Gonja (2003-2011)

I did not name this dog. A sweet boy, he’s actually number two in the pecking order behind Sima. I’ve watched him break up fights. This is a good thing, he can get there faster than I can. I’m told this is mimicking me rather than a typical alpha or beta behavior, but I’ll take it whatever its origin. I do try and break up fights as soon as I can, but that usually is at least a few seconds, if not tens of seconds. Given this, I do have a notion of who the better fighters are and Gonja is surprisingly good. As near as I can tell, he has an extremely fast reaction time compared to the other dogs and a strong enough drive to use it. Kind of ironic when you consider his name. Gonja wins the award for best show dog. That is, he is best at putting on a real show when he wants something. We’re learning the “work it” command and maybe with some success. Gonja has been in my lead rotation for several years and on good days may be my best gee-haw leader. On bad days, not so much.