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Gremlin appears to be a Miniature Pinscher with natural ears and tail. She even has freakish rear dewclaws. All of these things would have been chopped off by a "responsible breeder". Gremlin looks somewhat like a smaller version of my other dog, Gripper, but she has a much different personality. Gremlin is about three years old, weighs about ten pounds, and is about 12" tall. In 2007, she was found on the roof of a van in a supermarket parking lot and taken to a shelter. She was about a year old, fat and missing most of her fur when she was found. After three weeks of fostering by an agility friend of mine, her fur had grown back and she had lost some weight. Her foster mom emailed me a photo and story and asked if I was interested in her. I wasn't really looking for another dog but she was really my "type" and I went to go meet her. She got along fine with my other dogs and that was that. Grem's foster mom called her Olive but that was too girlie for me. I'm not fond of human, gender-specific names for dogs. Based on her mischievious personality and size, the name Gremlin seemed more appropriate.
Gremlin loves rough-housing with Nik and running with big dogs in the park. She loves people and children and is sweet and lively in every situation. In 2008, I didn't do much agility training with her since we were traveling so much. But by the end of 2009, she had pretty much mastered the basics. This video from 2010 shows us at a practice session in Staten Island, NY. I'm giving some thought to competition but need to work on her focus in different environments.
Grem's a quick learner and I have taught her many tricks. She snores when she sleeps and will eat anything including mud and grass. She is also obsessed with hunting birds and rodents. I have to be very careful with her off-leash outdoors as she can take off and run for miles with no concern for my whereabouts. I have never seen a dog with such confidence. I thought I was adopting a lap dog but she is anything but that.
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| she loves the view |
soaking up the radiator heat |
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| with her boyfriend, Sputnik |
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cuddling with Grip (who'd have thought it possible!) |
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| demonstrating her begging trick |
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swimming Grand Coulee, WA |
post-swim Libertyville, IL |
lure coursing Colts Neck, NJ |
modeling her remote spray collar |
with a roadside pal Winlock, WA |
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Congressional Cemetery Washington, DC |
beach junk, retrieving, and chasing gulls Salem, MA |
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enjoying a street performer San Francisco |
looking for trouble Washington, DC |
somewhere in FL |
checking out Los Angeles |
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with a skull she found Nashville, TN |
asleep in my lap |
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