Monday, September 12, 2011

Sept 03, 2011


these house pups---- are getting trained... big time.
 
  are doing really well with  individual name calling--  i was shocked today to find bentley knew the term "WAIT"  as he hooked his head gear on the knob of my desk and screamed HELP- it took me 3 seconds to scale the barrier and get there ---- I  yelled "bently  WAIT"  and he did,
 
 they are learning "AWAY"  which is the command for--- "do not step in that and wipe it on my leg"
 they also know "BACK"  which is the command for "look out here comes pistol thru the door and she will flatten you."
and  thanks to assistant dog trainer bailey,  "LEAVE IT" means  "do not play with  a sleeping dog's tail."
 
these dogs are better  trained than most  at 12 weeks !!
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pi already knows "DO NOT MAKE THAT PUPPY YELL"  IF IT HAPPENS SHE LETS GO AND LOOKS AT ME  GUILTY LIKE. 
 OTHER THAN THAT SHE IS A FAIR DECIENT BIG SISTER"
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next to finishing this building (first headder went up yesterday).. the next is too heavy for me to pick  up
 
looks a little odd because i have not set the final post-- so have not even started the last 10 feet-
 
seeing as this is a learning experience... it is a good plan... creative carpentry you know....
 
the barn/hay loft is on 24"centers with 1/2 " plywood--
the hay loft is 30 years old and slightly 'bouncy' but has been no problem.
but i think that last 10' i will go back to 16"centers meaning we will have a puppy end and a fat dog end to this building --i did put a lot of cross members in the "feed room area" for any human  who might want to jump rope in there-
 
and ---THIS IS A BIG TIME HELP REQUEST---
i know i am not putting in enough nails---  i get tired-
 i am hoping volunteers will show up with hammers and add nails
i think the "blue man group" said they would be here Sunday (that is the family with the blue stud dog--- good name for them)---
 
BYO  hammers---
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now for  the  daily stool report..
you know you have a problem when you can HEAR them moving their bowels.
 
IT IS INCREDIBLE WHAT THEY CAN PRODUCE 
 i swear we do not feed them as much as i pick up every morning.
 to be scientifically accurate---that is probably true-- take dry food--- add water and it increases in size.
 
i know one of our problems for which there is no solution-- is the pond- 
i think it is an accurate statement that all the ground water in new england is contaminated with giardia thanks to the canadian geese  - 
 i am pretty sure i have read that in more places than that marvelous source of fiction... the  internet.
giardia  = flagyl as a cure-- but until they go live in a real house  they can be re- infected as they quench their thirst in that flowing pond/stream.
 
there is a problem for which we havc a cure--- the overflowing laundry dry well-
i did carve a path for it to flow down hill-  and it contains only laundry water-- with corresponding soaps-
we should-- boy would this be a mess-- put that path underground and have a second drywell underneath where the dog-trailer is.  that is the only place left where there are no underground wires..
 
more puppies = more laundry=  a detail sometimes missing in these grants we write.
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i hope some of it is the fact that  a couple  are on antibiotics-  megan/hillary  lets get on some acidopilous pills which are around somewhere
 
there are 2 to watch  -- taupe  and olive's merle..  hazel
 
hazel is looking a little thin-- megan said she would not eat yesterday until she flavored it with some goats milk-- at which point she wolfed it down.
 
something weird there--- also time to worm again...
 
lts try and stay away from the milk-- there is chicken broth and then the parm cheese as enhancers.
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and then the gagging report--
 
early morning gag producing a small quantity of yellow  slippery foam
 
a lot of our dogs can not deal with an empty stomach-- at the moment it is opal-- this is the 3rd morning i hav had to give her a handful of something  to tie her over til breakfast.  this is a common thing.
i have a   6am morning routine with the adult dogs--- out to pee-- come in  have a milkbone and no one gags
 
problem there is --- it becomes "if i ask to go out, then stand there for 5 seconds and ask to  come in, i get a milk bone"  this is a huge problem at 2am.... and thru the rest of the day.
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Sunday stew will involve the chicken bingo sh#tting step up--- so we have to dig out all that paraphnalia for the 3:00 performance--- i will have to email  the results as soon as they appear  unless someone gets a camera going.
 
 
and because this is a holiday weekend  and there are people looking for entertainment on monday--- we will be stewing on Monday too
 
especially  the pot luck kind.
 
the wAY THAT POT LUCK WORKS IS-- PEOPLE BRING ALOT OF FOOD ON SUNDAY AND THE VOLUNTEERS  EAT LEFTOVERS  FOR LUNCH THE REST OF THE WEEK
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now to give george his equal opportunity response
 
Funny how the conversation with Carlene that I had about pink is nothing like the one in the doggie daily!
A woman who is hard of hearing obviously hear's as she likes. ;-))))
She is a rare one!
G
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so now we have a problem with george thinking he remembers something i did not hear..
i am older - so slightly more vulernable to this concept--
he certainly did say a bunch of things-- but since i questioned his origional premise that an error of mixed up blood samples could not be made--- i didn't go any further.
 
there are an infinite ways to make an error
 
infinite--- as in    1/0  ---   one divided by zero
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my phd is from the COLLEGE OF HARD KNOCKS-- who's colors are black and blue
AND MOTTO ---what man constructs - god will demolish.
 
WHAT WITH THE LATEST IRENE....ANYONE WANT TO QUESTION THAT DEMOLITION BIT?
--- WHAT CAN NOT BE BLOWN OVER WILL BE WASHED DOWNSTREAM.
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 Back to the dogs 
this latest report from karen and didi--
 
keep in mind some of my best dogs were "trained" by an appearance at the topsfield fair--  with that crazy bed... 
they got used to everything.
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Hello to everyone from the NY fingerlakes.
 We enjoyed a trip to the NY State fair this week. It was a beautiful day and very busy. We enjoyed all the demonstrations in the commercial and horticulture buildings, although it took us hours to get through each building due to the large numbers of interest in DiDi and wanting to pet her (more adults than children by a small percentage). Often we would find ourselves surrounded by 5 to 10 people looking on, petting her, and asking questions. We even had one lady who followed us through several buildings looking for an opportunity to talk to us and meet DiDi. We felt like we were a fair display with all of the attention, but were able to do a lot of educating the public on Danes as service dogs, service dog etiquette, balance issues, the Dane breed, and SDP.
 I was amazed to meet several people who have relatives who have Dane service dogs for MS, as well as a gentleman who's mother has a Mastiff as a service dog (I didn't know Mastiffs are used as service dogs, but think Danes are a better choice and much more elegant).
We also watched the last part of the fair parade of emergency vehicles and several bands. DiDi was not impressed with the emergency vehicles with their flashing lights (fire trucks and ambulances), but when they started their sirens and horns, she let me know that this was unacceptable. We had several short discussions and she stood quietly watching, albeit some shaking as she leaned against me. She recovered quickly and on we went to the food court. She was a real trooper, greeting everyone as a professional even though she got tired of the crowds petting her; she was the ultimate poster child for service dogs.
 I think her favorite part of the fair was the fresh mint chocolate chip ice cream, hot dog, and resting on the lawn watching the public intermingling with the "meet and greet" police basset hounds. She was quite unfazed by most of the activities, although she was confused as to why we would want to walk through a cow barn and was particularly offended when offered a drink from a water bucket.
She willo be meeting the district faculty members on Tuesday and Wednesday, and the students on Thursday. I expect everything to go well but will be interested to see if she has any opinions on the student population once the halls are busy. Have a great week,
Karen & DiDi
 
THAT TIMID DANE RELYING ON HER PARTNER IS A WONDERFUL  THING
 
BECAUSE MOST ALL DANES ARE TIMID---