Here is our new puppy Nola who has come all the way from Alaska.  She and Zelda have been getting along; Zelda is showing her the ropes and she's been learning.

We don't ever leave the two of them unsupervised; even though today Zelda is the bigger of the two, Nola outweighs her already by about 10lbs and could easily injure out little butterfly girl.

Winter is creeping our way, its cold dark tentacles seeking the crevices around the windows and under the doors.  We're heading to Italy come next Friday for some sun and culture!

Here is Gael quietly working sheep as she earns her PT.  She is generally a bouncy Bouvier but is very quiet when she's around the sheep.

She's not ready for more stockwork yet so we'll concentrate on obedience with her this winter.

And here is the new pup Nola and Zelda, playing in the kitchen a few morning ago.  Zelda is fairly certain that Nola will take her pumpkin ducky!

Believe it or not, this is our side pasture back in the 1950's.  How Melvin was able to actually mow it is beyond me.

We shipped off our lambs on Monday and were delighted to get a decent price.  My friend Doreen had shipped hers last week and was appalled to open her check to find that she'd gotten 20 cents a pound.  We shipped to a different site and it made all the difference.

Lots of wind these past few days, leaves skidding across the gravel road, a few snowflakes and cold rain.  We know what the future holds here in northern Wisconsin!

2012  Mr. Roo

Autumn has arrived here in the little valley on Rustic Road 4.  Despite, or maybe due to, the drought, the color on the trees is soft and muted although when the sun lights up behind them, they burst into vibrancy!

I've cut back all the phlox in the little garden next to the shed and have plans for a gourd walk (the beginning of which you can see) - a walk under trellises which will take one to the chicken coop.  Fun!

We are really proud of Briarlea Reina de la Noche' this week as she went High in Trial at an all-breed herding trial, earning a 94 out of 100 possible points from the Started Class.  She's shown here with her trainer/handler Phyllis Clark.

We are also glad to report that our Gael (Briarlea Nightingale of Rustic Road) earned her first beginning herding title - the HT - or "herding tested" from the AKC.

We've had killing frosts here this week, the morning glories are finally done although we were commenting that the petunias still seem to be hanging in there!  Mornings are downright cold, frost layered over the pastures and the skies clear and bright with stars.  Quite lovely if one is sitting in the kitchen with the heater on!

Jim and I took the day off yesterday to drive up to Lake Superior and Duluth.  It was a perfectly gorgeous day, in the mid-70F range with a little breeze.  We took Gael and Solo along with us; they had a grand time chasing sticks, chasing one another, jumping in the lake and rolling in the sand.  We wandered up to the viewing point on Canal Street to watch the ore boats coming in - and spent a certain amount of time looking at real estate ads once home!

Today I hauled in what tomatoes are left; they are seriously blighted and it's forecast to freeze tonight so that's that.  I also brought in houseplants and drove over to look at some oat straw.  It's only $2 bale but the bales are pretty darned small.  Small sometimes is good however - manageable, I'm thinking...

Today is my birthday! So far so good!  Painters showed up at 7:30 to begin the house painting project, my son Miles called from hunting camp in Colorado to report that they'd gotten an elk and Trouble was successful in helping dog break some lambs.  Can't get much better in my small world!  In addition, I froze 10 gallons (yes, gallons) of tomatoes and am now taking a break.  It's very hot out, 91F as I write this at 4 p.m.

Spaying and Neutering

- an article from the Angry Vet website at www.angryvet.com

We need to bring to light the truths behind spaying and neutering your pets.  The big push to spay and neuter our pets, in particular before puberty, was brought about as a response to the explosion of stray animals without homes.  These strays ultimately have to be euthanized at shelters so it was a valiant effort to address a real problem.

The suggestion that dogs and cats should be spayed and neutered over time has evolved into the suggestion that they should be spayed and neutered because it is healthier.  We at Angryvet disagree.  There is a lot of evidence to support the logical claim that your pets may actually be healthier if left intact.

Think rationally.  How would removing a child’s reproductive organs before puberty affect their growth, maturation, and development?  Puberty and sexual maturation is imperative for bone, brain and organ development.  The same is true for your dogs and cats.

The go to argument that veterinarians tell their clients is that neutering eliminates testicular cancer and prostatitis.  Spaying eliminates breast, ovarian and uterine cancer.  What they don’t tell people is that at least one study shows that intact animals live LONGER.   Spaying and neutering not only potentially shortens the lifespan but also has been correlated with various illnesses.  Obesity (sometimes not even responsive to extreme calorie restriction), osteoarthritis, Anterior Cruciate Rupture, diabetes, hypothyroidism, prostatic cancer, hemangiosarcoma, osteosarcoma, urinary incontinence, urinary tract infection, juvenile vulva  are just a few conditions that are overly represented  in spayed and neutered pets.  We will discuss some of these correlations and published findings in our blogs.

In our opinion the healthiest pet is one that keeps its reproductive tract. This does pose challenges. Male cats mark and spray. It can be burdensome to have a non-spayed female dog bleeding in the house. Female cats, when they are in heat, will drive you nuts! Male dogs can become dog aggressive and mark their territory or the house.

The best compromise, if any of these things is too much to deal with, would be to spay and neuter at a minimum of one year if not two years of age. Allow your pet to reach full maturation and reach adulthood before considering surgery. We have seen shelters that spay and neuter at 6 weeks of age!  Clearly, this aggressive a surgery at such an early stage of development is not warranted.
Understand that there are options.  Educate yourself and take the approach that best suits you and your pet.  

Devi

One of the wonderful things about the internet is its immediacy!  Here is a picture of Devi out in California learning to bark on command.  She's 5 months old now and looks very much like Ray and Mabel!  We are so fortunate to have excellent homes for our puppies who will, hopefully,  be the excellent companions we all intend them to be.  The odds are well within their favor with families like Devi's!

Giant Scary Spider

All my family knows that I am terrified of spiders so going out to the barn has become an adventure this past week.  These giant spiders are in evidence in the afternoon - I"m not quite sure where they are during the day, likely lurking and watching from their lair!  This dandy fellow had created a web yesterday which spanned across the gate; the webbing is remarkably strong!

We wish him well but hope he won't jump or fall on me with his giant and scary self.

Betsy and Briarlea Stryker - quite the team!  Stryker is one of the ABdFC's Top 20 Performance Bouviers this year!

Betsy sent a note this morning:

Stryker got his top 20 invite today...he said "Top Twenty...no way, I'm # 1"!!! He for sure is in my heart. He is a most amazing dog and friend...always doing something funny and unexpected...what a great dog thanks!!

We hosted a stockdog clinic at my friend Phyllis's this past weekend.  I provide the stock and do the organizing and she provides the students.  We had Larry Painter fly up from Missouri to conduct the clinic; he's well known up here for his good way with students and upright dogs.  Susan brought along Noche' for the clinic and is shown here working her flanks - Noche' needs to 'go bye' or clockwise .. or 'away' or counterclockwise ... she is a very biddable Bouvier and a great first herding dog for Susan who is a novice handler.  It was a lot of fun for me to watch the two of them progress over the weekend!  Noche' is by Solo out of Ruby so has a lot of potential for work.

Man Ray, en garde!  Keeping his coat cut short for the summer, he is yet a handsome young fellow!

This is Cheezborgah!

 

Mark writes that: "puppy teeth almost gone!!!! she has not been biting as much, it must hurt her-good for us. she still has not wrecked anything but a flip flop

 

I am looking for cart harnesses, easy comfortable for her, maybe borrow/make a puppy one to train with. and an adult later. I'll take a picture of her cart.  It is tied up in the coop. she has the energy and drive to play-train and be fun, she does do well on leash but will pull if you let her. She does want to be dom. attacks from the back, can be very sneaky with a selective memory.

 

She sounds much like Ray!

Solo, Una, Trouble, Gale, Ray, Mabel and Fancy.

Mabel, Trouble's puppy, has been here for a visit.  Here are the current Bouviers living with us, out in the big dog yard this evening.  The fawn puppy is Fancy.

Got lots done today, sold our red saddleback fantails, powerwashed and primed the front of the house, tilled and weeded the lower garden, trained dogs, bathed Mabel for her return home tomorrow, moved the pigs, did some writing and mowed the lawns.  Tomorrow comes early!

Venny's Refrigerator Pickles

Makes 1 gallon.  You can add a 'little' water if you need to top them off but I"ve found that if you leave them be for an hour or so they generate enough liquid on their own.

Put into the jar:
7 c. sliced cucumbers
1.5 cups sliced onions (I omit these if I don't have little ones)

Mix and heat until the sugar is dissolved, simmer a minute or so:
2 T. pickling salt
2 cups sugar
1 cup vinegar
1 tsp celery seed (optional)

Cool down a bit then pour over the cucumbers. Refrigerate.  Ready to eat the next day, they keep nice and crisp for about a week.  They're generally gone well before then at our house.

I have no idea who Venny is but this is where the original recipe came from.  I got it from our Finnish neighbor Elaine Mannikko when we lived in Minnesota.

Where DOES the time go?  Here it is, mid-July already and the house still needs cleaning!  The monarda are particularly robust this year and, miracle of miracles, no mildew on them!  These, next to the barn are actually much darker in real life than it shows on my computer ~ they're quite dark purple/pink and I thought they'd look great with the yellow lilies but that's not quite working -- oh well!  The hollyhocks on the other hand have had a very tough year with fungus; I've cut these pink ones back to the ground.  I brought the seeds for our hollyhocks back with us from our trip to England's Kew Gardens about 12 years or so ago.  Ever since they've delighted us with their vigor and color but this year, well, it's tough.

I'm taking a writing workshop from the U of W this summer - it's fun - and I hope I'll have the inspiration and energy to update this blog more often.

In from mowing our weed....um, hay field, I am a little dizzy from the heat and the black polyester back brace that has rivers of sweat running down my back.  What a delight to see this little face peering out at me!  I can't tell yet if he is a red squirrel or a chipmunk but regardless, he's part of our daily life now as we monitor his progress from just baby to (hopefully) youngster.

It was Jim's birthday yesterday, we celebrated with strawberry shortcake (mostly a vehicle for whipped cream) and I presented him with a new Weather Station.  He thinks its ridiculous, I think it's wise.  Time will tell....!

Last week we took the white chickens off to Koenig's in Clear Lake, WI and brought them home in plastic.  It's amazing how quickly they grew!  Since life on our little farm is always part of a cycle, it is fun to report that we hatched out almost 20 ducklings this week - both runners and calls. 

The vegetable gardens are doing well; our tomatoes, potatoes, onions and squash all look excellent.  The cukes are coming along and the blueberries look like they will be heavy and blue soon.

In this week's dog report, we're glad to say that young Noche' got her HT title -- this is a beginner level herding title -- and Trouble got 2 qualifying legs in Advanced Ducks, one was a placement.  She needs one more "Q" to title and the good news is that she's entered next weekend so we'll keep our fingers crossed!  On deck is young Gale ~ a wild thing still, she needs to mature before doing a lot of work with her but we're fooling around with the stock and obedience and she's coming along by fits and starts.  Ray continues to charm all who meet him and is going to be a very fun Bouvier.

Summertime and the livin' is easy.... here's Cooper from our Solo x Ruby litter enjoying a swim!  He just had his 2 year old birthday last week. Great photo, Kiri!!

Crystal knows it's not all about making pies and driving to dog training!

This weekend Solo got his first leg in Open obedience and Trouble did well by taking a first place in Started Sheep on Saturday to finish her title, then on Sunday she qualified on Open Sheep as well as in Advanced Ducks, taking a third place to finish that title.  Good Girl, Trouble!

Domestic dogs display empathic response to distress in humans

June 7, 2012 in Psychology & Psychiatry

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(Phys.org) -- Research from Goldsmiths, University of London suggests domestic dogs express empathic behaviour when confronted with humans in distress.

Dr Deborah Custance and Jennifer Mayer, both from the Department of Psychology, developed an innovative procedure to examine if domestic dogs could identify and respond to emotional states in humans.
Eighteen pet dogs, spanning a range of ages and breeds, were exposed to four separate 20-second experimental conditions in which either the dog's owner or an unfamiliar person pretended to cry, hummed in an odd manner, or carried out a casual conversation.
The dogs demonstrated behaviours consistent with an expression of empathic concern. Significantly more dogs looked at, approached and touched the humans as they were crying as opposed to humming, and no dogs responded during talking. The majority of dogs in the study responded to the crying person in a submissive manner consistent with empathic concern and comfort-offering.
"The humming was designed to be a relatively novel behaviour, which might be likely to pique the dogs' curiosity. The fact that the dogs differentiated between crying and humming indicates that their response to crying was not purely driven by curiosity," explained Dr Custance. "Rather, the crying carried greater emotional meaning for the dogs and provoked a stronger overall response than either humming or talking."
The study also found that the dogs responded to the person who was crying regardless of whether it was their owner or the unfamiliar person: "If the dogs' approaches during the crying condition were motivated by self-oriented comfort-seeking, they would be more likely to approach their usual source of comfort, their owner, rather than the stranger," said Jennifer. "No such preference was found. The dogs approached whoever was crying regardless of their identity. Thus they were responding to the person's emotion, not their own needs, which is suggestive of empathic-like comfort-offering behaviour."
More information: The full paper has been published by SpringerLink and can be viewed here. The paper is also available at Goldsmiths Research Online here.

Provided by Goldsmiths, University of London

My 9 year old granddaughter Crystal is with us for a few weeks this summer.  Here is her first attempt at pie: chocolate on the bottom, butterscotch on top with a butter/lard crust :)   Made from our goats' milk and topped with whipped cream, we're sure the Surgeon General would approve!

 

Taken today, young Noche works on her flanks, stopping, recalling....

This is one of our goat kids - his parents are both from Jacobs Pride, a Nubian breeder in Arizona.  Our favorite doe, Cadeau, is sired by his grandfather out of a 6MG doe; we plan to breed Clover to this fellow in the autumn.









And this is one of the uses for our goats' milk  -- my first attempt at making soap!

 This is Man Ray, our new 'keeper' puppy from Solo and Trouble - we opted to have his ears cropped, the first since Solo's disasterous crop - and hope he continues to grow into the dog we think he will.

After 2.5" of rain in the past 24 hours, we were astonished this morning to see our Nelly Moser clematis in bloom!  This has been a reliable clematis for us ~ maybe not the showiest but a delight nonetheless!

Dog Bite Prevention Week: Dogs Don't Like Hugs

By Joan Orr on 05/22/2012

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A different kind of love

One of the most important things you can teach your children is that dogs don't like hugs and kisses. This is a tough lesson, because many (if not most) dog owners simply do not believe it themselves.
Children learn early on that giving hugs to parents, siblings, and stuffed animals is a way to show love and affection. The desire to show affection extends naturally to the family dog. To a child, the family dog is just an animated stuffed animal.

Sadly, this desire to show affection to the family dog is a major cause of facial bites to children. Dogs may tolerate hugs from kids, but few actually enjoy this type of attention. If a dog does more than tolerate this inappropriate handling, it is only on the dog's own terms—when the dog comes to the child for attention, and only if the child does not hug tightly or hang on too long. There is no dog that loves hugs from kids anytime, anywhere, anyhow.

Listen to the experts, including the dogs!

How do we know this about dogs? In part, because every dog-behavior expert tells us. For example, in her wonderful book For the Love of a Dog, world-renowned author Patricia McConnell says that she has at least 50 photos of kids hugging dogs—and in not one of them is the dog happy about it. We also know because dogs tell us, and dogs don't tell lies!
If your dog is enjoying a hug, he will do one or more of the following:

• Ask for more if you stop
• Lean into you
• Relax and close his eyes
• Pant and wag his tail with a loose body

If your dog is not enjoying a hug, he will do one or more of the following:

• Turn his head away from you
• Lick your face repeatedly
• Lick his lips or flick his tongue out
• Yawn
• Lick or chew at himself
• Sneeze
• Wriggle to get away
• Hold his body tense
• Shake off vigorously when you let go
• Show a half of moon of white in his eye
• Wag his tail stiffly

The dog in the video is typical of a dog about which owners would say, "He just loves the kids; they can do anything to him." If you hear yourself saying these words, take a closer look and see what the dog is really saying. In the vast majority of cases, the dog is saying, at least some of the time, "I don't like this—please make it stop."

Prevention is the key

When a dog tells us something and we don't listen, eventually the dog may not be able to take it anymore. At that point, the dog's only recourse is to use his teeth to say, "Stop that."
Be an advocate for your kids and your dog. Intervene as necessary, and allow only interactions that the dog truly enjoys.

I don't have a more recent picture of Briarlea Reina de la  Noche' BN (Solo x Ruby) or I'd use it to let you all know that she got her JHD title yesterday on a mixed sheep/goat flock.  This is a beginner title in herding for young Noche who turns 2 years old in June!  She is also entered in AKC trials in June -- results to come!  Noche' was the puppy I kept from that litter and she's turning out to be not only multi-talented but a beauty as well.  She lives with Susan Yochim in Woodbury, MN.

New obedience title with placement to finish for our good dog Solo!

cluck cluck cluck

The chicks have finally figured out how to use the little door in the east side of the coop!  They are truly 'free range' chickens, eating, growing, sunning themselves, finding bugs and worms in the ground.  A great life if you are a chicken destined for ... you know what and where...

 No rest for the weary!  Here is the little side garden we're working up near the dog yards.  Raspberries are on the left, a lilac hedge on the right protects us from the north winds and a load of compost needing leveling and tilling up is what you can see here.  We will likely plant tomatoes for the Cafe in this spot.

And here, our root cellar which doubles as a tornado shelter if need be.  There are still potatoes inside from last year which are holding well!  I tried using it to ripen cheese one year but the cheeses had quite a bit of not-so-lovely brown mold on them.  The face 'sculpture' on the left is a piece we brought home from New Mexico - he gives us constant delight as the snow or shadow molds his mood!

New Trouble video live!

Yesterday it was a warm 71F, we brought the stock into the barnyard since it was forecast to get cold and snowy and Jim took this little picture of me and some of the sheep. We currently have 31 lambs born and were finishing up checking tails on the rams. This is the last year we will fool with 'hair' sheep, I suspect.

Chica, our lovely new horse was helping herself to a little grain :)

New Trouble pup video today!

Blade from last year's Solo x Birdie litter! His owner writes: "He now stands at 26 and half inches at the shoulder and is developing nicely. He's still doing very well in agility and loves to bike and go to the beach. I'm working on a couple of issues with him but he is a wonderful dog and I couldn't be happier with him."

From her home in Montana comes a picture of Tillie and her friend, helping clean up the National Forests! Tillie is from our Solo x Ruby litter, a littermate to Noche' who just got her AKC Beginner Novice title.

A new puppy video and pdf file posted on Trouble's page! I'll be in and out tomorrow, picking up a new hay/manure bucket and having teeth cleaned on one of the Papillons. Good things to do since the weather's turned quite cold!

Congratulations to Susan Yochim and Briarlea Noche' on their new AKC BN title, finishing it with a 196.5 today! We also took Solo to an obedience trial yesterday where he got a leg with a 192.0!

Friday already! Where does the time go? Trouble's puppies are doing well, they are thriving ~ eating and sleeping. I cut Trouble's coat down today and filled an entire trash can with dead hair. Dogs generally blow their coats when they have pups and holy cow, did she ever decide to blow! We sent in entries for a herding trial in June so now we'll have time for her coat to grow back in and make Bouviers everywhere proud to call her one of our own :)

This week we sent some raspberries and some of our brown leghorn hens over to a new farmer in Deer Park, WI and our new neighbors down RR 4 stopped by and took Jim's beehive and supplies to their farm...they will bring us some honey some day..a good trade, I think. Part of today was spent cleaning the barnyard as I figure out how to use the manure bucket on the tractor; a new hay bucket is coming here next week to finish the cleanup project. Thanks to my son Seth for watching the craigslist ads!

With our weather returning to seasonal norms, it is time to put some cabbage and lettuces in the garden - maybe this weekend?

Larry, Moe and Curly.

Supreme Champion Dorset Ram

We decided to go back to Dorsets with our little flock having had mixed success with hair sheep (Dorpers) so today I went to Rocky Knob Farm in Roberts, Wisconsin and picked out our new flock sire.  Picture to the left is his father - a dandy fellow.

Trouble helped me once again this evening to put the ewes and lambs back in the barnyard after they had been on pasture for a few hours today.  And finally, a set of twins and another set of triplets from our old girls.

New chicks!  This year we have meat birds as well as some replacements for our hen flock.  Our hens are laying well but when I incubate eggs my percentage seems to be overwhelmingly cockerels!

I have the chicks in the kennel building for this first chilly week then they will go out to the coop.  The dogs are, in the meanwhile, fascinated!

Nine new puppies!  5 girls, 4 boys!

We started the morning by going out to the barnyard in the wee dawn hours to put the sheep in the barn in preparation for shearing.  I was so pleased to have Trouble help me - she moved all the ewes, heavily pregnant ones as well as the yearlings with their new lambs - quietly into the barn.  We were done in all of 10 minutes and back in the house for coffee.  What a champ!  I decided she should stay in the house while we did the shearing and let the sheep into the pasture.  This early evening she brought them back into the barn, again very quietly.  She's turning into an excellent farm hand.  About 8:30 p.m. she decided it was time to get with the program and have those puppies - the first one was born and we will check back in tomorrow with the rest of the story!

Trouble moved into the kitchen yesterday and I moved to the TV room and slept on the fold out couch.  It wasn't too bad since I was able to watch TWO movies!  Jim generally is up and out of the house by 5 a.m. so I suspect he also slept better.  She's not due until next weekend but today would be the first day she could have viable puppies and it just seemed like the right time.  She was restless all night trying to convince me she should come sleep at least NEXT to the couch if not exactly IN it but no, I held firm and she stayed in the kitchen, baby gates at every exit.  This morning she thought she should check on the lambs and ewes with me so off we went, sure enough there were a couple new lambs to move out of the barnyard so we had a little job to do.  She also met Clover the new goat who was NOT HAPPY to see this big black dog.  She didn't remember her from when she was a kid, I guess.  Trouble thought having goats back on the farm was a good turn of events and after all, she is the one in charge of keeping them in line so its good she approved.

You can see by the pictures that she carries her pups up under her ribs rather than back farther - she doesn't stick out on the sides much at all but rather down.  She's in very good spirits and is eating well although I can already see that she's getting a little thinner than I like to see.  This morning I supplemented her kibble with 2 eggs (those hens are laying like there's no tomorrow) and also about a cup of goats milk all cooked to a kind of custard.  Actually, this is what I start pups on when I have had goats in the past and they eat it readily.  Imagine that!

Here, also just for fun, is a pix of Mr. Pea as Jim calls him.  He's displaying for the pigeons.  Silly bird.

Here is our beautiful Clover.  We drove almost to Sioux Falls, SD on Sunday to pick her up (along with her kid.)  She's a lovely doe that we bred from 14* Six M Galaxy Fawn's Callista.  I milked her for the first time this morning and she was very cooperative for a first freshener.  We are only going to keep one or two goats for milk after realizing that two people can only use SO much milk after all!

We had a nice rain last night and it looks like more may be on the way.  It is so strange to have this balmy weather in March but honestly, it is very welcome as this coming week we begin lambing season.

Clover's kid

The 2011 National Bouvier Club rankings are finally out - our little tiny kennel has done just fine with the following:

 

Alta (mom to Trouble, Sam, Kaida and Bennie)  #5 Top Producer

 

Trouble #1 ~ herding, dogs defeated.

Sister Sam is #4 ~ herding, average score 86.25

 

We also have:

#2 Open Obedience - average score 190.4

#2 Utility Obedience - average score 185

 

#1 Open Obedience - dogs defeated 236 (19 Q legs)

#1 Utility - dogs defeated 84 (7 Q legs)

 

Agility:

#3 Open Standard

#1 Open Preferred

#1 Excellent Preferred

#1 Excellent B

#1 Excellent B Prefererd

#3 Excellent A

#3 MACH Points

We stopped at the vet in Capitan to have an ultrasound done on Karen and are delighted to report that she has puppies! We are slowly making our way home to Wisconsin and should be sleeping in our own beds on Monday.

We are stopping by the library once again to take advantage of their faster computers!  We plan to leave the sunny southwest on Saturday and head north to the cold and dark that is Wisconsin in the winter!  Here it is warm but the spring winds are upon us, gusting sometimes up to 60MPH and filling the house with a thin layer of dust, coating virtually every thing.

The dogs are doing well, TROUBLE is definitely pregnant and has taken to mooning around the house, eating voraciously and sleeping in until 8 a.m.  KAREN may be, she is off her food the past few days which is sometimes an early indication but sometimes it just means the dog isn't hungry.

We have been battling a little flu the past few days which has slowed us down some but not so much that we couldn't take in the Alamogordo Public Library Garden Party on Saturday complete with original western art auction!  We bought 2 great paintings and Jim also got an odd litho of a French street scene (!)  As his mom says, that is the way collections get started although any of our friends will readily comment that 'collections' started a long long time ago!

We are adding Karl from Montana to the list. If you are sending a deposit for one of Trouble's pups please note that we will not be home in Wisconsin for a few more weeks.

Jim buying dried chilis

I am writing from the Alamogordo Library where it is possible to upload images to my blog.  Here is Jim this past week buying a sack of chili peppers from a young fellow.  The peppers are from this past seasons crop and are hot, hot, hot!

We will be traveling to Hatch this coming week to meet our friend Nancy Culley for a chat and more chili purchases :)  Nancy and Terry have Bouviers and a Wire Fox Terrier...they run agility with their dogs.

 

Yesterday we traveled to Roswell to view the wonderous treasures at the Roswell Art Museum and Goddard Space Center where there was featured the workshop of the  father of modern rocketry and his early rockets.  Fascinating!

On to things dog for a moment!  Congratulations to Lynn and Ziva on their leg in Gamblers Agility and to Susan and Noche on the first leg of their Beginner Novice and to Solo for being issued a certificate for garnering National Placement #4 in CDSP Obedience.

Pregnancy Calendar for Dogs Date: Sun 11 Mar 112 Sire: Solo Dam: Karen Breeder: Wed 15 Feb 112 First day of mating. 48 hours after the first mating the bitch should be mated again. Subsequent matings occurring over a period of time enhance the chances of fertilaziton taking place. The spermatozoa migrate up through the cervix. Thu 16 Feb 112 Sperm travel searching for a mature ripened eggs. Thu 16 Feb 112 - Fri 17 Feb 112 Spermatozoa reach the eggs in the oviducts. Fri 17 Feb 112 - Sat 18 Feb 112 Fertilisation occurs in the oviducts which lead from the ovaries to the uterus. Sat 18 Feb 112 - Mon 20 Feb 112 Fertilised eggs migrate down the oviducts and into the uterine horns. The migration continue to enable even spacing of the embryos. During this migration the eggs will grow into a blastocystes. Sun 26 Feb 112 - Tue 28 Feb 112 The blastocystes implant in the wall of the uterus. Sun 26 Feb 112 - Sun 11 Mar 112 The blastocystes will grow into an embryos. During the next two weeks the important organs will develop. Wed 29 Feb 112 - Wed 7 Mar 112 Dams nipples begin to pink enlarge. The fur on the dams belly and around the nipples may become thinner. Tue 6 Mar 112 - Tue 13 Mar 112 Morning sickness might occur due to hormonal changes or stretching and distension of the uterus. Dam may appear a bit apathetic. She may be off her feed for a while and vomit from time to time. Feeding the dam several meals spaced throughout the day might help. Your veterinarian may want to prescribe a drug to relax the uterus Thu 15 Mar 112 An experienced person (a breeder or a veterinarian) can tell by careful palpation whether the dam is pregnant. It's now the best time to do this because the embryos are walnut-sized now and easy to count. Wed 14 Mar 112 Start to increase the dams food ration. Don't overfeed, excessive weight gain should be avoided. The foetuses are now and are fully developed miniature dogs. Tue 20 Mar 112 The Dams abdomen starts to get larger. Fri 30 Mar 112 It's very easy now to feel the puppies, counting them might be a bit more difficult. Mon 2 Apr 112 - Tue 10 Apr 112 Dam begins to spend a lot more time in self-grooming. Her breasts become even more swollen. She may become a bit restlessness and begin to search for a suitable place to have her puppies. Wed 4 Apr 112 The dam might lose her appetite during this period. Her abdomen can be crowded with puppies. It is better to feed several smaller meals spaced throughout the day. You can easily detect abdominal movement now. Wed 4 Apr 112 - Thu 19 Apr 112 Nipples and vulva should be gently cleaned with warm water, you might want to trim the hairs surrounding the nipples, to allow easier access for the puppies to suck. Sat 14 Apr 112 - Tue 17 Apr 112 Milky fluid may be expressed from the nipples. Sun 15 Apr 112 You might want to start taking the dams rectal temperature each morning and evening. Wed 18 Apr 112 Twelve to 24 hours before she is due to deliver, the dams rectal temperature may drop from 101 to 98 degrees. Clear discharge from the vulva might occur. Thu 19 Apr 112 Expected date of whelp. Of course this is just an average. Whelping may take place from the 59th to the 65th day. Puppies born before the 58th day will probably be too young to survive.

A little snow overnight, about 4 inches at our place. The road was closed off due to the treacherous conditions and accidents on the mountain, coupling that with. Big otero county drug bust and we indeed felt like we weren't in Wisconsin anymore. In the meanwhile, Solo and Karen have been living at the vet's in Capitan trying to get her bred. after an ultrasound showed cysts on her ovaries. They will remain there at least until Monday which puts in doubt whether we will make the obedience trial in Lubbock on the weekend.

Here you see (if you look very closely) part of an enormous dairy..yes, those are Holstein cows...this is between El Paso, Texas and Las Cruces.  I'd guess there are somewhere in the tens of thousands of cows here, the stench was overwhelming even in the car.  No green fields with daisies here!




Driving east from Las Cruces toward Alamogordo through the St. Augustin Pass there is a place to pull off and survey the vastness of the Tularosa Basin wherein lies the White Sands Missle Range and Holloman AFB.  It's quite the sight and quite the drive across this moonscape.