Posts from — June 2008

Hi all.  WOW, it has been a long time since I wrote my first story.  I am now 7 years old.  I had 2 litters of puppies and had a uterine infection with my third pregnancy.  I had to be spayed.  Woohoooooooo!!!  I am so glad I don’t have to nurse and clean puppies anymore. 

My current job is Puppy Daycare Specialist.  Pretty impressive, huh?  This means that I run around the front yard keeping 6-10 week old puppies busy while their Mom gets some relief time.  My job is fun!  Isn’t that the way it is supposed to be?  They chase and chase me, but can’t catch me.  If I get tired, I just jump on top of the picnic table and they run around it trying to find the non-existent ramp to the top.  Hee hee!  They don’t understand how I get up there, but they will learn when they are older.  Younguns…… what are ya gonna do with ‘em?  I really have a lot of fun with them.  Mom says it’s kinda like having grandkids.  You get to love ‘em and spoil ‘em and send ‘em home.  You just get to have fun with ‘em.

Mom and Dad have included 2 more girls in our “in the house” family.  Tula was the first.  She was the sweetest little girl when younger, but something happened.  She has always liked to run far and fast.  Well, Dad took her to Montana and when she came home….she turned into a cinderblock.  That’s what Mom says.  She is so muscled and hard bodied that she isn’t easy to hug anymore.  She tears the stuffing out of all the toys just to find the squeaker.  There is stuffing all over the floor most of the time.  But, Mom hasn’t learned her lesson.  She just keeps bringing toys home.  And…Tula is sooooo selfish.  When Mom brings home a new toy, Tula gets it and won’t let anyone else play with it…..except Mom.  She takes every toy she can find to Mom, just so Mom will throw it. 

The other new girl is Thelma Liz.  Yes, I said “Thelma Liz”.  My Dad and his names!  He named her after a country western song where the guy says his wife’s name is “Betty Lou Thelma Liz”.  And….Dad stuck all 4 of those on her.  Mom said that Thelma Liz was enough for us to say, so that is what we call her.  She is Mom’s little sweetheart.  She is small like Peanut and already 9 months old.  She likes to play and take naps.  She also likes to run like the wind.  When Mom and Dad let her out, she runs off.  They call and call and call her, but the only way she will come back is if Dad shoots his training cap pistol in the air.  She comes straight to the house looking for whatever Dad shot.  She is such a youngster.  I really like her.  Tula is a little more spastic. 

The fun begins when Tula and Thelma Liz are both in the house with me.  Well, fun for them.  I just get out of the way.  They run and race and fight over toys.  They have a routine of running across Mom and Dad’s bed (it’s also mine), through the bedroom door, across the Living Room, on the sofa rounding across the back cushions, back to the bedroom, across the bed, back to the Living Room, then this time going around the sofa into the kitchen racing around the island, and repeating all this several times.  It just wears me out watching them!  I only have to make sure I am out of their path.  THEN….at night….they get on the bed and start wrestling for anything and everything.  I don’t even attempt to get on the bed until they have settled down.

Once they have settled down, whether they are tired or Dad has had enough, I get on the bed between Mom and Dad, wait for Dad to hand out the vitamins, and settle in for the night.  Life is good!  I truly am blessed to have it so good!

Sarah

Wow, has it gotten hot!  The heat got me to thinking about what I do to keep dogs in training cool. 

As I sit here the dogs are all sprawled out on their concrete slabs absorbing the cool energy stored up from overnight lows.  The huge oak trees present on the farm prior to construction were carefully saved and really has been an awesome blessing when it comes to keeping summertime dogs cool.  The south facing kennels receive a good breeze from the open pasture of nearly 40 acres.  Of course my ‘inside Brittanys’ are inside with me enjoying the a.c.

To supplement the existing shade and to cover my newly constructed kennels, I planted more trees in key locations to help provide more shade.  For this area, the fast growing semi-arid climate loving afghan pine works well.  I planted 3 five to six footers 3 years ago and they have nearly tripled in size.  They started as Christmas trees in a plant pot.

In the summer, I have fans installed that take advantage of the predominantly south blowing breeze.  I have a 4 foot fan with add on mister blowing down the line of kennels.  Half way down, I have second high speed/high volume fan that pushes the air further down the line.  On the far end a nice cool breeze can be felt. 

My automatic lickets are fed by cool well water.  The water in the lines warms up due to hot ambient temps so to offset that issue, I have a thermal popoff valve that opens when the water lines above the ground reachs 85 degrees.  It closes when the cool well water rushes forward lowering the temperature in te lines to 70.  I have a drip line on the warm water that was expelled and move it about the yard watering different plants so there is no waste. 

To help keep dogs cool in summer when working out, there is a 6ft round galvanized stock tank that is strictly for the dogs.  I keep it clean and sanitized with chlorine tabs for pools.  Test strips are used to make sure the water doesn’t get overtreated for the safety of the dog.

Short of building an indoor kennel with airconditioning I think my system works fairly well. 

Guess that’s it for today.

Take care and tell your buddy that Dave says ‘good dog!’

Dave