It was a long weekend of canning and attempting to get things put up. I have learned how to can meat and beans lately. When I am busy all day in the orchard or garden, cleaning chicken coops, tending bees or doing general yard work and daily chores, it comes in very handy. Pressure canning is time consuming, but spending a day or two doing it, I can have home cooked meals for a few weeks when I don’t feel like cooking after a long day. Canned brisket is really good for street tacos or burritos, and slapping some on a bun with pickles onions and BBQ sauce is great!
We have had the white dog Angel in the house for about a week now, she is pretty good at going into her kennel with a treat prompt, but she is food aggressive with my dogs. She is a counter surfer, which I need to remember it is not good to leave anything out she might like. She needs to learn the house rules. I guess she decided she needed some cheese shreds last night because I left them on the island…she ate what was left in the bag then my dog Gretchen brought the empty bag into the living room. I cannot see into the kitchen from the living room…but, since my dogs have never done anything like that…I know it was Angel.
Angel was taken to the mobile vet today for Spaying and shots. She was let into the house so that she could get use to being in a kennel. It is very hot out, the anesthesia makes it hard on them for regulating body temperature…so she gets to be in the house. It has been hard with the food aggression. My dogs are use to sharing. Angel has started a few fights and I am hoping spaying helps calm down the fighting. My dogs have some battle scars now. Poor Sophie didn’t do anything but try and eat and now the bridge of her nose has a couple of wounds and swelling, her eye keeps getting gooey too. You would think a 100+ pound dog would put a 45 to 50 pound dog down…but she came out the looser in that fight.
Angel Baby is a protective dog and she will put other dogs down that try to get to me, Roxy and Warren have both just wanted attention and she will take them down too. These are the dogs the neighbor left to starve. We want to keep Angel, but not at the expense of our dogs happiness or health. So I am hoping the lady helping me with them is right and the spay will help. Otherwise she will have to go.
We had an unfortunate event yesterday too. We let the dogs stay inside while my husband mowed and I picked fruit. I normally put my dogs in their kennels if I am going to be outside awhile, but, I didn’t yesterday. I was just picking blueberries so I figured I wouldn’t be outside that long. I came in and after washing the berries, went into the living room. At first I thought the dogs tore up one of their beds…until I picked up a piece of what I thought was foam rubber…it was not! It took me a minute to realize what it actually was…it felt slightly sticky, it had a mild scent…it was everywhere, all over the floor, the rug, several of the dog beds. I noticed one of my candles was missing and put two and two together. Yep, they chewed up a 3 inch thick pillar candle that was about 8 inches tall. It was tiny bits and pieces, with a few bigger pieces maybe an inch or so…but the floor and surfaces were covered in wax.
Oh well, live and learn! I am hoping that Warren, the last male has a home soon. He is a good boy and I like him, but I can not have 8 dogs much longer. I spend too much time cleaning up messes like the wax, or cleaning up things they chew up outside, or filling holes so I don’t break an ankle. My patience isn’t what it use to be and I have enough to do already!