Farm additions

May was a busy month here on our little farm.  We added 27 new chicks and were able to move them outdoors and then we built an addition and additional run and got them all settled in with the 12 older chickens.

We also got a new bunny "Susan" who actually is Ruby and Max's offspring but the family we had given it to were moving, so we took it back.  "Susan" ends up being a boy!

We are very excited to add a couple of goats to our farm!  Beau and Luke are mixed breed wethers who will be used mainly for brush control.  They are brothers and very sweet.  They are young, so we are bottle feeding them for a bit to ensure they are handled lots.

Link

A fun website with lists of tricks to teach your dog!

Doggie Buddy

Carl is growing

Here is an updated pic of our puppy, now 5 months old and almost as tall as Molly. He is looking more houndish in the face, his feet are still quite large and he is very, very active. He has flattened 1 iris bush, 2 hostas, and 1 peony bush so far this year. He LOVES to wrestle with Molly and run and be crazy. He has to stay in his large kennel when we are not outdoors to watch him as he can be pretty destructive with digging and rolling if he isn't being watched. He is very good about not whining or barking while there though, and we are outdoors a lot! He is a sweet boy and still sleeps indoors in his crate at night in Heather's room.

Liz's Great Escape

Liz the lizard had a day of freedom recently.  Rose went in to check on her and didn't see her in the tank, so she lifted the lid and Liz (who had been clinging to the screen lid) jumped and ran for it.  Rose did not tell us that Liz had escaped that Saturday morning and when we finally discovered it, she was nowhere to be seen.  We picked up Will's room and searched under and in all possible crevices.  I had given up hope and was sad (possibly moreso than Will :-)  and a little freaked out about a lizard being loose in the house.

Sunday afternoon Tom walked in the front door and saw Liz perched on the edge of a pack-n-play that I keep there.  He stood very still and called me over.  Will's net was close by and I grabbed it and caught her easily (almost like she was happy to come home).  She is perfectly fine and content in her tank again.  Whew!!!

Dogs update

I need to get a recent pic of Carl to put up here.  He is growing and growing!  I watched the movie "Marley and Me" last night and it definitely reminded me of our Carl.  He is constantly on the move and often in trouble.  We love him though.

The wireless containment system (PetSafe) has worked so very well for us.  I am thrilled with it.  Molly is completely yard trained and so I put the collar on Carl and he has done super with it also.  They both know where the boundaries are and have not been "corrected" more than a couple times each the first day.  They turn around and run to the porch anytime either of them hear a beeping warning.  I love it!

I weighed the dogs today and ordered Frontline Plus tick treatment.  After the experience with Seargant's Gold I am not taking any chances.  I had bought Hartz for Carl and it has not been working at all and my sis-in-law says that it is known to cause problems for dogs, especially puppies also.  I will be tossing that too.

Molly weighed 45lbs and Carl weighed 25lbs.

I ordered from www.entirelypets.com and paid $67.03 after a 10% coupon discount for 2 3-month supply packs.

Containment System

Molly had started chasing cars on our road and  I was concerned for her safety, and really dislike that habit in dogs... then Carl wandered off to the neighbors the other day - so we decided to go ahead and try out a wireless containment system.  It is working great!

The base unit just plugs into a wall and sends a signal out in a radius.  The area it covered is perfect for our needs.  Molly can go half way up the drive and into the woods a bit to each side, then all the way over the whole back yard.  Our house is the center of the radius and it also covers the gardens and chicken house.  She learns very fast and I think soon I can put the collar down to only beep a signal, not needing to shock and then eventually remove the collar and use it to train Carl (when he's a little bigger).

I am happy with the way it has worked this week and thrilled that our dogs can be easily trained to stay in the yard for their safety and ours.  The best part, it was SUPER easy for the kids and I to set up, took only about an hour to lay out the flags at the boundary.  :-)

The system we got was a PetSafe Containment System.

Warning: Dog flea/tick treatment

Yesterday I gave Molly a flea/tick treatment, Sargeant's Gold liquid drops that are applied to the dog's back and are effective against fleas and ticks, etc...  After becoming fairly certain that we lost our dog Morgan to Lyme's disease last year, I have tried to be more consistent with treating our dogs and the ticks have become quite active again this year.  I applied the drops and within a couple hours noticed that she was looking a little weak/shaky and was drooling.  It was late and she had just been outside barking at deer, so I thought maybe she had just worked herself up.  We went to bed and this morning noticed that she was drooling more and was having obvious difficulty swallowing.  I hopped on google and found some information here from others who have had the exact same reaction.  I saw that when they called the vet he said to wash the dog with dish soap, so I did that twice and we left for church (she was acting fine otherwise).  She rested and ate and drank while we were gone and was back to full health by the time we got home.  I am SO thankful!  I tossed the rest of the treatment in the trash and will never buy it again.