Family Monsens
fourlegged members
OUR FOURLEGGED IN ACTION
Asena - our beautiful Kangal-Rottweiler girl
Beautiful Asena came into this world at Rena March 7th 2011 along with his three sisters and five brothers.
Pups survived the first 8 weeks of fun and play in the meadows in the spring thaw, while mom Chanti kept a strict eye on them and made sure to create a good base for safe and healthy dogs. Chanti is a great, powerful and loving Rottweiler female, only two years older than her puppies. Dad, Bolut, was probably not as keen on the follow-up with the puppies, but the genes he has given his offspring are impeccable. Bulut is a very big, proud and lovely Turkish Kangal.
Given Bulut and the breed he represents, we were somewhat unsure about a puppy from this guy and wondered if it would be a bit much for us. But talk about unfounded worries! Asena is, after three years, a fantastic dog. She is social and loving as she is patient with children. We still have a little to go when it comes to obedience, but we are are getting there. She has guarding instinct and she ought to considering the few thousand years inherited genes from the Kangal Bulut. However this instinct is balanced and Asena gives it up immediately when told to calm down.
Asena has grown up gone to work every day with Dad and constantly meets new people. For many people at ‘work’, Asena has become an important part of their working days. With her incredible dedication and obvious joy in meeting everyone, she’s lit up their lives in a way that few people can. We couldn't wish for a finer dog!
Cora - our lovely Shetland Sheepdog girl
Little Cora was born in Bergen on March 6th 2010, and she has one brother and one sister.
Little did we know what we were getting ourselves into when we decided to include Cora in the family. When Asena was about 6 months old we thought it would be nice for her to have a playmate. We envisioned a dog about the same size as Asena, but we knew it would then be very cramped in the passenger seat of our car. So for practical reasons we took pity on Cora having seen a beautiful picture of her on Finn.no.
Crazy and impulsive as we were, we drove over the mountain to Bergen, paid some money and pushed the slightly nervous eighteen month old Shetland sheepdog bitch into the traveller’s cage, and returned to Oslo.
Already at the first ferry we wondered if we should turn around and deliver Cora back - if we managed to catch her of course! In a split second she had thrown herself out of the car and barked like crazy as she ran between moving cars, completely aimlessly. After some panic and more awkward minutes we finally led the runaway into the hands of dad with some goodies. That was the last freedom Cora got to experience that ride!
We had been warned by the previous owner that Cora was a loving and generally obedient dog, who loves to chase cyclists, joggers and other moving objects, especially birds like magpies and crows. We didn’t expect that she would be so utterly fixated that it would be impossible to snap her out of it and it scared us. What kind of dog had we bought? It didn't look any better when the initial chemistry with Asena was reminiscent of oil and water.
Fortunately we didn't return Cora, something we strongly considered for a period. Howeveer after much work this fixation with moving objects has completely gone and now she is just the lovable, beautiful and obedient dog the former owner rightly claimed she was. Today we are very grateful that she is in our family, and now she plays very well with Asena. She has a certain reservation against strangers and it is in our opinion a good thing. People have to earn her trust.
Cora, is by the way, is also a real daddy’s girl and that makes daddy very happy.
Arog - our sturdy Tibetan Mastiff boy
The sturdy chap Arog was born in Arendal, December 17th 2011 along with eight other siblings. Arog is a Tibetan Mastiff and moved to the Monsen pack at the age of 11 weeks. Mom Lillith and Dad Serberus are two wonderful and beautiful young dogs from Finland and has all the promise of a good pedigree for Arog.
Arog is a very determined and independent male of 2 years. He really knows what he wants and if we do not want the same of him, that’s our problem. Walks in the forest are entirely on her terms. The only reason he is actually bothered to go for walks longer than 10 meters, is that he loves to play with Asena and Cora. In particular, he likes to play fight with Asena. Arog has grown to be a 50-kilos boy.
He is considerably more lukewarm when in walks alone with us two-legged folk. Usually, it ends up with him putting his ass down after a short time where he'll be seated until we turn our nose to go home. If we go with him without a leash, he'll find his way home without us!
Unfortunately he we discovered after some weeks he had wobbly ankles and they were an annoyance to him. We hoped that he would gradually grow out of them, but unfortunately he didn't. In July '12 it was up on the operating table to tighten some ligaments in his left leg which was the worst. In preperation to the surgary the xrays showed HD in both hips. Poor Arog. The operation was somewhat a success, but it still wobbles. This summer we'll operate the right leg. Hopefully this will ease the strain on his hips.
Arog is a real weirdo and that is why he is so incredibly charming. He is not fond of strangers and acquaintances he barely tolerates, but we in the family are warmly received. A lovely guy!
Copyright © 2012-2014 Margrethe Monsen - post@asena.priv.no