Natural Born Charmers?

English Shepherds have a way of charming everyone they meet. While they may not be the first dog to run up and say hi, people are impressed with generally how well behaved they are or how they make themselves at home. I'm sitting in the customer lounge of my dealership waiting for an oil change with Brodie, one of Lola & Bubba's pups who is headed for his new home today. He knew something was up this morning when he was loaded into the car by himself.

Normally when we go for rides, we take a couple pups. But today was different and he knew it. "Mr Star Trek" (boldly go where no dog has gone before) became "Mr Wussdog". Sat on my lap the whole ride into Milwaukee. Clung to me for dear life when we got out at the dealership. And then, he settled down once we went for a brief walk. After about 10 minutes of telling me precisely how uncomfortable he was with the whole situation, he finally had to see a few other people in the lounge. And he's now calmly dozing under my chair.

It's nice to see how calmly the pups react in new situations. No hissy fit. No hysterics. A little quiet indignation, then calm.

Good dog!

Plank Road Summer

A couple of very good friends from "the early days" have been working on a historical novel about life in Wisconsin, and in particular, about life on the "Plank Road". Hilda & Emily are both gifted writers and have collaborated to write Plank Road Summer, a fictional book about life for two young friends whose families operate the toll-gate and an inn on the route.

http://plankroad.wordpress.com/

The book release is this weekend and they are holding an old-fashioned barn dance and farm events at the Yorkville Elementary School in Union Grove, WI. Sunday they will be in Racine at the Heritage Museum with family activities, which I've learned from my mom will include some wool carding. I may just have to take along a few bags of wool...

The Demuth family has always been close to ours. Hilda's mom Marg and my mom attended school together. Hilda was the one I envied; I really wanted her sheep! We didn't live on a farm- just near them all. So I lived vicariously through my friends that had livestock. Took a while, but now I have my own.

If you get a chance, take a look at their website. I'd love to go down on Saturday, but we have prior commitments (puppies heading out & lamb weigh-in). I'm hoping to make Sunday.

It's been a busy couple weeks. Pups are growing like crazy and getting BIG! The remaining older pups go in for their 2nd shots next week and I have a feeling Argyll and Aulay are over 25#. We're down to 14 with more leaving in the next week or so.

It's with mixed feelings that we send them on to their new homes. I completely understand the "it's time you leave" sentiment! But we sure do miss their personalities. Each one has touched us differently and made an impact. But, we can't keep them all (I'd be looking for a new home if I tried...!).

They are at the stage where anything can be a good toy. So when Aulay found a pop can, it was THE thing to have! The chase was on.

And the lambs are getting big. A couple of the bottle babies will hopefully be heading to their new home this weekend. Love them dearly and I wouldn't mind keeping them, but with my upcoming trip for work, I really need to reduce the chores around here. So DD will keep her fair lambs and we'll work on getting the flock numbers where we want them. Her Lincoln x Oxford ewe lamb is HUGE. We're up to almost 4 gallons of milk a day! She will make a great commercial ewe.

AWOL goose....

So the way our winter had been going with things dying, disappearing, etc- I got a little concerned when our Pilgrim goose went missing. The gander was still in the pasture, but she was no where to be found. The two of them had been wandering further in the pastures from their normal spots. I figured the coyotes had finally wandered close enough to nab her or a stray dog had found her- you know all the terrible things that go through your head...

So imagine my pleasant surprise when I was starting to clean up one of the winter shelters- to find her sitting on a nest and NONE too happy to see me!

We've come to an understanding- I bring her some corn and water and she doesn't bite too hard...

I figure she's been setting a week- so a couple more and we'll hopefully have some babies around.

Time to reinforce the perimeter fencing....

No words needed

New puppy pictures

As you can imagine- getting clear pictures of 21 puppies on any given day is a task all by itself! After taking almost 300 pictures with 3 different cameras this weekend, we got a few that are pretty much in focus! I haven't had a chance to ID the photos yet but their markings make them identifiable (at least to us!).

We set up a makeshift balance beam outside for them. After about 5 minutes of checking it out, it became one of THE things to do!

Our entire yard near the house is an obstacle course since we had some grading done last fall. The pups have plenty of things to explore, climb on/under/over, and have mastered the deck ramp. The braver pups are venturing out to try to hunt mice with the big dogs. They have met some of our poultry (turkeys are scary!) but they weren't phased by the goose.

They've also been getting the all important submission lesson from the big dogs! It's interesting to see how long it takes for some of the pups to get the message.

Some of the older pups will be heading to their new homes next week.

Enjoy!

http://picasaweb.google.com/asylumfarm/Pups04Apr09#



Goochland Acres English Shepherds

Fresh Air!

Finally! A nice day so we could open the windows, let in some much needed fresh air and get some new puppy pictures! Honey's pups are "little dogs" now. At five weeks, they are full of personality and attitude. The growling and barking coming from the sunroom (aka the Puppy Room) is deafening at times! We're starting to see who's in charge, who is content to let the others BE in charge, and who is more concerned about what the other pups are doing.

We ventured out onto the deck for the first time this weekend. A little hesitation the first time, but the second time, they could hardly wait for the door to open! Lots of exploring and checking out the new sights & smells.

One thing I noticed, this litter is full of "watchers". They are very in tune with faces and look to see who's coming, and what people are saying. They will sit and watch faces for a cue. And they are very talkative- not just barky. They definitely respond! This is the same behaviour I saw in Honey at an early age. And it's one of the reasons she is "my" girl.

They've met our bottle baby lambs and some are more interested in saying "Hi" while some are more determined to have a good game of chase with the Shetland cross baby! I'm not sure who is enjoying it more!

We're working on paper training- with that many pups it could almost be a full time job changing the paper when they potty! Once they get breakfast/dinner, everybody heads for the paper. So far they are doing pretty well and they'll hopefully get a little more accurate with their aim!

It's hard to believe that they will be ready for new homes in just a few short weeks! It will be very quiet around here when that happens. We should be able to pinpoint who is going to which home in another week or so. With so many pups available, there are still pups looking for the right home!

New pictures will be posted tonight on our website.