Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[Stumpfarmer]

Huh. Didn't post yesterday- suppose that was because I had a dentist appointment and no transportation outside of Intercity Transit, which meant a forty minute tooth-cleaning took three hours door-to-door and included twenty minutes huddling under my umbrella in the biting wind, plus an additional quarter-mile slog directly into the wind. The intersection of short days, bad weather, and time away from the place also is going to demand more outside time for a couple more days.

Need to go out and batten down the hatches today, especially in resecuring the plastic over Elvis and the girls, which means I need to open the gate between the orchard and the down-slope field, which is going to be a right treat since the latch post is being eroded out and was tied to the gate (by me, but over a course of several days) with four big bungie cords. It's that or trying to stretch my arms across the four-foot wide Hamburg pen, which is not, in fact, one of my superpowers (Calling Flex Armstrong?).

If I were a much worse person, I'd undermine the post even more so it would fall over and have to be replaced as an emergency measure; of course I'd not only a meaner and more dishonest person but also a significantly stupider one, since it is not even a little in my best interest to let the cattle into the orchard until April or so and also, now that I think of it, the mill hasn't been put back together so my BIL can cut more posts from this year's cull logs.

 

[Stumpfarmer]

Today I walked into my barn to find the neighbors STUPID bird dog trying to get into my chickens. I grabbed the first thing which happened to be a walnut board about 1x3 x about 4'. Today was the first time I have actually lost my temper in several years. The dog did run home. I contacted the neighbor and told them (they were at work) They know I have a zero tolerance. If the dog comes back it won't be good. See he is a bird dog. Too stupid to run when I try to chase him and . when I have shot into the ground to scare him off he runs to me. well how much easier could it be to give him a lead injection. This dog already killed all but one of the owners chickens so I rustled that one. This dog should have been dealt with then. I will save them the trouble IF he is still alive and comes back.

Over the years we've lost far more calves, cows, chickens, pigs, horses and sheep to dogs than to any wild predator; for one thing, wild animals are usually hesitant to come into structures where humans are in and out (well, except Barn Owls, and I think we lost a few bantam chicks to those, a tiny price to pay for rodent control). The worst was when a pack of pet dogs chased a group of weanling Angus through a fence and into the path of a guy on a Harley: he spent four days in the hospital, the steer he hit had to be euthanized, and two others had to be butchered early because they'd been hamstrung by the dogs. The Harley had the faring cracked. Well, probably the worst-worst was when a GSD dug under the door to the hog barn and went nuts, killing eight half-fed-out hogs. I didn't see that one, though.

 

[lovinchickypoos]

I am very sorry for your loss. I think me and the dog would come to a understanding.

Yeah, I just have to catch it in the act before I can act!! I have some wire mesh fencing that was left by the previous owners but I doubt it'll be enough to do what I need. My guess (haven't measured yet) is in order to secure outside the neighbor's cattle pasture, which is currently just strands of straight wire, I'll need about 250ft or more of fencing.

Too stupid to run when I try to chase him and . when I have shot into the ground to scare him off he runs to me. well how much easier could it be to give him a lead injection. This dog already killed all but one of the owners chickens so I rustled that one. This dog should have been dealt with then. I will save them the trouble IF he is still alive and comes back.

That just made me laugh right there!!! It's not funny at all about the trouble he's causing you but it's just the picture in my head of this that made me giggle! I get that he's probably trained to do that but it sure makes him sound like a ding dong!!!

LOVE HER BLUE BEARD!!!!!






Catahoula mix is still my guess as well!!!! One suggestion in regards to your cute video: try not to play tug of war and lose as it can give the pup dominance over you. Continue to teach drop it so that if she has something she shouldn't have she won't "play" tug of war with it. If you tell her drop it and she continues to tug and growls, try scruffing her (doesn't have to be roughly done). That's how momma would tell her it's unacceptable!

Quote:
Adorable!!!
Lovely EE and adorable puppy! I'm researching dogs lately too; sometime in the next 2 years I think we'll get a puppy. Thinking Christmas 2013, which gives me many many months to get things situated for having a dog. I also need something that will take to training easily and leave my chickens alone. Can't wait to decide on a breed and find us a dog! I also want a dog that is big and a guard dog.

I assume you are looking into Pyrs (Great Pyrenees)??? They would probably be great for you since you have kids too!!! The only thing to note is that most big guard dogs are rather independant and don't always take to obedience training like a Border Collie would. They are bred to think on their own and usually aren't the biggest "pleasers". I'm chomping at the bit to get one myself. I just have to come to terms that, for us, it is going to have to live near its charges and not on the couch like my other two dogs!!!

 

[Hinotori]

It was 48 here at 6:30 this morning raining hard. It is now 37 and snowing at 8:42.
Been quite a while since I've seen such a fast drop in temperature.

At 2am it was 54 here. Currently it's 37. It snowed several inches of heavy wet snow and knocked down my netting over the big run. I brushed it off from the bottom then racked the snow off the silkie roof.

 

[lovinchickypoos]

I'm so sorry! Can you call animal control? As much as I feel like I walk on eggshells with the noise my chickens make, I also know there's a flip side to that - our city has very tough animal laws and it only takes a 2nd offense to have an animal removed. There's motivation to keep peace with the neighbors and make sure the animals don't upset anyone.

Well, I have to catch a dog in the act of attacking first. As far as the noise goes, since we live outside city limits very little will be done. I believe we just recently got a new animal control that will come out here but I need to look into what they can, and will, do. Previously, even though our address is Kennewick (part of the Tri-Cities, therefore aided by the Tri-City Animal Control) we are considered as living in "Finley" which does not get aid and have to call the sheriff for any problems. It used to be that if you find a stray around here the shelter would not take it since it was a mile out of their "range".

 

[Hinotori]

All this puppy talk, bah! I've been looking for a good quality schipperke for several months. I wrote the breed club at the email address they provided on their site for help finding a breeder that breeds for dogs that can work and haven't heard back from them. That was back in September. We've had enough schips to know they still have their ratting instincts. They have a little herding instinct as well and the few videos I've seen of them herding it was just to cute because of their size. They can be very stubborn dogs and escape artists. It still boggles my mind that I can hold the two dogs I have in a room with the pet gate. The schips we had would just climb over them. Apparently they all know parkour.

 

[lovinchickypoos]

Last summer, we used a live trap to catch ferrel cats,skunks, and coons. Did have to make sure I didn't catch any chicks, which I did but since its a live trap, they weren't hurt.

How fun is it when you catch a skunk in one of those??? We sure have a lot of those stinkers around here!!!!

Sadly, it's not the dog's fault, it's the owner's. And, we can't really shoot the owner. Me, I'd use the paintball option, on the OWNER, and let them know why.

Love this!!!!!!

Over the years we've lost far more calves, cows, chickens, pigs, horses and sheep to dogs than to any wild predator; for one thing, wild animals are usually hesitant to come into structures where humans are in and out (well, except Barn Owls, and I think we lost a few bantam chicks to those, a tiny price to pay for rodent control). The worst was when a pack of pet dogs chased a group of weanling Angus through a fence and into the path of a guy on a Harley: he spent four days in the hospital, the steer he hit had to be euthanized, and two others had to be butchered early because they'd been hamstrung by the dogs. The Harley had the faring cracked. Well, probably the worst-worst was when a GSD dug under the door to the hog barn and went nuts, killing eight half-fed-out hogs. I didn't see that one, though.

Unbelievable!!!!!!!!!! Has the dog pack "been taken care of" yet???? Gah, that is just horrible! Hope you received no blame in the accident. I can see some scummy lawyer trying that.

 

[lovinchickypoos]

Wonder what today's wind will ruin....

 

[Chicken Rustler]

OK I have been asked to try to find a rescue for an English spaniel. He is a nice dog just needs a home with fenced yard and kept away from chickens. If we don't find a home the owner will probably have him put down. Mostly because she doesn't want to deal with the dog or the neighbor (me

)

 

[lovinchickypoos]

CR, you used to have goats, right? I'm trying to do as much research as possible before I get any and would like to hear from real people and you seem to tell it like it is. May I ask you about them? Anyone else with experience, please pipe up as well!
Likes/dislikes???
Did you have meat, dairy or fiber goats?
What would you do different if you started over?
I have 2.33 acres, but we have about 3/4 of an acre in yard. The field consists of mostly rye grass and weeds. There is some brush in the main area I would keep them, which is contained with a 4ft non-climb mesh fence. I'm reading as much as I can find and plan to talk to our extension office about mineral supplement, etc., but I'd appreciate as many opinions as possible.

Forgive me for going off topic on here (I know there are other livestock forums), but after being on this forum for awhile I value the opinions of the people here!