sherry
bend in the high desert
oregon
USA
3775 Posts
Posted - May 13 2010 : 08:06:49 AM
grace got me thinking. she told the story of her alpaca. it made me think of our yorkies. about 9 years ago we bought a yorkie. in the past i had big outdoor dogs only. papa is not keen on them. i was ill and caring for my mom who was ill also. i realized i needed a dog i could play with while sick on the couch. mom needed someone to share her love with. papa said yes. when we weny there was a runt. she was going to put it down. well that is not going to happen. we bought a sweet tiny baby. the moment papa put that little baby in his hand he looked like when the boys were born.mush. we brought her home. what a smart girl she was. what a sick little girl. as she grew we found her trachea was to small. her knee caps did noy fit. we gave her a fine life on moms lap for 4 years. when we had her put down it was heart breaking. she died 3 months before mom. well i went to the shelter and found a boy. he was fun and happy. my GD is diabetic. she is 2 and insulin dependant type 1. he would nip her. so bobo had to go too. found him a home no kids. so not to give up. i went on craigslist told my story. a gal from burns had puppies. yipee. born in dec. so here comes this happy bouncy little guy. i told papa you name him. he is good with names. well he ended up being itty bitty too. he does not know he is little. he is the alpha dog. he wrangles goats cows and most of all chickens. he will sit looking out the window like a sentry. if anything is not right he is first to know.buttercup was out our cow. he knew that was not ok. i forgot to shut the gate.lol he barked like a maniac till i came and looked. he has taught himself to herd the chickens. i helped him learn commands after i saw what he was doing. if they are out he runs them to a corner. he waits for them to squat down. then he lays there and holds position till i say ok. the prize for him is getting to smell their butt. go figure. dogs are so about the nose. he is a dedicated farm dog who would rather run with the big dogs than stay in the house. my goats and dogs all ride my golf cart happily to get around the farm. i gave my nubians to papas twin. he said when he gets on the tractor the goats try to jump on his lap. pretty cute. well just thought this was a cute story. folks come and are amazed at itty bitty.hes a fine dog. happy days sherrye
Sweet story Sherry. Thanks for sharing about all 3 dogs and the ways they touched all of your lives. Someone had baby yorkies at the co-op this morning and boy was the boy a darling. He liked to have his belly rubbed. Funny about the reward of chicken bun sniffing.
I don't want to hijack your thread but along the diabetic and dog lines..... We are dogless right now and the special stories brings back tons of good feelings. We were wondering if and when we get a new dog if it'll be sensitive to our DD blood sugars. There is a place out of Seattle that trains dogs to sniff for lows. It costs a fortune but it sure would be a blessing.
Take care, Stephanie
"A cabin with plenty of food is better than a hungry castle." Irish Quote
sherry
bend in the high desert
oregon
USA
3775 Posts
Posted - May 13 2010 : 4:09:36 PM
hi staphanie. i know there are dogs that sniff out cancer too. animal noses are amazing. i was with my 2 cows today. the neighbor on the other side of our 6 foot block wall opened his gate. the dogs barked. maddie my prego girl raises her nose as high as she could and smelled long and hard in that direction. she was smelling ron. she is so prego.she did not bother to get up though.lol i think next week we will have a calf. hoping for a white park looking heifer. we could sure use a dog like that. kisten is almost 3 now. she has learned to tell us when she feels off.we have had close calls. i get very scared. once when she was with me it dropped to 39. now i know hard to believe she was awake. i poured honey down her. she came out of it. wow double wow.i bet ceasar milan would know how. the dog whisperer. he is great with dogs and people in my opinion. happy days sherrye i like when a thread takes a life of its own and goes to different topics. nice talking with you stephanie
I love Ceasar! What kind of dog is Itty Bitty? Or at least what does he look like? I had a pom, poodle, terrier, chihuahua mix. Best dog ever, perfect. I'll post her pick later for you. Usually I got "what is that?" We called her "Bat Pig" & she wore a pink collar to make her look a little more like a female dog. Her name was Darby, if we'd known how odd she was going to look we'd have given her a girly name just to make it really stand out. With Darby everyone thought she was a goofy looking male dog.
I will look up White Park heifer. I don't know what that looks like. I Love reading your posts Sherrye. Take good care! S.
PS, Zoey is just 4 and we never have signs for when she is low. I am glad your 3 year old GD is able to tell you when she feels off. Thank goodness she can share that feeling. They say Zoey will be able to soon.
"A cabin with plenty of food is better than a hungry castle." Irish Quote
sherry
bend in the high desert
oregon
USA
3775 Posts
Posted - May 13 2010 : 5:17:50 PM
itty bitty is a full silkie yorkie. we keep his hair short since he is a farm boy. he is very cute loves everyone. he is about 4 pounds. he is all terrior.lol there are other farmgirls on here that have diabetic insulin dependent family members. happy days sherrye
That is too cool sherry. Sounds like your little Yorkie is a true herding and farm dog. Its neat how some dogs decide they are going to help in ways we never would imagine.
sherry
bend in the high desert
oregon
USA
3775 Posts
Posted - May 14 2010 : 07:54:09 AM
linda how many nubians do you have? do you have sheep also? i am still learning about all the farmgirls. i am considering fiber goats. grace has encouraged me a lot. i have to see how the next months turn out first. happy days sherrye
I have 12 adult Nubians and 13 kids. One of the buck kids alreaady went to his new home. In the next 2 weeks there will be 4 more buck kids leaving for their new home. That will put me down to 20 goats. That is still too many for my barn space. I have so many adult does that I am too attached to. I can't sell them they are like family.Two of them are getting quite old and retired.
I use to have sheep. Got down to 2 Romney/ramboulet/shetland cross ewes. The old one died and the 3 year old that was left didn't do well with the diary goats. She kept pushing and butting them. She was quite rough with them. After a few weeks of that I gave her to a friend who also lost one of her old sheep and the one she had left was also lonely. A match made in heaven. They are inseperable and best buds. I miss her and her fleece but it was the right thing for her. Also the shearing was killing my back. These ewes were really big girls. Their fleeces would weigh about 16 lbs. I do love the smell of sheep wool.
I still have my ashford spinning wheels and lots of fleece but kinda lost my joy to spin. I also lost my friend when she moved abrubtly.We use to get together once a week and spin and have a good time planning future fiber ideas and learning to work with our looms.....believe me we were greenhorns. Due to marital problems her family and her moved abruptly and I lost my only fiber friend. Haven't had the gumption to spin or knit much anymore. Its kinda a bummer to have no one to spin/weave with or to help and share with. She moved far away and has basically dropped out of everyones life she use to hang with. Quite sad and she gave up the hobbies she loved too. I pray for her often she was such a kindred spirit. Well enough of that depressing stuff. Not sure how I ended up there. I apologize for my ramblings.
I hope to someday get the urge to get back at it. I do spin at a fair once a year. Its kind of a arisians festival. I sell my homecrafted soap and my son sells his natural edged bowls he makes on his lathe. Its the only fair I do but its a fun one and raises money to keep the old school open for community stuff. Take care.
sherry
bend in the high desert
oregon
USA
3775 Posts
Posted - May 14 2010 : 5:18:51 PM
wow thats a lotta goats. how many are you milking. i do not remember do you use the milk for your soap. if so do you use an immersion blender. i use a vita mix to mix the milk in. just curious. thats kinda sad you dont spin now. i would love to have some one close that does. i want to learn about fiber this year. right now its garden season for us. then calves then milking. i love all of it. i have a mini jersey and a lamancha doe that are best friends. i had thought in the past that they needed to be with their kind. we tried that and the doe cries for buttercup. happy days sherrye
"It's only when we truly know and understand that we have a limited time on earth- and that we have no way of knowing when our time is up- that we will begin to live each day to the fullest, as if it was the only one we had." Elisabeth Kurler-Ross
I'm not milking yet because the kids are taking it. But in a few weeks some of the kids are going to go and then I will have milk again. I usually milk by hand but if I have to many to start out I will pull out the milker.
I do use goat milk in my soap but I stir it all by hand no machines or blenders of any kind. Its takes about 1 to 1&1/2 hours to stir or till it saponifies.
Sounds like a cute couple the cow and the goat. If they love each other I would just keep them as they are. They sounds like best buds to me. Too cute !!!
the story of itty bitty
Posted - May 13 2010 : 08:06:49 AM
