The arrival of Cleo brings us back to eleven dogs.
Way back in 2003 when I became the proud ‘Dad’ of Pharaoh, my German Shepherd dog that you see on the home page of Learning from Dogs, Sandra Tucker who ran the GSD Breeders Jutone, where Pharaoh was born, gave me some advice. Sandra said that when Pharaoh was getting on in life, then bring in a German Shepherd puppy. Apparently, there were two solid reasons why this made sense. The first was that Pharaoh would teach the new puppy many of the skills and disciplines that Pharaoh had learnt as a young dog and, secondly, the puppy would keep Pharaoh active.
Now we know this to be true because years later when Pharaoh had his own mini pack here in Payson, we introduced a new ‘rescue’ puppy called Sweeny. Pharaoh took an instant like to him and became very tolerant to Sweeny’s ‘games’.
But as adorable as Sweeny is, Jean understood the deep reasons why I always wanted a German Shepherd in our lives. So when a chance encounter in Payson Feed Store between Jean and Brendon S. revealed that Brendon had a litter of German Shepherd puppies for sale, just a couple of miles outside Payson, the temptation was irresistible!
Thus a few days ago, Jean and I went round to Brendon’s home and spent a couple of hours mingling with the puppies and their GSD mother. They all looked excellent dogs and a review of their blood lines showed that their genetic background included German stock not too far back. It was difficult to select any one pup as they were all wonderful animals. But one youngster seemed to catch Jean’s eye.
Then the next test was to introduce Pharaoh to the puppies. That took place last Friday and it was wonderful to see how well he coped with the onslaught of puppies!
In the end, we ran out of reasons not to follow Sandra’s advice from all those years ago and we agreed terms on a young female GSD that, inevitably, was christened Cleopatra (Cleo) by Jean!
Then yesterday, Saturday, we went back round to collect young Cleo, meeting Brendan’s wife Ebony in the process. The following photographs record some of the key moments.
So there we are. Back up to eleven dogs, five chickens, six cats, and a fish!
Finally, a big thanks to Sandra of Jutone for her guidance in the last few days.
Learning from Dogs 
Hi Paul I didnt have much time early to comment, as I scanned a few new posts in WP.. But Im back as I couldn’t resist commenting here..
Such a beautiful new addition to your wonderful family of friends and companions, And All looking Good!..
Happy Easter to both You and Jean.. Best wishes from the Dreamwalker Household..
~Sue
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Sue, thank you for your Easter wishes and Jean and I hope you all are having a peaceful week-end. As you will have picked up in my replies to DK and MaryAnne, Cleo is already revealing that she is a loving young dog and relishing hew new environment and circle of doggie brothers and sisters. It bodes well.
It felt good from the moment we drove into Brendon’s place and an adult Shepherd dog ran straight up to the car. I got out of the car and crouched down to have my face immediately licked by what turned out to be Robin, the mother dog. Then within moments Jean and I were smothered by young puppies all wanting to smell us and lick our outstretched hands.
Will look forward to reading your own Posts on http://suedreamwalker.wordpress.com/ Indeed, humans have so much to learn from dogs in the love department. As you recently wrote on Dreamwalker, “and how to bring that power and love to one another.” Just follow the lead from our dogs!
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Hi Cleopatra! What a wonderful home you have and you are very, very pretty too. Woof! I look forward to more photos as you grow, and lots of dog tales too.
Also, how old is Pharaoh? Our boy Tiny is eleven and poor guy, he has arthritis. I wonder if we should bring in another dog (puppy). Our girl Ruthie is six and a half. She tries to get Tiny to play, but he really can’t keep up with her anymore. She loves Tiny more than any dog I’ve ever seen love another dog.
Congratulations Paul and Jean. I know you’ll have much fun watching Cleo grow. Thanks for sharing these wonderful pictures of your new family member!
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DK, thank you for your loving words. Cleo is settling in so quickly and we think she is going to make a great addition, not only to Pharoah but to all the others.
Pharaoh will be 9 this coming June. I’m not really qualified to know whether a puppy would be good for Tiny but when little Sweeny arrived a year ago, he quickly became a tonic for Pharaoh. So that seemed to prove the advice given to me by Sandra Tucker of Jutone.
What will be interesting is to see if the bonds that come from a common breed create a different closeness between Pharaoh and Cleo. Will report on how that develops from time to time. One thing already has surfaced. That is that Cleo has the same little groan of pleasure as she lays down as Pharaoh grunts out.
Anyway, once again, thanks for offering your thoughts, Paul
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Hi Paul and Jean!!! Congratulations on the new arrival in the family! One has to wonder who gets the greatest share of pleasure in this deal…Cleo? Pharaoh? Sweeney? Hazel? Jean? Paul? or any of the other inhabitants at your charming domicile??? No matter who, it is wonderful to see the joy and harmony you bring to the world, starting with Payson!! Thank You for your generous gift of self and time….awesome!!! mag
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Mary Anne, what joy you see in Jean and me is just the reflected joy and love we get from these lovely canine animals. My personal miracle was meeting Jeannie and via her becoming so bonded with these fabulous animals. Love to you, Paul
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Congratulations on your new puppy Cleo. She is a BIG girl already!!! Looks like she’s fit in beautifully with the rest of the pack!
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Thanks Trish. Cleo is indeed settling in very well.
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