Saturday, March 24, 2007
Wendy and the Anatolians,
After a little while we took both of them to a local obedience event for some more socialization. I was so proud of Ayla, she was on her best behavior, no more lunging to get to the other dogs, no whining about wanting to meet all the other dogs, she was just perfect. Still loves to meet and greet as many people as possible, she has always been very polite about that. And she sure knows how to get them to keep petting her when they want to stop.
We had a little visitor today. Wendy is an 11 week old Airedale Terrier who lives in Las Vegas. She and Ayla had a good time, Ayla was very gentle with her and Wendy took it all in stride, lots of things to explore. It always amazes me how Ayla immediately picks up on it if another dog isn't quite sure what to do. 
She was just very calm and seemed to enjoy just hanging out with the little puppy. 
The funniest thing was when Ayla was lying down and Wendy started digging right next to Ayla, who didn't seem to be sure what to do about that.
After a little while we took both of them to a local obedience event for some more socialization. I was so proud of Ayla, she was on her best behavior, no more lunging to get to the other dogs, no whining about wanting to meet all the other dogs, she was just perfect. Still loves to meet and greet as many people as possible, she has always been very polite about that. And she sure knows how to get them to keep petting her when they want to stop.
After the trip to the obedience event it was Leydi's turn to meet the puppy. After a couple of minutes of drooling on the puppy, yes, Leydi was drooling, she went into playmode and Wendy got quite excited about that. These two really had fun and did some playing, it was interesting to see how Leydi was very careful not to step on the puppy.
I am so happy about my big girls who can be so gentle with this little visitor. When it was time for Wendy to leave her mommy Debbie put her in a crate in our parking area in front of the garage so she could come back into the house to have some water, Leydi insisted to stay with the puppy and waited next to the crate until we came back. She wasn't going to leave that puppy out there by herself.
It will be fun to have Wendy coming back, when she gets a little bigger and more robust she and my girls will be racing around and having fun.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
New Building for the Dogs,
so I finally assembled my saws, got a new cordless drill and a few other tools and I went to work. I first build a henhouse for my chickens who should arrive next week, then I put up a shade roof for the dogs. They always hang out on the North side of the house, because there is shade most of the day, so I put the first shade structure there, because in the late afternoon the shade there is getting less now as the sun comes farther around to the West in the afternoon. 
The roof also serves as a shelter from the rain and as an observation platform. Leydi immediately claimed the roof as hers, while Ayla preferred the space below. The shade roof will need to be painted to match the color of the house, and I think I will put up some trim around the top so it won't look so unfinished, but for now it is functional and that was most important. 
When we first moved here I really would have liked to have everything in place by the time we moved in, but on the other hand, it really makes a lot more sense to live in a place and then make decisions on where to put additional fences and buildings, because now I can see what kind of shelter the dogs need and where they spend most of their time. In the winter I might build a real dog house to see if anybody will use it. And I think I will try myself in building the porches I want for our sliding doors. Now that I got started building things, I can think of a million things I need. I guess I won't get bored anytime soon.
The roof also serves as a shelter from the rain and as an observation platform. Leydi immediately claimed the roof as hers, while Ayla preferred the space below. The shade roof will need to be painted to match the color of the house, and I think I will put up some trim around the top so it won't look so unfinished, but for now it is functional and that was most important. 
When we first moved here I really would have liked to have everything in place by the time we moved in, but on the other hand, it really makes a lot more sense to live in a place and then make decisions on where to put additional fences and buildings, because now I can see what kind of shelter the dogs need and where they spend most of their time. In the winter I might build a real dog house to see if anybody will use it. And I think I will try myself in building the porches I want for our sliding doors. Now that I got started building things, I can think of a million things I need. I guess I won't get bored anytime soon..
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Snake Encounter,
these pictures are actually already one year old, we had a surprise encounter with this rattlesnake on a rather cool and windy spring day last year. Ayla was happily running around in these sand dunes when all of a sudden I heard the sound of a rattlesnake from the direction that Ayla was. Ayla had never seen a rattlesnake and was trying to figure out where the noise came from.
The second picture shows the disturbed ground to the right of the snake, this is where Ayla's foot came down right next to the snake. I think that maybe this snake had just crawled out of her hiding place and was trying to warm up and that's why Ayla didn't get bitten, as she was certainly within striking range.
I have also come a cross a few sidewinder rattlesnakes and twice I almost stepped on them because they neither made any noise nor did they move away. The ones I have encountered didn't make the same kind of noise as the other rattlesnakes that I have encountered, they sounded more like an insect that was stuck somewhere than a rattlesnake, of course now that I know what they sound like I know what to look for when I hear them.
Sunday, March 04, 2007
Working together, Nanuk and Leydi taking a nap in the shade together. Note Nanuk has dried drool over his nose, this happens when he has drool hanging down from his mouth and he shakes his head. It is really gross and I will be very careful never to get another dog that drools as much as he does. He is still my best buddy though.
Miss Mighty, or coming of age,
Ayla is experiencing her second heat cycle and oh, is she letting everybody know about it. She walks around "grrrr, get out of my way or else". She is flirting with Nanuk and is on her best behavior around him, hip slamming him and dancing around to get him interested. 
Today I watched her go up to him and as he was laying on his side doing his best to ignore her she was poking him with her nose, grabbing his fur on the back of his neck with her teeth and pulling on him and all the while he was giving her the cold shoulder. Little does she know that the green stuff I have been giving her, chlorophyll, is masking her hormonal state so Nanuk cannot smell it. But we all sleep better that way.
Today I watched her go up to him and as he was laying on his side doing his best to ignore her she was poking him with her nose, grabbing his fur on the back of his neck with her teeth and pulling on him and all the while he was giving her the cold shoulder. Little does she know that the green stuff I have been giving her, chlorophyll, is masking her hormonal state so Nanuk cannot smell it. But we all sleep better that way.