CALIFORNIA The Whole State thread

[HighNDryFarm]

Geez, not her left.....her right! When she sitting, run your hand gently down her spine. She'll respond when you get to the tender spot. My chiropractor also did my dogs. She loved working on animals because they didn't have the dramatic story, they just told her where it hurt!

Our lab was having some real problems getting up this last week. I found the bad spot and did some massage and gentle pressure and she's doing better.

 

[SunnyDawn]

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Yes, I noticed it looks like that in the pics but she wags her tail so constantly I think it may just be coincidence that the camera caught her this way in most of the pics. She loves to have her whole spine scratched and has shown no discomfort but I will take a closer look tomorrow.

 

[HighNDryFarm]

I have worries tonight...... One is that my black Polish, Cher is missing. Now these chichens don't free range. They have good size shed (like the one Sunny posted), converted to a chicken coop, outside is a large run, adjoining the EE and other breeds run but they free range and come back throughout the day to lay eggs. The fences are all at least 10ft and while the run is not covered, its surrounded by trees (one inside the run) and I don't believe theres room for a good, clean swoop for a hawk to get in, let alone fly out with a 4 month old chicken with 4 Roos and 3 other girls in the same area. Not to mention one big Roo, 10 hens, including a handycappend girl who could ward off an attack......but where is she? It was dark when I got home and she black so pretty hard to find her. I hope she found some hole we missed and she's hunkered down somewhere. It'll go w/o saying that she's my favorite!

Next concern, the handicapped girl get around like a champ and can make it up into floor of the coop but not up on roost or in a nesting box. My worry is she'll get too cold without a buddy to sleep next to. If I put her up in a nesting box (that back in the day she could) I'm afraid she'll hurt herself getting down. It's only about 32" off the floor but she has a tendon problem and her one foot sticks straight out. She hops around and uses her wings when needed.

Any suggestions to keep her warm without too much assisting. She's sweet as can be but fiercely independent which is why she didn't die like I had prepared myself for.

 

[wolftracks]

OK I was the one that liked a smaller dog, but didn't mean slight. Remember the last 26 years I've had Rotties and Cane Corsos (correctly plural spelling is Corsi.) I like the shorter, compact, powerful dogs that don't criple up on me at an early age. The larger the dog it seems the harder the dog gets worked when it's younger and it's just sad to watch them become dysplastic among other things. A shorter stockier dog can also get into areas the bigger dogs can't. Doesn't mean the bigger dog can't do his job, just what I prefer.

I sure will be happy when my Isis puts in weight again. Your dogs look nice and healthy and maybe too happy. LOL Isis is the one who got bit by a black widow, months ago. Couldn't eat solid food for about 2 months. It bit her in the jaw area. I was doing everything I told people to do to put weight on her and then had a duh moment. She's actually started filling out again the past week. Not where I want her, but she's actually holding the weight again, so maybe another month and she'll look like my old dog again. This is a dog Bill bought me for our anniversary 6 years ago. She's had a rough time. SAR training got her a deep cut and by the time I got her back to the trucks she was so worn out she barely made it. MY FAULT! I had to test both of us by bypassing a marked area and pushing us to get to the victim. She was taken care of by the vet that was there, but developed a skin infection to the point her vet wanted to put her down. It took me a year to even get hair to grow on her. Then the spider bite. On top of that I think she misses Bill. He let her get away with a lot of things I didn't and now she's pushing me, so she's lucky I still concider her recooperating. Oh and Bill looked at me like I was crazy when I showed hin her pic and then said I wanted her. OK well not then, but when I told him how much she was and how much shipping costs were. And she's my first American bred dog in decades, but her lines were all Italian. He almost said no, but I told him that was cheap! LOL

I see the tail thing too, but I've seen dogs that were straight that just happened to wag on one side more. One of my Akitas was that way. That is when he didn't have that tail swinging in circles. I can't remember now which side it was but I called it right tailed instead of right handed. Hard to tell from the pics, because they were obviously moving a lot and I've made a wrong call on a still picture, so I hate now to do it unless the pics are taken with them stacked.

There's something that I do see, but they weren't running straight, they were all over, but when Delilah just walks on her own at a normal pace, does she tend to swing her hips back and forth? Like a butt swag? I'm kind of seeing by her tracks that she may be. Also the way she looks to be holding her back end . Feel down her back and see if there's a gap or break in the topline, like two sections. It probably won't be huge, but I think she has one. Her hips look like they flare a bit, but when she's standing she has decent hocks. Might just be the pose, but her's seem straighter that Samson's. On Samson it may just be the curl, but also feel his back and see if he has a slight break just past his shoulders and just before the base of his tail. Just feel straight down their spines and see if there are sections.

Oh and her sable is not the sable from way back when. A sable back then had little to no black. Dusty is more like the sables I remember and she is clearly not full GSD. She's papered and I've seen her parents, but someone jumped a fence and there was more than one baby daddy involved.

GSDs do need some angulation. I don't like how stretched out they are now days or the fact that everything I see in an AKC shows look to be more Collie looking than Shepherd, but they are supposed to have some angulation. Samson in that first pick, looks like he has enough power to take down a zebra. He's under 2 right? Has he had any prelims on his hips yet? It's good to have them done so you know what you can and can't do with him to make sure his hips are strong and no problems down the line. If the lady you got Delilah from had hip info, did she do OFA or Penn Hip and at what age? Remember that the certificates aren't issued until they are 2, but it's a good idea for checking early.

It's going to be kind of hard for you to get good pics or know how to stack them to show what needs to be seen. I know you're busy and I bug you about different things with them, but I don't want to make mistakes. Maybe I should just look again in the morning since it's after 1:00am. oh my gosh! and I spent hours helping to make a turkey for a contest at Kayla's school. Family project. Good thing I have chickens. Took lots of feathers and with the moulting, there was plenty. I think the split peas are what drained my eyes though. And I have yet another reason for hating maccaroni.


So hard through a pic. Maybe I need to borrow 20 bucks and head to Circus Circus and go look at them. Hands on is so much better. Oh and size isn't a big issues with these dogs. Someone mentioned gender and that's what you're seeing. Male should look masculine and females should look feminine. That being said, I would always breed a more masculine looking female to make sure I had it locked in on my male pups. Remember I said I, not you. LOL My car is trying to mess with me again since Chickenstock or I'd jump in it and go check them out for you first chance I had. Don't forget to check Delilah's tail set.

Was going to answer other posts, but I'm beat. Nity nite!

 

[SunnyDawn]

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Oh no Pam! I hope she is ok!!! I wish I'd seen this last night. There are all kinds of things you can do to keep them warm. I keep a stack of those handwarmers in stock and they have larger ones as well. I get them at Walmart. Right now to about an hour after sunrise is the coldest time of night but hopefully they will both be fine! I had a girl disappear on me once and she turned up just fine. She had wedged herself in a thicket of bamboo.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that both your girls are ok!!!

 

[SunnyDawn]

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I need to get the hip x-rays done on her. She is almost 3 yrs old and it is usually done at 2 yrs as you said. Samson is just a year so he will have to wait for the tests until his bones finish growing. She does not do the butt wag thing nearly as bad as my Tasha did (half shepherd half chow) but I will pay attention to see if she does it a little. Yes I wish we had a way to get you up here for the poultry show this weekend. That would be awesome! Good to hear that the size difference is normal in male vs females. I only had 1 other female GSD and I had always thought that she was tiny too compared to my males. Now I find out that's normal.

I completely cracked up at your comment about him taking down a zebra. I have no doubt he could! When we got him he was horribly malnourished so I am concerned about his skeletal structure as well. He seems very healthy right now but if you had seen how skinny he was when we first got him you would have been horrified! Early nutrition is so important and he was not getting anywhere near enough to eat for the first 9 months of his life. He was a lot less powerful when he was underweight that's for sure!

I will check their spines and Delilah's tail set over the next couple of days. I hope you get some rest. I have to admit I'm pretty curious about this feather, pea, and macaroni turkey project. If you had your camera I'd ask you to take a pic for us so we can see what the heck it looks like. Let us know how the contest goes.

Tel Makayla & Dakota I said "Hi"!

 

[sewandgrow]

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Who the heck is looking at your panels with those cuties holding it up?

Your little one looks just like my grandson that's three and he's the worker and stands JUST like that...you know, the carpenter stand...coming from a long like of construction workers, my heart melts when I see a man in nail bags!

OH, and great idea on the panels. I just built a new bar for our wine bar and I'm itching for more construction and you've made it SO easy!

My son & my grandson, his nephew, both have my heart & have since they day they were born. They are both kinda cute too..............LOL
I love making things too & these panels are relatively inexpensive, so versatile & pretty easy to make. We my son & I are finished making all we need to replace the cyclone panels that we are now using as roof panels I want to try putting some together to make a pen just to see how it goes. Mathematically I think I am going to have a 1&1/2" gap on each end on the roof panel, but will put it together & see how it goes ........................ I love the savings & being able to do it ourselves.

 

[capayvalleychick]

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Thanks for the pics! What a great idea! I love what BigDaddy'sMom said about the "carpenter stand".

I see that. too, in your little guy.

Kim

 

[sewandgrow]

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Thanks for the pics! What a great idea! I love what BigDaddy'sMom said about the "carpenter stand".

I see that. too, in your little guy.

Kim

Coy is such a cutie & he just loves working with us.....................LOL

 

[wolftracks]

Karen these are what I asked Bill to make me. I LOVE THEM!!!!! Since I rent these are the types of things I wanted to build my runs, so I could take them apart and move them if I wanted. I was going to used hinges like on a house dooed and run a pole or rebar through to hold them together. I almost cried when I saw yours. I was so happy that one of my ideas for it would have been a good one. You guys did a great job. Matter of fact I had made a small frame to use with hoops that looks like that. About a quarter of the size thought. LOL Maybe I should make a few more and use them as a run for my tiny birds. Hmmmmm Maybe even a quail area! You guys always do such a great job.

Oh and I wanted to brag that I've seen Coy in person and he's even cuter! He's sure not affraid of anything in that yard and such a good little guy.

So wqs the Polish found this morning? I swear when I had those birds they could be downright dense. I was always going out just after dark with a flashlight to look for them. It was like they didn't realize the sun was going down in time and they'd just drop where they had been standing. I was probably picking birds up to put in about once a week and more every once in a while. a loved them though. They're still one of my favorite breeds. I hope she showed up this morning and is fine.

Sunny I'd like to go to that show too. Wish traveling was easier for me and my phobias didn't get in my way. Hopefully one of my kids will decide they need to go to Reno and I'll finally make it.

OK I took pics of this thing. I was covered in glue and feathers trying to help. Then the container we were using was stepped on once and bumped twice, so we spent a lot of time picking things up n between woring on it. But she did a good job. She's just a pushy little monster and I feel sorry for anyone who may eventually work for her. LOL