My dog is so smart

Whipper has adjusted to being a full time house dog very well.  He pretty much housebroke himself.  His crate is his "cave", and he often goes in there in the evening when he knows I'll be shutting him in it for the night.

He does something I don't think I've heard of another dog doing.  I've certainly never seen it.  He cleans his own teeth.  Apparently, food gets caught in his back teeth, and that long narry jaw is kind of hard to work it out of.  When he was an outside dog, he scraped his teeth on whatever he could find in the yard.  Statuary, deck rail, whatever was the right height, and he seemed to prefer a rather sharp edge.

So now he's in the house after he eats, and I watched him trying to find something to scrape on.  When he went to the corner of a table, I said no.  I could see him thinking as he looked around the house.  Every time he went to a piece of furniture, I said no.

He had tried the gate to his crate but it wasn't stationary.  After telling him no to furniture again, I got up and went to his crate and pointed to the corner of it.  I pointed several times, told him to try this, and sat back down.  Darned if he didn't try it!!!  I really didn't expect him to understand what I was saying, but he did!  But I guess the crate corner (it's all wire) wasn't quite what he needed.

I had some cardboard from unpacking, and fashioned a thing on the corner of his crate that was more like what he liked to use.  When I saw him looking for a place to scrape today, I showed him the cardboard.  And he immediately used it!  I'll probably make it more permanent with a piece of wood later, but at least he gets the idea.  I'm wondering if he'd like something more like a toothbrush.  I have small cleaning brushes in my tools that might work.

Brush my dog's teeth?  Pffft.  He'll do it himself, thank you.

tnt
Natureschild

I am here!

I consider the official move-in date to be Feb. 25.  That's the day I handed over the keys to my old place, and the last day I needed drive back to TN.  Just had a few things left to pack into the car for the final drive home.  HOME.  I'm still adjusting to that.  It's just now starting to feel like home, even though everything is in piles all over the house.  Some needful things it's taken a while to find in the chaos.  I tried to pack essentials last so it'd be fresh in my memory where they went, but some things still went invisible.

Whipper has had a bit of a rough time adjusting to the move, but he's getting there.  When the delayed closing on this place and the really crappy snowy weather in both TN and SC set my time frames back, I was still running back and forth after the furniture came down on the moving van.  Whip takes up quite a bit of space in the car which meant less room for stuff.  Couldn't leave him in the house for 6-8 hours a day while I ran back and forth.  Couldn't leave him tied out either.  My good friend Alan saved the day by taking Whip in until I was done moving.  He raises show dogs, and often takes in houseguests of the 4-legged kind, and I knew Whipper would be a good houseguest.

The first night here, Whipper wasn't comfortable.  Long drive, strange place, paths between piles of stuff, tie-out instead of fence, and then a thunderstorm.  He stressed in a very messy way.  The good thing is that even though he's been an outside dog all his life, he tried to tell me he had to go, but I wasn't quick enough for a bout of diarrhea.  He also went off-feed which didn't help.  He drank a bit of water and that was it.

Alan had medication for the diarrhea, and got him eating.  He learned about potty times with Alan's schedule.  His stay ended up being a week instead of the 4 days I thought it would be, but Alan was the best about that.  I know his time there was much better for him than what he would have endured while I was still moving.  So now we are here, and he went off feed again the first day, but was eating normally by the 3rd day.  I tried to get him on a potty schedule but we aren't getting it.  Now I put him on the tether twice a day for a while.  Eventually, I'll just see if he tells me he has to go out.  Housebreaking has been no problem so far.  His fastidious nature, and apparently being able to hold it for a long time took care of that.  Can't wait to get the fence up.  I think part of the problem is the tie-out.  He's not used to it.  I have been crating him at night so he doesn't get the notion to wake me up in the middle of the night.  My own sleep habits are too iffy for that.  Happily, even though he's never been crated, he took right to it.  He goes in on his own whenever he wants, and actually spends quite a bit of time in it.  It's about the same size as the dog house he had in TN, so I guess it feels like his house.  I only latch it at night or when I leave the house.  Works for me.

The weather has been cool here (still warmer than TN!), which is good so I can do what I need in the house.  Gonna have to deal with the yard very soon.  I'll get some before pictures before I do anything else.  I'm going to hire someone to clean out the underbrush.  The back and one side are overgrown with privet and brambles (just can't get away from those damn brambles!).  They gotta go, there's currently very little usable backyard space.  This is also necessary before I can fence.  The brush has eaten up the property lines and then some where the fence will go.

I haven't got bird feeders up yet, but so far I've seen Blue Jays, Titmice, Robins, a woodpecker I haven't ID'd yet, and gray squirrels.  Lots of squirrels.  Guess I'll be chasing them off the feeders.  Haven't had to do that since MI.  The trees are oaks and pines.  Not sure what kind yet.  That's the kind of habitat squirrels and the birds I've seen like.  Many of the trees have ivy (it's evergreen) growing up their trunks.  I don't mind ivy, it looks cool.  I will want to control it to some extent.  Also some heavy vines on trees that are either Virginia creeper or poison ivy.  Please oh please be creeper.  Won't be able to tell until they leaf out.

There are some new landscape shrubs (still have tags) around the front of the house.  Haven't investigated what they all are.  Azaleas for sure, but I'll have to bend down and look at the others' tags.  Don't know if I'll leave that landscaping as it is, but I like azaleas, and they don't like to be moved, so I'll probably work with them.  A boring shrub would have to go.

Stay tuned as I transform the yard into the lawnless garden I envision.  I hope to hire a neighbor kid or somebody to cut the grass until that happens.  Don't even own a lawnmower and don't intend to.

tnt
Natureschild

Happy New Year

The move is happening!  Sold my place, found my new place, and it's all over but the final signatures.  Where am I going?  South Carolina, just outside Greenville.  I ended up with the house that's been at the top of my list all along.  If all goes well, I'll be moved in mid-February.  Almost finished with the packing, and then it will just be the essentials that I can't pack yet.

So there won't be much posted here for a while as I settle in.  Already planning my new garden...sorta.  Can't make real plans until I'm more familiar with the lay of the land, but I have a lot of ideas about what I want to do.

Whipper has been learning to be a full time house dog.  As you might know, he's always been an outside dog and nightwatchman.  Now that all the animals are gone, he can be retired, and he deserves it.  He just turned 10 years old, but doesn't look or act a day over 5 (except for sleeping a lot).  The extreme cold weather this month was the first factor in bringing him in.  I don't completely trust him to be fully housebroken, but he's always been so fastidious (he goes as far from the house as he can get, cleans his own feet, etc), I didn't think it would be difficult.  The 2nd bathroom has been serving as his "night crate".  It's not very big, and I knew he wouldn't do any damage in there.  I couldn't take a chance on him damaging the carpet before I turn it over to the new owners.  The new house has no carpet (yay!), and a small laundry room that can serve as a temporary training crate.  He'll be used to being confined to a small room at night when we get there.  He'll have to be tethered at the new place until I get the backyard fenced.  I'll be working on that as soon as I get down there.  Taking a dog outside to a tie-out for potty breaks is a pain in the arse.  And I'd like the fence in place by spring so I can begin gardening the space.

That wicked cold snap gave me my record low here.  I had never seen zero in 9 winters, but that day, it went down to -1 with a high of 17.  I'm really looking forward to slightly warmer winters in SC.

See you on the other side (of the mountains)
Natureschild

Dumb Bird

Not much else happening these days so here's more of the Bird saga.

Shortly after I took the last photos of Bird's attachment to Whipper, I was able to catch this scene.  Bird was on Whipper for quite a while.  This one looked a lot like mating behavior.  Bird was vigorously drubbing Whipper's shoulders, and it must have been a pleasant massage because Whipper barely twitched through the whole session. 

Still no reaction.  What a dog!  Since this, Bird has been concentrating his efforts to mount Whipper at the other end.  Apparently not as pleasant for Whipper as he won't allow it.

Bird was roosting in a tree whenever he could.  I tried several times to reprogram him to roost under the carport where he'd be dry and safe.  I lured him into the pen with birdseed, locked him in for the night, and then let him out in the morning to forage.  It seemed to be working for a few days, but when I tried letting him come and go as he pleased, he again went for the tree at dusk.

Now this particular tree is actually a large wild privet shrub just the other side of the back fence.  It held leaves longer than most other trees, but it's not a substantial tree and the branches are flimsy.  I didn't know how he was getting up there.  I always missed that small window at sunset when he went to roost.  The fence is 5 feet tall, I really didn't think he could fly over it.  I thought maybe he was using the tree in front of the fence to sort of climb up and then hop over to the fence and then to the privet.  I finally caught him in the act, and he was flying straight up off the ground to the top of the fence!  Well heck.  I threw up my hands in defeat.  Fine, if you want to be undomesticated, you're on your own.  I knew it was just a matter of time before he came down in the morning on the wrong side of the fence, it's happened before.  And being a dumb bird, he wouldn't remember that he could fly back in if he wanted.  If I wanted him in, and he seemed to want in, I had to spend some time and birdseed to lure him in the gate.

Then we got our first snow this week, and it was a pretty good one.  It started out as all day rain, and turned to snow overnight.  When the sun came up, it was a winter wonderland.  A good 3" or maybe a bit more.  It stuck to everything, and it got so cold that night, it was ice under the snow.  Not a good night for a chicken without a roof over his head.

I couldn't see him in that privet from the house.  I heard him crow once that morning before the sun came up,  so I knew he was there at that time.  I thought about how disorientated he would have been when he saw his surroundings after sun-up.  Nothing but white everywhere.  He was hatched this spring, he's never seen snow before.  He wouldn't have known where to go when he came off his roost.  The weight of the snow on those weak branches would have changed his roost, and maybe even dumped him on the ground.  After that one crow, I never heard or saw him all that day, and I was watching for him.  I figured he was history.  He would have been very cold and probably wet to the skin, and maybe not able to walk in the snow with those fluffy leggings of his.  He'd be easy pickings for a predator.  If I had seen him outside the fence, I would have gone back and lured him in, but I didn't.  As usual, I have afterthoughts.  As soon as I saw he could fly over the fence, I should have penned him up so I could clip his wings.  I felt really bad that I didn't think of it soon enough.  So with regrets, I bid Bird R.I.P.

Then there he was the next morning pacing along the fence!  Looking hale and hearty as ever!  Where was he all the day before???  I got him back in the gate, and penned him up that evening.  Just before full dark after he went into roosting stupor, I went out and clipped his wings.  Now he's leery of me again, but at least he went to roost in the pen on his own last night.  Maybe he realized that the carport was much more comfortable than a tree when there's cold wet stuff falling from the sky.  Or he realized he can't fly now.  Nah.  This is a chicken brain.  Doubt he can process that much.  We'll see how it goes.

Sure hope this cold snap breaks soon!  20's at night and barely 40's during the day even though it's been crystal clear and sunny since the snow.  Way too cold for me.  

tnt

Natureschild

November

After observing this scene several times since I posted it the last time, I've come to the conclusion that Bird just likes hanging with Whipper.  I wasn't quick enough with the camera yesterday.  Bird pecked the ground between Whipper's front and hind legs.  It was only when he pecked his body that Whipper reacted.  He swung his head at Bird with a show of teeth.  Don't blame him.  I've been pecked by chickens and it can really hurt.  That's as far as it went.  Bird left, and Whipper resumed his doze.

Bird is also warming up to me.  Especially since he learned I'm the keeper of the bird seed.  He forages under the bird feeder for dropped sunflower seeds.  I began giving some just to him, and now he's liking me a little better.  He's even coming up on the porch when I'm out there.  I picked up a bag of the cheap mixed/cracked corn bird seed I used to feed my flock of chickens.  Pickings are getting slimmer now that we've had a few good frosts, so I'll supplement his grazing with the bird seed.

The next shot is a rare capture.

This is an Eastern Towhee (previously called Rufus-Sided Towhee).  I see them now and then under feeders, and this is the first time I've caught it on film.  This was taken at full zoom through the window so not as clear as I'd wish.  They're secretive ground feeders, and prefer forest floor where they forage for seeds and insects.  They have a unique method that's very chicken-like.  They scratch and hop back to see what they uncovered.

Our first frost on 10/26 was actually first freeze.  It went down to 23F that night.  That and the lack of rain hurt the fall color show.  Usually a light frost or two gets leaves turning, but a freeze will kill them before that can happen.  The crape myrtles went immediately to dull brown dead leaves instead of the pretty pastels they usually give.  Then the first hard fall wind last weekend blew most of the leaves off everything.  So disappointing fall color around here this year.

tnt

Natureschild

Random Shots

So this happened.

I had gone into town, and had been back home for about an hour.  I heard the neighbor's dogs carrying on so I looked out to see what was up.  Saw these 2 horses in their front yard driving their dogs crazy.  The horses were not the least bit intimidated, and in fact, went after the dogs a little bit.  The horses even went right up to their front door and putzed around between their car and house.  That was when she came out and shooed them off.  I was waiting with my camera because I was pretty sure they would make their way to my place for a good shot.  They did.

They checked out all of my front yard before heading off down by the creek, and I assume back home wherever that was.  It seems to me I saw these in a field on my way into town, but don't remember exactly where.  Somewhere not far down in the neighborhood I think.  So this was a fun diversion.

This next scene I've been waiting to capture because I've seen it more than once.

This rooster is one of the 24 chicks my hens hatched this spring.  When I sold the flock, he was the one I could not catch.  The attempts to catch him must have traumatized him because he won't have anything to do with me.  He takes off if he even sees me in the window.  He has done just fine on his own.  I don't feed him, but I do maintain a water bowl for him.  He doesn't seem to fear Whipper at all.  I'm not sure if he just likes being near him, or if it's the fact that they both like this patch of bare ground under the crape myrtles.  He spent some time getting snuggled into his little wallow for the mutual siesta.  If Whipper knew he was there, he didn't show it.

Because of this bird's semi-feral attitude, he will stay as part of the landscape when I move.  I wouldn't be able to catch him anyways.  He's roosting as far up a redbud tree as he can get which is farther than I can reach so I can't even snag him at night. 

Getting our first taste of winter this week.  They're calling for first freeze and maybe snow tonight.  I finally got all the daylilies (16!) I want to take with me potted up.  Just have a few other perennials I want to dig up, and the beginning of my future new garden will be good to go.

tnt

Natureschild