BooBoo - Sire-Fantastic Fred

Cheyanne

Cheyanne & Seneca

Cheyenne Autumn - Sire~Dakota Durango

"Hi Karen,

I took Cheyenne to our town’s walking trail for the first time yesterday. I was wanting to wait until he had had his four month shots before exposing him to too many things.  We had just been walking around our neighborhood. There is a clear spring fed creek that the trail follows for a while, and I decided to see how he would handle water for the first time. He went right in and had no fear whatsoever. In fact I had trouble getting him out of it. He even put his whole head under trying to catch minnows. I love to go fishing and was hoping he would like to go with me, so now I know I’ve got a fishing partner. He has a lot more energy than I had hoped for, but hopefully he will settle down with age. He’s very social, thinks everyone we pass wants to play with him. He also wants to play with every dog we pass, though most of them take a look at that bundle of energy and head the other way. He even socializes with the cows that we see along the way.   Thanks Again for such a wonderful dog.  Laurel"
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“Hi Karen,

Frodo Kaonashi

Tonto & Frodo Kaonashi

Guffinger - Sire~Pahuuma

“Dear Karen, 

I wanted to tell you how much we are enjoying Guffinger.  After just turning one-year old on August 2 he is still a puppy (sort of), but has already become an integral part of our family.  He is great with our children and all the kids in the neighborhood.  I think his size and appearance sometimes scares people the first time, but they quickly are charmed by Guffinger's warm personality. 

We take him to a kennel that has a special "Doggy play day" several times a month so he can play with other dogs.  He appears to get along well with all breeds equally well.  The staff at the kennel calls him "The Play Machine" because he likes his visits so much and wants to play all the time. 

He is a great companion and I wouldn't trade him for anything.  He frequently sleeps on the sofa in my office while I'm working and I really enjoy his company.  At night, he sleeps in our room on my wife's antique chaise lounge.  She was a little concerned at first, but Guffinger has taken care of it admirably.  In fact, the other day I was laying down on it and he came over and looked at me like I was on his couch!  As soon as I left, he inspected the couch and then jumped up on it and laid down to claim his space.  

Guffinger is like a third child and is now reading over my shoulder as I type this.  I'm not sure what he thinks I'm doing, but he appears interested!   

Best wishes in the future. 

Sincerely, 

Victor” 
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“Hello Karen,

I thought I'd update you on how Guffinger is doing.  He is enjoying Texas , but gets a bit hot in the summer (March through November) but luckily has a pool he enjoys.  He does not like to jump right in, but lays on the top steps to cool his belly. 

Coco , our rescue lab/shepherd mix, loves Guff so much. When we take them to the vet for checkups, she whines and cries if he is out of sight.  They sleep next to each other, play constantly, and stand upon the waterfall fixture of the pool to scan the neighborhood.  They both are quite famous here. 

Guff is a bit thin, ironically he gravitates towards the veggies when he gets human food snacks, and runs and plays so much he burns off everything he eats.  We all should be so lucky, but sometimes I am concerned he does not get enough calories.  He doesn't care for the fresh meat so much, seems to like rice, noodles, and carrots.  Strange.

I love your "from a dog's perspective" area.  I have been inspired to tell Guffs story, about how he was lonely and always jumped the fence b4 Coco and how loving and protective he is of her and our entire family.  He is so smart, gentle, and loves to please.  He does his sits and downs and stays even when a hot pizza is set in front of him.  

...I'll try to get one of them together, but they seem to sense the camera coming. 

Thanks, and God's Blessings,

Hakata Ciye & Shaa-hine'i - Sire~Saranac Sam

I am enclosing the neutering certificates from Shaa-Hin’i and Hakata Ciye.   Please do not send us the refund as stated in our contract.  We are delighted with the dogs and want you to have the money as a thank you gift from us.  We thank God often for allowing us to have such joy in them.  They are truly remarkable.  People are enamored with them…so are we.  

Today they were weighed, 110lbs. for Shaa-hine’I at 14 months of age,  and 105 lbs. for Hakata Ciye, same age.  I am enclosing some long overdue pics.  What you don’t see in the photos is how affectionate they are with humans.  The excuse people give…don’t buy 2 pups because they will not bond to their humans is simply untrue and absolutely not the case with our two NAIDs.  

As an old horse owner/trainer, I have so much fun watching them run and jump so effortlessly.  

Our boys are so good in the house, they never steal anything or cock their legs on anything in the house.  They do not try to take anything off the counters or table top, even though many times there is irresistible meats and scrumptious doggy snacks lying around.   They do wait like gentleman until we are done and offer them what ever tidbits are left.  

When the Christmas tree came into the house, we both thought for sure, the boys would initiate the tree, after all that is what they do to almost every tree that we have outside.  But they never even looked at it, they must have thought it was another house plant, which they both know not to bother.  

We have a kiddy gate about 2&1/2 ft high which they could jump over or push over at any time, but they respect the barrier we put up and they will not go over it, not even if it falls over on its own.  If and when we give them permission to enter a different part of the house, both boys do so with the utmost respect and gentleness.  

David enjoys taking them to work and to town or where ever else he may go, they never have destroyed or harmed anything in the car.  We even take them grocery shopping and they have never touched any thing we have purchased grocery wise.   The worst thing they have done is to put a front paw on the consol (we call it a foot fault) which in itself is not too bad, but it always leads to a face washing as we are trying to drive.   So we have outlawed foot faults.  Lol!!  

We love the looks on people’s faces when they see us with our two gigantic babies and we have answered hundreds of times, “They are Native American Indian Dogs”.

Thanks Karen, for providing us with such a rewarding experience.  Now we see why your statistics, say 88% of the people who purchase one NAID will get another one.

I hope your new year is filled with joy and gladness.  

Hoka He

"Hoka He is growing and having a pretty great time; she has become quite the social butterfly!"                ~Mary

Jenna - Sire~Fantastic Fred

“HI Karen,

Jenna is a very sweet girl when she isn't being the "wild child".  For some reason, she thinks all of our arms are chew toys.  Gradually, she is improving, but she is so young and everything is an experiment for her.   

Jenna has made friends with all the dogs in the neighborhood.  Suddenly, we find several dogs at our property line every evening and they come strictly for her!  Jenna is not shy and is a very composed little girl.  When the older, bigger dogs get rough with her, she takes it in stride as if she KNOWS she is going to be bigger than all of them and then it will be pay back time.  When she plays the stalking game, Jenna looks just like the picture I have of Fantastic Fred.  I suspect that she will look a lot like him when she grows up. 

Jenna likes and is very comfortable around people.  We believe that when she grows up, she will be a gentle giant.  At this writing, Jenna is 11-1/2 weeks old.  We haven't weighed her, but she must be at least 25 lbs by now and has doubled in size since she arrived.  Next week when we complete her shots, I'll get her weight.  She seems to be growing before our eyes…  

...Thank you so much for sending us Jenna.  We believe that her personality and character fit in well with our family.  Not to mention that she is and will be one gorgeous dog!  It was important that we have a dog that is friendly and outgoing as I bring my pets to my daughter's school on a regular basis and need a dog that will can handle being accosted by large groups of children.  Jenna LOVES kids!!!    Thanks Again for an absolutely wonderful new member to our family.  Susan”
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“Hi Karen, 

Thought it was time to give an update on Jenna.  She is now 5 months old and weighs around 55 lbs.  Jenna is a very distinctive dog and people constantly comment on her beautiful facial markings and her calmness for her size.  Her markings have changed considerably since she came to us.  Her face is looking more and more like Fred's although her body coloring is very similar to Hakata We.  Her long guard hairs are starting to come in and soon she will lose her puppy fluff.  I can't wait until her long hair comes in.   

Jenna loves people, especially children and drops into active submission whenever she greets anyone.  She loves to meet new dogs and is a real social butterfly.  We hike at least 4 days a week, which she needs to help her contain her high energy level.  She has a very sensitive nose for tracking and has tracked gophers and moles underground until she sniffed them, sometimes more than a foot underground, before digging out and finding their main tunnels.  So far, she has only actually caught and killed one, but I've seen her digging in as the gophers were pushing the dirt behind themselves to refill the holes. 

On today's hike with 2 other dogs, they found a skunk.  The two younger dogs (Jenna & Bentley) HAD to sniff up it's butt, while it's tail was raised.  Yes, they got skunked.  Both pups were so interested in this new creature that they would not listen to any recall.  After getting sprayed, Jenna continued to follow the critter into a ravine.  It took several minutes to get her back and boy was she pleased with herself!  The pups must have been sprayed at the very end of skunk's spray cycle because we couldn't smell it immediately on them.  As we continued to walk though, we kept getting a whiff of nasty smell here and there.  At this moment, Jenna is at the vet's getting de-scented and having her eyes checked.  (Maybe they should check her hearing while they are at it!  Those giant radar ears of hers didn't seem to hear me at all!).  I've noticed before that when Jenna is focused on something, she tends to block out everything else.

In a couple of weeks we are starting an intermediate training class and will be focusing on recall and heeling.  Jenna is a very smart pup and learns quickly.  With her, it's a matter of deciding IF or WHEN she is going to listen.  Also, she is not a cow hound and will not perform for just kibble unless starving or even other tastier dog treats.  I've seen her turn her nose up at liver treats.  Whenever I plan to take Jenna in the car, I have to allow at least 5 minutes of coaxing and this is usually with a piece of cheese or meat.  It's not that she doesn't want to come, she just wants to come in her own time.  That's another area of improvement for her but I think time, maturity and repetition will be the key to breaking her stubbornness. (I hope) 

I don't have any current pictures of Jenna.  The last pics were taken a month ago.  But since she will be nice and clean when I finally pick her up today, maybe I'll take some new shots of her this evening… 

Take care. 

Sue”  
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“Hi Karen, 

...  You can see how much she has changed in the last couple of months and I think she will continue to change as she matures.  She is really a beauty.  ...  Jenna came in second place on her ability to perform assigned tasks...come, sit, down, stay, etc...  (she would have come in first place, but I haven't taught her to roll over and the there was one pup in the group that could)  Jenna is even starting to listen to Alie (my daughter) on recall and leave it, which is no small task since Alie is just 7 years old.  The pics with Alie are right after her skunk bath.  I wanted to get some pics before she got dirty and covered with mud and sticker burrs, which occurred shortly thereafter.  She is still such a baby.  It's easy to forget when you look at her size and calm demeanor. 

Talk to you soon. 

King's Male 

Kipi - Sire~Saranac Sam

Good morning.  Today is the first day Kipi will be home without us.  Poor girl.  She is sooo spoiled.  She is up to 16.2 pounds as of yesterday.  She loves eating turkey, chicken, beef, venison, vanilla ice cream, puppy formula, and dog food.  She hasn't yet gotten use to her kennel though.  She will whine for hours and hours at night when we put her in there.  She wants to be right in our bed and sleep with us.  Sometimes I let her just so we can get some sleep.  She gets along with all our other animals, even our serval.  She has so much more hair then our other NAIDS did at her age.  My mom thought it was a saint bernard.  Her ears are still down and her coloring is changing every day.  She can come, sit, and shake and we are working on staying, and laying down.  Not bad for 8 weeks old.  She is going to the vet in one week for her shots.  I can't wait to show her off.  We also sign on the dotted line for our house in one week.  We aren't sure where we are going to be able to put the kennel yet.  The one-hundred feet from the property line is becoming difficult to figure out where to put one.  I'm sure I'll have to call the county and ask them if there is any way it can be closer.  (Maybe with the neighbors permission or something).  I'm going to need to get some more food soon.  I haven't decided yet if I'm going to make trips to your house or special order from a local pet store.  I think I'll call and see how much it would cost to order first.  

Talk to you soon. 

Lakota

Lakota Kittoe - Sire~Sala Toloko

Manawya

Naasha - Sire~Pahuuma

"Hi Karen:

After I tattled on Naasha to you she has become much more gentle and  in control of herself. I did shake her muzzle a couple of times but that just encouraged a stronger response. Looking into her eyes with a firm No and a gentle tap on the muzzle does the trick. She is wonderfully sensitive, has a great sense of humor,  and her development each day is astonishing. She makes all other dogs around us seem immature and almost of a different species. I commend you every day.

John" 
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“Our little puppy did not last long. On her 3rd month birth date she is almost 30 lbs. She loves her home and is a great companion. Her training is progressing nicely and she is quick to learn. She is great on car trips and on hikes. It might snow tomorrow so it will be fun to get her reaction. Our best always, John Hawk”  
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“Hi Karen,

We are with our children and grandchildren here near Seattle and Naasha is happily with us. We have not had her around young children before (ages 4, 7, and 9 and 11-Missa, Draven Wasea , India and Sage) but Naasha loves being with them has been wonderful with them-full of play yet gentle. She embraces the whole family like the pack members we are and has adapted with ease to a new territory. She is easy to travel with and everyone is taken with her beauty, personality, and good house manners. Every day confirms what a special being she is and your outstanding efforts at breeding a wonderful animal. In the evening when we all gather to prepare dinner she lays down in the center of the kitchen and enjoys being in the center of the activity.   Later   Hawk”
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“Naasha is pure delight-spunky, bright, friendly and at ease with people
and other dogs. She is 52 pounds now at her five month birthday. She
attracts attention and praise wherever we go.”
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“Dear Karen,

… I have just  returned from visiting my parents in Shasta and to especially visit with Naasha, WoW!! she is very special and to see her in person, was very important for me, she  is very beautiful and  playful, but perhaps, most inspiring to me, is her thoughtfullness and awarness.  I took plenty of photos and I am very pleased to have been with her as I feel it has given me insight to portray this type of special dog. I want to thank you for your noble work in breeding these fabulous, rare animals. She is so much part of the family that I miss her like I would miss my own sister…

Blessings DkJ”  
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“Hi Karen:

I thought you would get a kick out of this photo. When traveling Naasha
gets to enjoy her own ice cream cone.
Also, a number of times while Naasha and I are hiking in the woods
Ravens follow her, swooping down and circling then settling in a tree
and make their knocking sounds. Naasha goes up to the tree and looks
up. As we proceed with our hike Ravens follows sometimes for a mile.

Best regards,
John Hawk”
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“Hi Karen.
… No complaints about Naasha. She did her share of puppy stuff-eating shoes, etc. but she is maturing wonderfully. We took her wilderness camping for the first time and she made sure she checked out everything within a three hundred yard radius from the center of our camp and would go out and come back to her cave-the bed of the truck with a shell. We have learned that we can trust her to stick around us even as she ventures forth on her explorations. At one point she sensed something off in the forest and came to attention, sniffing, giving short, quiet growls (no barking) with hair bristling and remained this way for about 20 minutes and then relaxed and came and lay down next to us.

She is great with humans of all ages and other dogs. She does well on a leash even though most of the time she is off leash on our hikes.  Come at home is still not 100%-its more like she comes when she sees that it is in her interest to do so. Everywhere we go people exclaim what a beautiful dog-what kind is she?

Bye for now,
John”  
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“Dear Karen, I hope you have seen the Book~ Mountain Spirit, I myself have only seen the paperback and am still awaiting arrival of my hardcover from the press...apparently they are quite coveted and selling ALOT. I hope that this book sheds light on these people and their wonderful dogs that YOU have helped keep alive and part of our lives.

... A quick story~ I was with Naasha (the NAID mostly used in the illustrations in the book "Mountain Spirit") and another dog approached and began to playfully Nip at my shoulder..... Naasha however would have none of it, as she quickly escorted the dog 10 yards away and pinned him to the ground and with sternness let him know that she was in no mood to see that. I was very impressed and felt so protected by her!

Rio Takoda - Sire~Dakota Durango

“Hi Karen, just wanted to say hi and let you know Rio Takoda is doing great.  We live on 5 acres and have now put in an electric fence which he is doing very well with.  He loves being able to run and play.  He has the sweetest personality and just adores our children.  I take him in the car alot to take them and pick them up from school and he watches all the kids until he sees ours and is so happy.  He is probably about 90 pounds now.  He has the most beautiful face and markings..hard to believe that little pup we saw the two wet in the snow pics of is the same dog.  When we take him to PetSmart so many people remark how beautiful he is. 

Just curious if you ever have anybody with an older NAID looking for a good home.  We would consider a second dog but really don't want to do the puppy stage again. 

Hope all is well with you. 

Sincerely,

River - Sire~Dakota Durango 

Saphire & Wolfy

Sunjka Wakan - Sire~Pahuuma

“Karen, 

I just thought I'd let you know that Mandy made it back with Sunjka yesterday evening.  It took longer than expected because of the storms, but they made it safe and sound.  Sunjka is still adjusting to her new home, but she is doing well.  She started eating again last night, which is a good sign.  She is a very sweet girl and both our girls just love her.  Tanka is still trying to adjust too.  He's like a jealous single child, but Sunjka doesn't take any of his garbage.  I'm sure she we teach him a thing or two about pack life. 

Attached is a picture of Sunjka with our youngest daughter Kylie. 

We hope all is well with you.  Thanks again for letting us take Sunjka.  I know she will have a good home here and I'm sure she will be happy and loved. 

Takoda - Sire~Dakota Durango

Takoda at Animal Safety Day.

Takoda is now a “Certified” Therapy assist dog working with the elderly in nursing homes and with children in schools and has just been granted permission to work in a Florida hospital with terminally ill children.
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“Hi,
Hope this finds ya'll doing well, we're all OK here..
Sorry it has been so long since I've sent any news, my life is something past insane..
I have to tell you about our boy..I think I told you I was having trouble w/ him obeying the "come" command and some others unless he just wanted to obey..Well, I am training he and Kai in Lithuanian, and he does WONDERFUL...I can't begin to explain it, but it works..Takoda now weighs in at 79.9 lbs..He is also a wonderful babysitter, we seem to always have rescued puppies here, and Koda plays w/ them, they climb and chew on him, and he just lays there..By the time he is 1 we will be fully certified in visitation therapy..We are working very slowly at our Search & Rescue training, but that is mostly my fault..Some days my back hurts so bad I can hardly make myself get up..

KAI is also doing GREAT with her training, she is my velcro baby..She is much shyer then Koda, she much prefers to just stay beside me..She took right to the new command training too..She also will be certified as soon as she is 1..

Take care, GOD BLESS..jodi”
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“Karen,
You should see this boy playing in the pool..He seems to be part duck..
I LOVE him sooooo much, there is no way to THANK YOU for him..jodi”
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“Hey Girl,

 Hope this finds you doing well, we're OK all things considered..

Teka - Sire~Pahuuma

Teyha

"This picture (left) is about a month old and she is even bigger now.  She has really beautiful colors and almost everywhere we go people ask us about her.  She has been great with the kids especially our 2 year old, Josh. He likes to pretend he is a puppy too and I think Tehya is convinced he is her sibling.  We have been taking her to Puppy Kindergarten and she is doing really well.  Her favorite part is the treats.  We are still working on the house training but she has getting better each day. "
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Thundering Timber

Tonweya - Sire~Pahuuma

Tonweya Hota

"Yes, baby boy and I are safe at home.  Little Tonweya Hota is already turning out to be a great pup. He was quiet the whole way home except when he had to go to the bathroom. He cries to let me know that he has to go. I bought potty paper to train him but that's not necessary. He also already knows his name. 
At home he went up to Nino, my dad's Corgi-mix dog, without fear and started to play with him. Though Nino still doesn't know how to take this young puppy that's as big as him. Sheena, my cat, is curious but hasn't bothered Tonweya nor he her. Right now Tonweya and Nino are playing with each other and running around my upstairs "apartment." Later today Tonweya and I are going to have some fun at Petsmart. You can reassure Hakata We that her little boy is safe, happy, and spoiled.
Talk to you later, Mindy and Tonweya"
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Wahea