Woof! I was born on a horse ranch in Galt, California on 10/11/1997 (see my astrological chart). I'm a Belgian Schipperke (English pronouciation: "skipper-key" (Flemish pronouciation: click here). I'm from a breed that dates back to the 15th century. Many of my ancestors were raised as barge dogs, in fact the name Schipperke means "little captain". We Schipp's are usually black, but I was born snowball white and later acquired a brownish-orange tinge; the official AKC color is "apricot". Here's my AKC pedigree and registration.

My official AKC name is, of course, "The Great Houdini". And one of my great-great-grandparents was named Hells Angel ! (If you don't believe it, go to the Schipperke pedigree search website and verify for yourself! Type in "The Great Houdini" in step 2 to pull up Houdini's geneology).
<--- click to see geneology

Arf! Well, those are my stats, so now let me tell you my story. As a tiny puppy, I had a lot of fun on the ranch with my brothers and sisters, but one day a nice stranger arrived who played with us pups and seemed to really like me so I curled up on his lap. The stranger left but a few days later he came back and took me to a truck where there was a Doberman puppy, named Gillis, and we went on a long journey.

Ruff! At my new home, me an Gillis were holy terrors, chewing on stuff, intimidating the cats, running around play-attacking each other, making lots of noise, and other unmentionable puppy-stuff, but my specialty was always figuring out how to escape from just about anything! And that's how I got my name!
<--- click for puppy pics!

Arf-a-woof! Well, one day Gillis and I were taken out to the garage where my new dad's motorcycle was parked to learn about motorcycle sounds so we wouldn't be afraid to be around one when we were older. I really thought it was cool. Later on my dad got the crazy idea to put me in a knapsack with my little head sticking out. He wore it in front instead of on his back so he could keep an eye on me and so I could see the sights. We went for a really fun bike ride!

And we've been ridin' together ever since! Bow-wow!

Love to all,
Houdini

PS: I outgrew the knapsack real fast but I have a place to sit over the tank, in front of my Dad, who is safety-chained to me in case he falls off ! Arf! Arf! Arf!

A well-know artist did some portraits of me recently.
Here they are! (click on either picture below to view).

And here's portraits of us on the bike drawn by young artist, Evan Groover...
(the first one when he was 6 and the second when he was 9 -- great progress!)
[click on each image to enlarge]

Here's a photo of me and my guardian
(courtesy www.HogPhotog.com
photographed by Dianne Lukash Ray)

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