I would be wary of any breeder who claims so.  Or perhaps laugh at them.  One of those two reactions...

The AKC (which the NASC - National Alsatian Shepalute Club - has no interest in joining due to their notorious history of completely destroying dog breeds...look at German Shepherd show dog winners from the 1940s/50s, and the most recent winners...I feel sorry for the poor things, they look like cripples...get your GSD from a working line!) required 500 dogs and 3 generations of consistently reproducing animals to be considered a breed.  I think the most recent estimate I have heard is around two thousand Alsatians and Lois has some 22nd generation Alsatians?  That may be slightly off, but as you can see, by anyone's standards, they more than meet the requirements to be considered a breed.

Most people would be surprised to know that the German Shepherd dog has wolf blood in its lines only about one hundred years ago...and that's about all the older the breed is!  They haven't been around that long.  Of course, one hundred years of breeding means that saying your German Shepherd is a wolfdog is just a laughably silly claim.  The northern breeds (huskies, and malamutes in particular, started off as literal mutts with no breeding program before someone picked them up and began to 'standardize' them.)  But all these are most certainly a breed.  So is the Alsatian Shepalute :).

But, at any rate, I don't really care if anyone is convinced of this or not.  I know exactly what my pup is, and that's good enough for me; I don't seek to impress anybody else.

Lois is a pretty unorthodox woman concerning these dogs...but in the right areas.  Unorthodox is sometimes a good thing :).  At any rate all you need to know can be gained by just watching her dogs...they are healthy, happy, and intelligent, and what else could an owner possibly want in their dog?