Akayla is a Central Asian Shepherd, technically called a Central Asian Ovtcharka. Here's an excerpt from United Kennel Club's breed standard (the breed is not yet recognized by AKC): History For thousands of years, large, heavily-built dogs with cropped ears and tails have been used by the nomadic tribes of Central Asia to protect livestock from predators and other property from thieves. The breed developed as a result of rather harsh natural selection. The climate in the countries where the Central Asian Shepherd Dog developed ranges from hot and dry, to bitterly cold and windy. Only the hardiest of pups survived and only those with strong guarding instincts were allowed to stay with the flocks. Working Central Asian Shepherd Dogs are still found today in Afghanistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kirgyzstan, Tadjikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The breed is still very rare in the United States. General Appearance The Central Asian Shepherd Dog is a dog of great size with massive bone structure and powerful muscles. The body is slightly longer than tall. The head is massive. Ears are normally cropped close to the head but are naturally small, drop, and set low on the head. The tail is high set and thick at the base, and when undocked, hangs down to the hock with a sickle shape. Two coat lengths are accepted, but all are double-coated and thick. Gender differences are well expressed in this breed. Males are more massive and powerful; females are smaller and lighter in build. Dogs should be presented in hard, muscular condition. The Central Asian Shepherd Dog should be evaluated as a working livestock guardian dog, and exaggerations or faults should be penalized in proportion to how much they interfere with the dog's ability to work. Honorable scars resulting from field work are not to be penalized. And a little from another web site: Central Asian Shepherd dogs are said to be the oldest known group of dogs in existence today. Dating back over 5,000 years as per artifacts found in native lands. Unlike most breeds today, they are not man made or created by any specific reason or country. They were created by the climate and culture of a uncivilized time long forgot. You will find different breed types depending on the terrain from the mountains of Mongolia to the deserts of the Kara Kum. Their history is merged with the civilization of man and their timeline can be found by tracing the history of the ancient silk route. To understand their past history you must understand a time when surviving one day against extreme climates, predators now extinct and invading tribes was a goal not easily done. Today you will find Nomadic tribes using this pedigree groups of dogs to guard what they hold sacred: their family and their ancient form of transportation, be it camel or horses. Wrongly classified as traditional livestock guardians, they are territorial guardians bred to guard people and their possessions. They seek out human attention, thus bonding with their humans first and the flock second. They guard what ever is placed in their perceived territory. Superb pack oriented predator control dog; a cat in dog's clothing; X-large not giant but agile; problem solving, smart, attentive and affectionate; naturally protective of all they call their own. ----------------- Thanks for the additional encouragement! So far the process has been fun. I can see what you mean about the therapy going both ways. It's been interesting watching Akayla learn to respond to me instead of my husband. I think I'll take her to the park today and see if she'll take any treats from me. We need to practice "heeling."

(Had to scroll back to find the "nude dude". I like 'em.) I'm not a minimalist so all the "stuff" I would find interesting to visit. I'm not a fan of red rooms but so many over stuffed rooms I've seen pictures of are red so maybe that's part of the formula? The massive numbers of pillows on the sofas drive me nuts! I can imagine sitting down (daintily) and having them fall over my shoulders onto the floor, knocking the snifter of cognac out of my hand on the way down. Damage to expensive carpets be damned - I hate to waste cognac!

There are quite a few newspaper and magazine subscriptions available for the Kindle. One of the best advantages of the Kindle is that material can be downloaded without the use of a computer if the user lives in an area covered by Sprint. Amazon calls it Whispernet. On your Kindle you can access the Kindle store on Amazon, purchase a book or subscription, and have it downloaded directly to the Kindle without the use of a computer. The subscriptions will be downloaded automatically whenever the wireless access is turned on on the Kindle. It can be left on all the time but the battery drains faster when that is done. The download is almost unbelievably fast. If the user is not in a Sprint coverage area, then the download must be done through a computer.

socks, you can keep a library (Overdrive) sourced Kindle book and keep reading it on a Kindle reader for months and months IF (and only if) you turn off your data signal (whether Wifi or through a cell carrier). It's through that sign on that the Amazon site is contacted and the deadlines for library downloads are enforced and overdue ones get deleted. How you make that work is by downloading several books at a time, read them all with the data signal off, then connect and download several more. Repeat as desired. chisue, while there are Overdrive apps for different tablets and PCs, you can only check out library books from libraries where you have an account. But different libraries have different/nonidentical Overdrive subscriptions so you're likely to find books on the Hawaii Library Overdrive site that may not be available from your home library and vice versa. You can download Overdrive material from anywhere. Several of my kids have spent time living abroad and they were able to continue to download Overdrive-sourced Kindle and audio books using their US library accounts.