Angel Baby

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!

Dogs everywhere!

 When we named our place it kind of happened because we had three dogs, but my Dad use to always talk about a Three Dog Night, it is kind of named for both.  My Dad loved the Piney Woods of East Texas, he never made it out here, he never saw any of my dreams coming true…he died at the age of 49.  

Why did I bring that up?  Well, I have always liked big dogs…having acreage is kind of nice when you have big dogs.  I no longer have just three dogs anymore though, it seems like I have collected a few more.  We found Ciara on the side of the house as a very young, sickly puppy.  I can’t basically nurse a dog back to health from the brink of death and not have an emotional attachment.  I got Gretchen and Schotzie from my local feed store, they had been dropped off on a highway and Gretchen followed me all over the store, Jackie was trying to find homes for the puppies and it was the last two.  She already had 7 dogs at home…she couldn’t take them home and was worried about leaving them at the store…lol, I love puppies!  Yep I took them home.  We had lost one of our original three, so now we have five big dogs.

Well…we did have five, but then my husband saw how skinny the neighbors dogs were.  Noticed that it didn’t look like they were still there.  The dogs were chasing cars, and getting thinner.  He took food to them.  The next morning he asked me to take more food to them and water.  I did…and it appeared that one of them was nursing puppies.  She was very food aggressive.  I spread food out so the five of them could all eat…but, she stood on top of the food and if any of them got close, she barked and snapped at them.  I told them tho follow me, we could get some more food at my house.  I could easily count their ribs, their hip bones were poking out and the spine was clearly visible.  I knew we needed to help them, if we didn’t they would die.

The first few days they would go back to their house after I fed them.  I saw the Momma dogs face in the window of one of the abandoned houses next door.  I had not seen her puppies, but thought they might be in that house.  My husband forbid me to search the houses for the puppies.  But, after reaching out on social media a lady who helps rescue dogs came out and found them.  Trouble is, we didn’t have a place for 5 adults and 5 puppies at my house!  Yes, ten dogs!  Remember, I already have five big dogs.  Well, the Momma dog decided to move her puppies under my shed, the adults took up residence on my porch.

At least they had food and water, some kind of shelter too…my porch and under my shed.  I tried to find a rescue, they were all full.  So, I asked for help and I have gotten help.  Food and donations.  Good news is, I was able to keep the puppies until they were weaned, then a foster was found and now the five puppies have all found homes.  The three adult males were all health checked and neutered, two have found homes.  The Momma dog has dried up now and will be scheduled for spay soon, if she is ready.  The white female gets spayed Monday, it has been postponed a few times.  I have one male left to find a home for too.  But all in all, the dogs are healthy getting spayed and neutered and their shots.  At the moment, I still have 8 dogs, not the original 3, but at least these extra ten won’t be a statistic out here and I won’t find their bones and fur in my woods.