Rescue puppy Bors is now the same size as his mentor Buddy.
He handled 4th of July fireworks like a champion and is learning the art of running down steep hills like a badass running behind Buddy.
From scrawny underfed nervous foster to the newest guardian of a farm with a herd of goats, he’s living his best life. I’ll get an official weigh in next week but I believe he’s just shy of 80 lbs.
Guarding his herd by barking like the good boy he is.
My moms working BC melts in the heat, so we have a cattle dog for working hot days, and he got to come to my house while mom does work and play with my pup to get energy out.
1 1/2 herding dogs together is very wild inside.
Now he won’t go too stir crazy not being able to hassle sheep.
Wheezy snuck onto the trailer while sheep were being loaded then refused to get off.
She doesn’t want to retire.
We put Bors the puppy with her so she’s got backup & he’s got a mentor.
Next week will be over 100 so she unfortunately will have to be inside during the day all week, she’s too old for heat like that, but she can go outside at night since it’s cool on the farm after dark so she’s not totally miserable, she really hates it inside.
Her brother Ivan and her both need their forever farm/s
8 month old Saoirse is a foster puppy in central Virginia, she’s only known life as a working dog and is very bonded to livestock.
For her age she does phenomenally well with no chasing, doesn’t test electric net fencing even if voltage is low. I cannot say how she would do in non electric fencing, but her sibling that I am keeping hasn’t had issues trying to climb or dig under non electric as of now.
She as well as her siblings have very strong instincts but are intelligent and discerning with their barks, they will guard against threats or potential threats but aren’t overly invested in barking at nothing, they guard well against birds of prey, coyotes, random dogs, etc.
She’s adjusting to not being with her siblings but would be happy to be placed with her brother Ivan given the correct farm/handlers.
We are asking $250 to cover Seresto collars, 10 way vaccinations which cover 3 types of lepto plus their core vaccinations/wellness exam before going to a new home, as we are fostering independently so vetting has just been a cost we’ve taken on. So the $250 covers the base costs on vet care we don’t want to profit, but it’s been a hard dang year financially as a farmer.
We can transport to a reasonable distance or work with rescues on transportation.
If you adopt a dog we’ve fostered we will ALWAYS prefer to take them back if life situations happen, we know that it’s tough as a farmer and that life happens farms go under, injuries happen. We always want a dog to have a safe farm to land at.
8 months is still a puppy, and should not be alone and unmonitored especially in a new farm. Given size now & parents she is expected to be somewhere around 110-115. She is roughly 65 lbs now. She will be given ear cleanings, nail trims etc next week as desensitization training to grooming. She doesn’t jump unlike her sister (she’s learning!) but would be good for a farm family, she will approach and guard against strangers, but isn’t overly aggressive, this can change, but I do think she would be good in a farm setting with more visitors than many LGDs do, she has met our farmhands toddler grandkids and done very well.
No reactivity around food with us, farmhands or animals.
We are working on leash skills, the pups have all been pretty nervous about leash walking but they are learning.
We want good, loving working homes where they can fulfill their life’s purpose as rough & tough guardians, but also be loved and respected as the wonderfully affectionate animals they are. These are working dogs, but are loving sweet pups, they deserve the best of both worlds where they work but aren’t taken for granted.
Our farm could not function without our dogs, it’s a partnership we have with them and we always want dogs who come into and leave our care to be in a good partnership wherever they go, they give us their all and we want them to be given the love & care they deserve.
I’ve posted about 7 rescue puppies our farm has been fostering.
2 have been in new homes for a bit and doing well.
2 are spoken for, a brother sister pair will be going to a farm in Georgia in a month to an experienced LGD handler and will have a good working home to live out their days.
2 still have no farms to go to & one is still very skittish but is coming closer to us even if we can’t touch him, they’ll eventually find working homes, but for now are growing like weeds.
Bors, the puppy I chose to keep as our next generation of guardians got to go to his first jobsite today! So here is Bors in the trailer for his first ride which was scary but he was very brave because he had Buddy his mentor with him, he followed Buddy right on even though he was nervous.
He did very well in the trailer, and followed Buddy out of like a champ for perimeter checks, so he will shadow Buddy on jobsites until he’s older & can work solo.
He’s probably 70 lbs now, he’s 8 months old in 2 weeks. He’s going to be a large guy, he’s almost Buddies size but Buddy is half maremma and is tall but only about 90 lbs so he isn’t a big guy. Bors will likely top out around 115-120 is my guess.
He got rewarded with some delicious wet food for being so good and brave
If your dog doesn’t like fireworks call your vet for refills for chill meds asap, if you haven’t had a current wellness visit & utd on core vaccinations you need to get on the cancellation list if you want meds for your dog or cats for the fireworks.
Please don’t allow your pets out unleashed on the 4th, it’s one of the biggest days that animals run off.
If you bring dogs out to fireworks or cookouts with fireworks you’re a bad person who deserves to stub your toe daily.
Caught the auto train while I swimming. I appreciate my partner for handing me my phone quickly enough to get a train photo as I came out of the water like a swamp creature.
This was the A line bridge in Richmond going south around 5:30 for the extra train nerds who like the schedules.
Except right now with this beautiful storm!
We needed this, I’m happy we are getting some good storms.
A transformer definitely blew off Allen though. Ope!
We hosted a big camp out and they had a dj, the puppies barked at him at first then decided it seemed safe.
I’m seeing a lot of comments on drought updates that we had a bunch of rain last week so it’s a non issue.
Just some handy local info from someone who has to follow drought and rain info.
We are a fairly rain heavy state but do have regular years long drought conditions. Usually those are 3-4” deficits sometimes a bit higher.
We went into this year with a 9 inch deficit as the state average, and have added a 5 inch deficit since. This is state average, some areas are a little less or little more severe than this.
We actually didn’t have a very wet winter, the icecrete just had staying power.
What about last weeks rain? Depending on the area it added .4-1 inch. Richmond area was .4-.5 inches. NW of Fredericksburg got around an inch. It was needed but not enough.
This week we are looking at maybe 1.5-2 inches if forecasts hold, it’s DESPERATELY needed. But it won’t be enough to get us out of a severe drought. 1/4 of our state is in severe drought, and every other state in the SE is doing worse than us. This is a total crapshoot.
Why should you care?
This level of drought especially after a dry fall means hay shortages, meaning issues for anyone owning livestock/horses, increase in meat costs & pet food costs.
Planting interruptions, a LOT of planting hasn’t been done and won’t be done because without enough rain planting can’t happen at scale, in VA, this means a lot of corn production won’t happen.
Coupled with really early heat followed by 2 late frosts and in some areas a third mild late frost, a lot of crop loss is happening.
******For dog owners******
Droughts can cause algae growth in bodies of water even rivers if there’s areas that water flow is interrupted, so please be careful taking your dogs swimming as certain types of algae can cause severe illness in dogs especially if yours chug water as they swim.
But there’s a possibility that this winter there will be a “super El Niño” which for our region can make a very wet winter, which would suck as far as comfort but might help break the drought but nothing is sure on that front.
This drought is projected to hold at least through July.
This sucks, we are having some of our driest months on record, but it’s each month adding to the issue, 2007 was out last drought that was REALLY notable, but it wasn’t this bad.
If you can collect rain for gardens it’s a great idea but use mosquito dunks so you don’t add to mosquito issues, which I guess at least the silver lining is the drought probably helps the mosquito issue some.
With no improvements they decided that’s what “market value was” maybe we should be pushing harder for city council to put in rent increase caps because in no world should someone have the right to increase rent by 55% especially with no improvements. This is obscene
The animals were grazing and my moms roommate decided to walk away from the working border collie he was “handling” so that dog chased a ewe in the woods (she’s okay but had a slight limp when we got her back) so I got woken up by my mom to “come with the puppy NOW it’s a disaster!”
I didn’t have time to get her long line, but she did very well on the lawless ladies who tend to ignore the dogs.
My mom is coming to private herding lessons with us for her BC, and won’t be letting the roommate work him anymore. The only reason he went to a herding clinic is it was snowing and he’s incapable of basic tasks so she had to stay on our farm.
Then after months of private lessons the trainer said she refused to work with him anymore because he doesn’t listen and isn’t nice to the dog. Which is true. HE messes up then blames the dog over it. So we are fixing that by mom going to lessons.
Anyhoo.
This is Daisy Mae, she’s 11 months old, stock dog registered lines, she’s started on hogs & sheep, she’s a little timid but once her instincts kick in she’s fantastic. Her sister is a very forward and strong dog but I’m working sheep and goats a lot of whom are bottle babies so I chose her because she’s got a soft mouth her sister is going to be great on cattle but Daisy will be fantastic with a little time and training.
She even put some snaps on our biggest brush goat, the king of the herd a 5 foot tall at face level feral alpine/lamancha goat named Fritz.
We live on the second floor, our back door has been leaking every time it rains because there’s no storm door and no gutters above the door, the roof gutters never get cleaned.
👍
Landlord visited today to raise prices on the unit below us, but not fix our fuckin door.
My last landlord would let us do minor repairs that didn’t need an insured professional like electrical and then just take it off our rent. So minor things like replacing a pump in a toilet, or adding a storm door would have been fine. But nooooo can’t do that here. Just gotta have a door that leaks anytime it rains.
2 of the 6 rescue puppies we are fostering have been moved to learn to guard poultry & while I was hiding from the rain they decided it was the best time for puppy WWE.
They enjoyed romping around, rolling in the nice dirt holes they’d dug for themselves earlier & tackling each other into the mud.
I’m glad they are enjoying themselves. They’ve only known a big drought since being born so I’m glad they got their rain romps
This is Volt he’s a working dog on my moms farm & adores my pet gsd/pyr rescue so during his time off herding he gets to play with his new bestie.
His arch enemy is in the background glaring at the both of them. Our maremma HATES him because he sees herding as a threat to his livestock, so he was mad that they were playing so close to his fence
She’s even got levels.
We sit and watch the world go by and she enjoys having her tower on a hill. She switches between the landing and the balcony