The odd ducks

The European Girls

My sister and I have had to adjust to a lot of things moving from Europe to the US.  For one thing, in Germany dogs are king – almost more desired than children – here in the US, one never sees dogs.  People don’t walk their dogs very much, we can’t to shopping with our humans and in general dogs are living life like housecats.  For some dogs that might be ok, but Katie and I want to experience life and lucky for us mom feels the same way. In Germany people are very knowledgeable about dogs, not so much here in the US.  Many Americans tend to go through life with blinders on and don’t understand things that are a bit different.  If you are not a lab or golden retriever or one of those doodle types no one knows what you are and you become one of the odd ducks.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I know my sister and I are not common breeds really anywhere but at least in Europe people had a bit of a clue.

Here in Minnesota we started going to the dog parks to find dog companians.  Katie and I really had a lot of fun meeting and playing with all the new friends at the different parks but mom spent most of her time explaining us to people.  She is very proud of us and loves to talk about us but sometimes it does get to be a bit much.  One thing mom did to help herself out was to put a photo of her with Katie and I on her business card along with our breeds so she could give that to people.  Everyone thinks Katie is a Great Pyrenees but when mom says Kuvasz most of them think they have seen one on tv but never in person.  Then there is me the GBGV.  No one has heard of me and most think I am a mutt.  Mutts are great, mom had one before us, but I am a breed.  No one can remember my breed either so mom always had to go over it again and again.  I guess she will be doing this as long as she is with us but since she love us she does not mind too much.

Sometimes we do feel a bit like oddities at the parks or even when we are out walking – gawkers – wondering if we are breeds from outer space or what.  At one of the dog parks we go to a lot in the winter we received the nickname the European dogs.  Everyone would say how are the European dogs today, where have the European dogs been, what are the European dogs doing etc.  It was kind of cute at first but that got old too.  I mean really it is almost like discrimination.  It is not like we have 5 paws or 2 heads or something, we are just dogs.  This all boils down to another reason mom wanted me to start blogging and getting out there on social media.  We need to make people aware of the GBGV breed in America.  We are great, happy, loving dogs just like any other.  We don’t want to be the most popular breed ever but we want Americans to know that there are many different breeds in the world of which Katie and I are two of them.  We are not the odd ducks, we are interesting and great dogs!