Surviving Minnesota!

[bobbi-j]

Hello Minnesotans!
I've been reading the thread all week, just haven't had the oomph to post. I watched the video of the fisher attack. That was crazy! He sure was persistent!

 

[Nikasha]

Sleepyowl - that's interesting, I had never heard that. Both my parents are 100% Finnish, but having been to Scandinavia, they have a different idea of nationality than we do. We visited a family that lived in a border town in Sweden. The parents were both from Finland, and they barely lived in Sweden, but they called themselves Swedes. Also, with the borders of different countries changing significantly throughout history, or people not wanting to acknowledge their true heritage due to various political reasons, I can see why test results could come out different even if you "know" what you are.

Siggie, sorry to hear about your FIL.

Does anyone want to talk to me about outdoor dogs? If you live on a farm, or hobby farm, do you have a working dog? Does it sleep inside or outside? Any good/bad experiences with outdoor dogs to share? We currently have 2 older pet dogs, and will likely get a new one soon. I never thought I would consider having an outdoor only dog, but moving to our mini-farm has me thinking about dogs in a new way. I anticipate having poultry, some goats or sheep, and potentially a small qty of pigs or mini cattle if we can save our barn. I've been reading about LGDs and thinking maybe a great pyrenees mix would be a good option - I was presuming it could sleep in a doghouse if it preferred outside, but would be open to it sleeping inside. I was reading that someone else prefers smaller farm dogs, and they sleep in the barn with the other animals. It's just different to think about having a dog being outdoors in out winters, but then I realized I'll be expecting the other animals to handle it too... I just haven't known anyone with an outdoor dog since I was little, so I figured I should try to gather some location specific input.

 

[Cebarmlds]

I was afraid to watch the fisher video but I will now that you all say it's not a horror flick.

Sorry about your loss Siggie.

 

[Bogtown Chick]

Nikasha we have a yellow lab. She keeps four legged things out of the yard but avian predators are trickier to deal with.
Great Pyrenees are beautiful but have great (white) coats that require maintenance. The dogs I hear are wanderers also. A little on the roamy side. On the farm mom and dad kept German shepherds. We had chickens also.
In the case of labradors- I find them super easy to train albeit the last one is a dominant pup and a pita. She hunts for DH and leaves chickens alone. Sort of amazing. Ralphie has the same. So I'm partial to the old Labrador. Coats are easy to tend to as well.

Mom of many has a Pyrenees I believe... Yeti.

 

[Nikasha]

BC - does your lab sleep out or in?

The fur situation and the roaming tendency are the two things that give me pause about the pyr. I was thinking maybe by getting a mix, you'd still get some of the good characteristics, but moderate these as well. It is still tbd how much of our property we will fence, and what type of fence. I know we won't fence the whole thing though, because the back property line is a brook. It likely would be that an outdoor dog could still be in a fenced area when not accompanying humans.

 

[jerryse]

Morning all . I am back home . Project is coming along . They dropped off a mixer and tools Thursday afternoon . Should have started laying blocks yesterday . We left before anyone showed up . Chuck's concrete seem to be very good people and workers . I gave him wiggle room on finishing . He has a couple contractors on him . So no harm as long as it is done by my return on July 15 . Peterson excavating was a pleasure to watch work . They showed up and the excavator removed some trees . One guy was ready with the chainsaw . Excavator would swing the tree to him and he cut off the stump and log to length . Bobcat pushed stumps and tops off into the woods . They pushed topsoil into piles . Bobcat got rid of dirt into low areas as quick as it was dug . Left enough of a pile of dirt to backfill . 8 to 5 and the hole was finished .

 

[MNChickMom]

Morning all . I am back home . Project is coming along . They dropped off a mixer and tools Thursday afternoon . Should have started laying blocks yesterday . We left before anyone showed up . Chuck's concrete seem to be very good people and workers . I gave him wiggle room on finishing . He has a couple contractors on him . So no harm as long as it is done by my return on July 15 . Peterson excavating was a pleasure to watch work . They showed up and the excavator removed some trees . One guy was ready with the chainsaw . Excavator would swing the tree to him and he cut off the stump and log to length . Bobcat pushed stumps and tops off into the woods . They pushed topsoil into piles . Bobcat got rid of dirt into low areas as quick as it was dug . Left enough of a pile of dirt to backfill . 8 to 5 and the hole was finished .

Sounds like lots of progress was made.

 

[jerryse]

Ivie grandma used to talk about limberneck . Her ducks on the lake would get it in the dog days of august . Botulism from eating dead Fish or other nasty stuff . Chickens can get it from drinking from nasty puddles . Epsom salts will flush it out of the gut .

 

[duluthralphie]

Glad to see your alive Jerry..

Tell me more about limberneck.. I had never heard of it.



My dogs are wimps. I am lucky to get them to go outside unless one of us are with them and then they mainly lie on the deck near the door, in case it opens, so they can rush back to the sofa.

I would like an outdoor dog that actually sleeps out side. My worry is the dogs running at night. Completely fenced in is a great idea, if we can put mittens on their paws so they don't dig out.

I am thinking a wireless fence during the warm 3 months might get them use to the area they are allowed in. Then when the 9 months of 30 below hit they would not need the collar.

If I did I I would have a little "dog door" the dog could enter the coop through but not be with the chickens. Not because of worrying about the dog hurting the chickens, but something else coming in during a period of dog absence...like wandering the farm.

 

[BantyChooks]

I would like an outdoor dog that actually sleeps out side. My worry is the dogs running at night. Completely fenced in is a great idea, if we can put mittens on their paws so they don't dig out.

I bent the underneath edge of my fencing to make a lip so my dog can't dig out... I wanted to make sure she was staying put as if she got out she'd kill every single one of my birds.