Goslings of 2014 Hatch-a-long

[Miss Lydia]

Toots and Babe have spent 2 nights with S&M and all is going so well. They are growing like weeds and M&S are in parental protection mode now.

 

[Starfire669]

I bet that Texas heat is hard on those breeds. They sure are pretty love those blue eyes 

The heat can be rough on them. The biggest thing is do NOT shave a Siberian! Siberians are double coated, the inner coat is the insulating coat, the outer coat of guard hairs is hollow, which allows for some heat exchange. By shaving a Siberian you take off the guard hairs and leave the insulating hairs which can cause heat stroke in hot climates. There is also the fact that a Siberians coat will never grow back to its original beauty once shaved off.
I keep my dogs cool by rotating them in and out of the AC. Outside they have a large tree for shade, a 5 foot round stock tank for swimming, and a large tub of water for drinking (Sasha is terrified of water, I was told someone used to spray water on her to discipline her and she refuses to get her feet wet now, poor baby). We also brush the dogs often and regularly, they shed the undercoat twice a year and brushing helps pull out the loose hairs. This not only helps cool the dog off, but it prevents my vacuum being blown from all the hair, lol. Managed right, Siberians can and do lead comfortable lives here in Texas, or at least ours do.

 

[Starfire669]

Toots and Babe have spent 2 nights with S&M and all is going so well. They are growing like weeds and M&S are in parental protection mode now. 

Yay for the happy family!

 

[Miss Lydia]

The heat can be rough on them. The biggest thing is do NOT shave a Siberian! Siberians are double coated, the inner coat is the insulating coat, the outer coat of guard hairs is hollow, which allows for some heat exchange. By shaving a Siberian you take off the guard hairs and leave the insulating hairs which can cause heat stroke in hot climates. There is also the fact that a Siberians coat will never grow back to its original beauty once shaved off.
I keep my dogs cool by rotating them in and out of the AC. Outside they have a large tree for shade, a 5 foot round stock tank for swimming, and a large tub of water for drinking (Sasha is terrified of water, I was told someone used to spray water on her to discipline her and she refuses to get her feet wet now, poor baby). We also brush the dogs often and regularly, they shed the undercoat twice a year and brushing helps pull out the loose hairs. This not only helps cool the dog off, but it prevents my vacuum being blown from all the hair, lol. Managed right, Siberians can and do lead comfortable lives here in Texas, or at least ours do.

Sounds like you take great care of your dogs and all the rest of your flocks too.

 

[Starfire669]

Sounds like you take great care of your dogs and all the rest of your flocks too. 

I domy best for them. I consider them my family, and spoil them accordingly. It does not matter what type of animals it is, once accepted into the family it gets the same level of love and care as the rest.
We just installed a second fan in the chicken coop to help pull a breeze through, and cool the chickens off during hot nights, lol. Spoiled birds.

 

[livininbrazil]

They are both Australian Kelpies. Tilly is a little overweight in that pic (only by a couple of kilos though) she is red and tan. Ita is black and tan. Most kelpies have some border collie in them somewhere.

Oh, I should say both cattle dogs and kelpies are known to have dingo in their heritage which might be why Tilly looks a bit that way. (Genetic testing on kelpies has shown dingo in some lines)

So are cattle dogs called Heelers there? Is a kelpie a lighter breed than the cattle dog? The Heelers here are quite stocky.

Starfire, where I lived in England, one of my neighbours had 5 huskies and would take them through the nearby forest for hours at a time, with them pulling him on a special racing cart. What a noise!

 

[farm n louisana]

 

[Starfire669]

So are cattle dogs called Heelers there?  Is a kelpie a lighter breed than the cattle dog?  The Heelers here are quite stocky.

Starfire, where I lived in England, one of my neighbours had 5 huskies and would take them through the nearby forest for hours at a time, with them pulling him on a special racing cart.  What a noise!

I can't afford a racing cart, and with our bad stray problem it wouldn't be safe for my dogs to be harnessed together. If we were attacked they wouldn't be able to defend themselves. I wanted to teach them to run on lunge lines next to a bike, but same problem, no where is free from strays.
I took better pics of my girl Cheyenne. Cheyenne is a horrible example of a puppy mill Siberian, her nose is too long, ears to large, legs too long, tail does not curve over her back right, and most telling, she is brown (Siberians come in shades of red, black, white, or agouti which is wild coloring like a wolf. But agouti has 3 distinct bands of color on a single strand of hair, she does not have this). I simply couldn't leave her there, I did not think she would survive much longer. The breeder had 16 dogs and 4 pups from 2 different mother dogs. 1 of the other pups was nearly as sick as poor Cheyenne, but I could only afford to buy 1 of them. Plus I called animal control and they would need a sick dog to prove he was unfit to care for them. They did not want any pictures, vet bills, or a copy of her AKC paperwork from me to build a case against him though. Cheyenne still has issues, no one other than my husband, kids, and myself can get near her. She pee herself in fright if anyone handles her but us or if strange dogs get too close to her. It took months before she even trusted us. She was 11 weeks old when I brought her and had never known human touch, she screamed something awful when I picked her up to bring home. She had also never know grass or dirt as she had lived her whole life on a soaking wet concrete pen before I got her. This is our baby girl Cheyenne, who is now 8 months old.

 

[farm n louisana]

She looks like our german Shepard wolf mix we used to have we just lost her a few years ago to old age n cancer

 

[Starfire669]

She looks like our german Shepard wolf mix we used to have we just lost her a few years ago to old age n cancer

Yes, she does look like a wolf, we get asked if she is all the time. But she is a puppy mill Siberian Husky. We love her for who she is, not what she is supposed to be. But I do use her to show people differences in a well bred Siberian, our dogs Dawn and Phantom, and a pupp mill just trying to swindle your money. Everyone wants a cheap Siberian, but don't know squat about the breed, just the gorgeous coat and pretty blue eyes. It's sad really, as long as people don't educate themselves, puppies like Cheyenne will continue to be bred in horrible conditions.