Feeding the Farm Dogs

"T" asked me about feeding my dogs. Since we provide the bulk of our own food, what do we do about our dogs? Good question! 

Knowing what goes into making commercial pet food, I've been rather cautious what I feed my own dogs. Over the years I've used a variety of commercial dog foods and have had the opportunity to see firsthand how they effect my dogs. And because I used to show dogs, I eventually became a real dog food snob. Then once I learned what was in the meat by-product meal that many dog foods are based on, I became even more particular about which kibble I bought, eventually weaning way back on the use of commercial feed. 

Don't get me wrong. I'm not against anyone feeding their dog commercial dogfood of any sort. Most dogs will do fine enough on just about anything and everything. But working dogs and show dogs have higher requirements, thus doing better with some foods rather than others. And nowadays that I've moved to being more self sufficient, I've moved toward home produced and local food items. 

These days I use a good quality kibble and cooked brown rice as the basis of the feed. To that I add a soup that is made from products this farm produces one way or another. I have the option to use chicken, eggs, lamb/mutton, goat, pork, fish, turkey, and milk. I have a wide range of vegetables to pick from, often adding to the cook pot-- potatoes, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, green beans, carrots, peas, pipinolas, and a wide range of greens. Plus I take the dogs' personal tastes into account. While most of the dogs like tomatoes, Crusty won't touch them, not even soups containing them. 

How much kibble/rice I use versus soup all depends upon availability. Usually it's one cup of kibble, 1 cup cooked rice, 2 cups mixed soup. Each dog gets a different amount, depending upon their need. The dogs actually seem to enjoy the crunchies, thus I still add dry kibble. Just like us, they are texture oriented, enjoying a good chew in their meal. 

Could I eliminate store bought kibble altogether? Sure. And use something other than store bought rice? Sure. And perhaps in the future I may need to do that. But for now, this is what my dogs eat. It's not 100% farm sourced, but it's enough to satisfy me. 

Death of a Farm Dog

Yesterday Leaping Lizard Barks-a-Lot, aka Lizzie, aka Lizardbreath, left her life of being a farm dog. At 14 years of age, it wasn't that she died young. No, she had a full life.....the life of a farm dog. Contrary to what animal rights people would like us to believe, Lizzie had a life that she loved. True, she was never inside a house a day of her life. Never slept in a human bed. But she had the freedom and adventures no house dog has the opportunity to enjoy. She roamed, explored, and intimately knew about 30 acres on a farm. She seriously kept a watchful eye on the place. In her way she defended it against rats, mongooses, feral cats, feral pigs. She announced the presence of every human or vehicle that entered the premises. In her own mind, she kept the neighbor's cows and horses from entering her farm. She kept an ever watchful eye on the fence line between the properties. She took her job seriously. 

Lizzie was a fine dog. Smart. Observant. Quick to learn. Devoted to her owner. Bonded to her farm. She was no particular breed of dog, but that didn't matter. 

Every time I saw Lizzie she was happy. I'm sure she had her down days, but they weren't often. She always seemed not only content to be a farm dog, but self satisfied with her lot. 

Lizzie wasn't one of my own farm dogs. No. She belonged to a friend. My friend had a very great dog, a very great farm dog. 

Dog Vaccination Day

As a part of our overall plan to be somewhat self reliant, I vaccinate our own dogs and cats. Adam's pup, Spotz, is due for his final vaccine of the puppy series, and it's close enough on the calendar to include Noodles & Crusty. The rest of the crew will be vaccinated at Christmas, the normal time that we do all once a year tasks. 

Around here, all the farmer/ranchers do their own vaccinations. And many pet owners also do their own. It's a combination of necessity (that is, lack of affordable veterinary services) and lack of extra non-essential cash to spend in having someone else do it for you. 

Now that Spotz is finished his puppy series, Adam will soon be able to start taking him out in public with less worry of Spotz getting parvovirus. 

Noodles Eats a Rock

The past two weeks have had a full schedule, and our Noodle puppy helped tip us over the edge. For a few days he was not acting his boisterous self, but not acting overly sick either. And at night around 4 a.m. he would wake up and have a dry heave. He was eating but not with his normal enthusiasm. Eating, drinking, no vomiting. Then Friday morning he had some straining when he went to poop. Would only eat a tiny bit for breakfast. Was subdued, but otherwise alert. No vomitting, and though he was drinking water, it wasn't his normal gushing amount. Late Friday afternoon he turned down dinner and water. Late Friday night he vomitted twice, losing all the food he had eaten over the past couple days. I was able to track the time via the type of treats he puked up. 

I suspected he had an intestinal foreign body. Perhaps not a full blockage, but something was going on for sure. His belly wasn't tense, but his eyes told us that he didn't feel right. He had no fever and his gums indicated that he was a bit dehydrated. 

So first thing Saturday morning I called the vet hospital and arranged for an emergency visit. Of course, once I got off the phone Noodles was acting a bit better. He drank water and held it down. But he wasn't interested in going outside for bathroom walks. He actually asked for a dog cookie, but I didn't give him one just in case he would need surgery. Though not his bouncy self, he was willing to go for a car ride. He still had no fever and still was subdued. 

The vet is a 1 1/2 hour drive away. By the time we got there Noodles was acting pretty good. Not boisterous, but alert and comfortable. The vet listened to our tale and suspected that Noodles ate something, being that he's half Labrador retriever. Labs are noted to swallow inappropriate items. An ultrasound indicated intestinal inflammation. No foreign body was seen in the stomach and upper intestinal system. Bloodwork revealed no toxicity although some inflammation of the pancreas was  suspected. The X-ray was the clincher. A radiopaque object was in his colon. Bingo! 

The next morning Noodles pooped out a rock. Once the rock was gone, the pup returned to his normal self. 

That's a big rock to get through some of the tight spaces in a dog's intestinal system! 

Puppy Update

Noodles --- Happy boy, riding home in the car after visiting a doggy friend. 

Anyone who has raised a puppy knows that there is a time where the pup becomes a teenager, with behavior that tries one's patience. In fact, sadly many people give up on their pups when they are around 8-9 months of age, dumping them at the local pound or kicking them out of the car some place. But if one would persevere and take some steps back on the training process to reinforce previous training habits, most pups get through this stage and grow up to be great adults. 

Noodles is now at this stage. Grrrr. He suddenly knows better than us about everything. Everything! But of course I was expecting this, so it's something I can deal with and work though. I only have to last another month or two for his brain to reconnect. 

... Sit? What's that, Mom? I never heard the word before. 

... Come? Well, you're not yelling yet. 

... What's wrong with you Mom? Shoes have always been my play toys! Don't you remember? Going a bit senile are you? 

Yup, hubby has lost 3 pairs of shoes. I've had two pairs of Crocs modified, but still wearable as garden shoes. All shoes now reside atop tables. The trash can is no longer considered sacred off limits. So it too sits atop a table. And those tables need to be higher than coffee table height since Noodles is now tall enough to look down upon coffee tables. If it's within mouth reach, he's willing to try it. 

(Above, this is the very first time I lowered the roof on the convertible. Noodles isn't sure what to make of it. He slithered into the front seats, unnerved by the disappearing roof. He's still a bit of a puppy, not too sure of strange things.) 

His newest fixation is tearing up cardboard. That's certainly better than shoes! Since I know that he's going to tear up something or other, I prefer it to be cardboard. So I keep a collection of small boxes and cardboard egg cartons handy to keep his mind and mouth occupied. 

He's recently become deaf not only to the come command, but he's now ignoring the high pitched whistle that I used to get his attention. So we're back to reinforcing his attention by only feeding him when he comes to the whistle. No cookies, no meals, no rawhide chews unless he comes running to my whistle. No riding in the truck to visit his doggy friends unless he snappily comes to the whistle. 

When he was 5-6 months old, he started showing watchdog tendencies. So his guard dog training basics started. With his change into a teenager, he's getting carried away. I'm seeing some charging behavior and uncontrolled barking. So we're back to basic obedience. The charging tendency is mostly gone, but the barking beyond the alert stage is still an issue. I expect it to be a couple of months before he finally figures out how to alert but not be excessive. 

(He's now comfortable with the car's roof disappearing. I haven't let him ride with the top down, but I wanted him to learn that it's something that happens to the car at times, it's nothing to be worried about.) 

Like other puppy owners, I'll be glad when he gets past this stage. From 12 months of age to 24 months will still be an important training period, so it's not like he becomes a perfect dog on his one year old birthday. Somewhere around 24 months of age he should finally be a good family member, cooperative, knowledgable in his job, though still in possession of a good zest for life. Looks to me that Noodles is going to be a great dog......some day eventually. But oh lord, will we survive the coming year? Groan. 

Teenage Puppy

Noodles is 7 months old and now a canine teenager. What a pain in the neck! He is often conveniently deaf, hesitates when responding to commands, and tries things he's never done before......like rooting in the trash, chasing chickens, and taking things off of tables. And of course, he always thinks he knows better than mom. Just like a human teenager, he thinks he knows everything about everything already. 

This pup has been an easy puppy so far. Even his teenage phase hasn't been too bad.....yet. I just remind myself that he still has plenty of time to get worse. And in truth, his behavior will indeed get worse. Most pups have their worst teenage behavior around 9 months of age. So I have 2 more months till the climax before things start getting better. Sigh. 

Above....taking a break after a tiring morning of rough housing with Crusty on the farm. 

This past few weeks hubby has had 2 sneakers chewed up. He owns two indentical pairs, and out of shear luck Noodles chewed the left shoe of one pair and right of the other, leaving hubby with one good set of matching sneakers. I wasn't so lucky. Noodles gnawed the back off of two Crocs, both the right shoes. Drats. Now all shoes are stashed up on the closet shelf, well out of reach. By the way, Gator Mouth has also discovered the laundry basket. After I found several chewed up socks in the hallway, the laundry basket got moved to a higher location too. Simply telling a young teenager "no" surely doesn't work, so things get moved out of reach until his brain catches up with his big body. In about 2 months he will be able to understand and learn better than he can now. Oh, he learns tricks well enough, but commonsense life rules don't seem so sensible to him.

Each morning now starts out with a short puppy obedience routine, after my own tai chi warm up. Noodles likes to sit there watching me do tai chi, so I've incorporated him into the act, doing a bit of "sit", "wait", "ok" exercises. His general behavior seems to improve for a while after his own morning "routine". 

Since The Noodler no longer has a snappy "come" whenever I call him, I've resorted to another trick to help keep tabs on his location. I've added bells to his collar.

 This way I can hear where he is in the house or on the farm. It also gives the chickens warning that the big puppy is heading their way. Being part Labrador Retriever, Noodles has a soft mouth. Thank heaven, or otherwise I'd have to slam him if he hurt chickens. He has caught the chickens several times and brought the unharmed birds to me. These hens are so use to him that they aren't even afraid and simply shake their feathers back into position once he lets them go, and indignantly strut back to their territory. But chasing, and picking up chickens, is forbidden on this farm. So Noodles needs to learn....and obey.....the rules. I've had numerous correction and training sessions with him, but as soon as he thinks I'm not looking, he'll corner and pick up a hen to bring to me. Since attaching the bells to his collar, he hasn't brought me a bird. The hens are learning, even if Noodles isn't! 

Noodles - An Update

Here's an update in the new pup. Many people have been asking about him. 

Noodles is now a "big boy" puppy. He's 6 months old, so he's got an adult sized body with an eight week old's mind. Sometimes that's challenging to deal with. He frisks now more so than when he was younger, so it is hysterical to see this big goof gallouping about, crashing into things. He doesn't seem to get the hang of his ever growing dimensions ... longer legs, taller size, wider shoulders. Just this morning he crashed running up the hillside stairs, legs akimbo, flipping himself off the side. Not a rare occurrence, he crashes at least once a day! And just recently he's added whacking his head as he runs under the house. He hasn't quite adjusted to his increased height either. And he still tries to take a shortcut by running between the furniture and the wall, but he no longer fits. He either gets wedged, or pushes the chair or table out toward the center of the room. 

Noodles fits his name. Just try picking him up and see what happens. It's like picking up a pile of cooked spaghetti. The pup's legs just melt out from under him, his neck flops, his whole body goes noodlely. You can imagine the challenge of picking him up to put him into the car. Thank heaven he jumps in on his own accord nowadays, but there for awhile it was an interesting endeavor. And every time I brush him he "goes noodles".  He gets his legs, chest, and belly brushed more frequently than his head and back, only because that's what gets presented to me. 

Above, he looks quite grown-up after his first haircut. 3 inches of puppy fuzz got changed into one inch of neat, tight wave. 

So what sort of nickname can you give a puppy called Noodles? Noods? Yes, I've caught myself calling him that in public, and yes, I get some strange looks. Kinda funny. But he's acquired a few other monikers : Noodle Boy, Alligator Mouth, and Poindexter. Ok, why Alligator Mouth? He is a very mouth oriented dog, having Labrador in him. So he likes to gently grab and hold things...toys, sticks, often our hands or wrists. On top of it, he has the long narrow snout of the Standard Poodle. He very much reminds one of a gentle alligator. 

So why Poindexter? That's an odd one, right? Well, we have a friend who thought Noodles was a cute puppy name but not appropriate for an adult dog. She suggested changing his name to Doodles when he grew up. She was serious!  Frankly, we like Noodles and it fits him perfectly. But it did put the idea into our heads about a more sophisticated name. Don't ask me why, but the name Poindexter struck a cord with hubby. This pup has been more of a studious, nerdy puppy compared to others we've raised in the past, so it's apropos. Now, whenever we want to talk about him but not let him know it, we refer to him as Poindexter. He already knows that Noodles, "the puppy", and "the dog" involves him in some way, but he hasn't caught onto Poindexter yet. 

Every night Noodles sleeps with a pile of his stuffed toys. And brother, he's got quite the collection. 18 all told! And he remembers every one of them. Plus has special assignments for them. The red moose, pink monkey, and white cow are taken outdoors for playing with. Every time I bring them in, out they go again. But none of his other stuffed toys are taken outdoors. Never. Six are living room residents. Six are bedroom residents. Plus the golden monkey and rope snake can end up anywhere. I guess they are "free agents". It is really strange that he designates where his toys stay stashed. 

Each night he sleeps in a crate in the bedroom, atop a pile of stuffed toys. He's probably old enough to start sleeping out of his crate now, but he automatically enters the crate on his own accord. So I'll let him keep the habit for a while longer until such time that he decides he wants to try sleeping with his best pal, Crusty. But during the day he naps out in the living room. He's got his six toys there, but he's also got something special that he sleeps atop.....one of the jumbo Costco teddy bears. 

We've never seen him nap anywhere except atop his toys, or now, his giant teddy bear. Yes, it was his Christmas present from Santa Claus.

We've grown quite fond of this pup. He's turning out to be a good one. He's been an extremely easy pup to raise and train. He's constantly happy and optimistic. And just recently starting to show watchdog tendencies -- perhaps an influence from Willy, the farm guard dog. Oh yes, while Crusty is Noodles BFF (best friend forever), Willy is his early morning playmate. Noodles has put some spring and energy back into old Willy, turning him into a younger dog again. Nice to see them play together. 

Noodles is coming along and looks destined to becoming one really fine dog. We surely lucked out getting him. He's the ideal puppy for two old people to raise. 

The New Puppy

I was planning on leaving this topic till last, on my list of projects accomplished, but I keep running into people or getting emails asking me about the pup. So I'll bump this topic to the top of the list : The Puppy

(Plane ride home.) 

Yes, I'm nuts. Getting a puppy is totally insane. But for the past two years I've been considering doing it. At times I've thought "yes", and at other times I thought "no". But I know that time isn't on my side. I'm at a point where I won't be wanting to do the puppy thing much longer....one of the problems of growing older. Puppies take lots of time, patience, and training. They completely interfere with one's life.  I always look at a puppy and think about that first year of agony and that second year of difficulty that comes along with puppy ownership. It takes about two years before a puppy becomes a real cooperative family member and the owner fully adapts to the pup. I've done it many times and know what to expect. 

After much mulling it over, we decided to get one more puppy in our lives. (Oh, this surely won't be our last dog added to the family, but future additions will be adults who are in desperate need of a home.) With the decision made, which sort of pup will get look for? Initially I wanted to get one of another breed I was already very familiar with...either a Border Collie, a Shiba Inu, a Siberian Husky. Over time though, we changed our minds. These breeds would be very challenging. Although I kept toying with the idea of one of these, hubby suggested getting a breed that we've never had before. That way we wouldn't fall into the trap of expecting the pup to be just like a dog that we had before. And I agree. Comparing the new pup to past canine friends is destructive behavior often leading to disappointment. So let's look at other breeds that appealed to us. We both liked the labradoodles that we've met, so that became one of the top possibilities. 

(Easiest time to get a photo is when he's sleeping.)

Labradoodles are a mixbreed. One usually never knows exactly what the end product will look and act like with a mixbreed pup. But enough litters of labradoodles have been bred to give a buyer a good idea what to expect from this mix .... almost as good a "sure thing" as with getting a purebred puppy.  And with a lifetime of experience working with puppies, I felt confident that I would be able to evaluate the pup adequately to get what we were looking for. 

Labradoodles can mean two different "breeds"......the Australian Labradoodle which is several generations of Labradoodle bred to Labradoodle (with the interjection of other breeds occasionally, especially poodle)......or......one parent being a Labrador Retriever and the other a Poodle. It is the second type that appeals to us. While looking for a pup we also came upon three litters of what is referred to as an F2 litter -- where each parent was the product of a Lab and a Poodle. This sort of mating results in a hodgepodge litter of pups with some physically resembling the Lab, some the Poodle, and the rest somewhere in between. And same for goes for personality....a spectrum running from Lab to Poodle, not necessarily correlating to the physical appearance. So the bottom line is that it's a crap shoot with an F2 litter. 

While finding our pup took searching & persistence and a whole lot of luck, we are now the happy owners of a cool pup named Noodles......an F2 puppy! Yes, you read that correctly. We took the chance on an F2 pup, but he showed all the physical traits and personality that we were looking for. Yes, his name is Noodles. It just seems to fit him. 

(Running around following Crusty.) 

Noodles' future is destined to be that of a close family companion, a dog that shares our car rides, our time, our life. He will also be a general farm dog, not specializing in any particular job other than farm overseer. Time will tell us if he has the propensity to be a guard dog, a ratter, a herder. We shall see. 

(Mouth wrestling with his favorite big brother.) 

New Useless Dog

Ok, useless sounds kinda harsh and cold. But this new dog wasn't added to the farm with a purpose in mind, other than to give it a stable home that it so desperately needed. 

Introducing Sweetie. (She came with that name.) 

We don't know what breeds are in her, but she seems to be half Bull Terrier. Here in Hawaii, the other half could be just about any combination. It just needs to be based on another breed that also produces the extreme white pied coloration, such as Dalmatian or Pointer. 

Until we and Sweetie get to know one another, and Sweetie gets to understand the house rules, she will be keeping Willie company. Willie is the farm watchdog, our big shepherd. When not patrolling the 20 acres, Willie spends his time in his yard, a 100'x150' fenced enclosure. So having Sweetie bunk with him won't cramp his space any. In fact, Willie instantly liked Sweetie. He's been asking her to play. 

Sweetie needed a home because Sweetie is not your average dog. She's like having an autistic person around. She sees the world differently, and reacts differently. She tends to ignore other animals to the point that she simply doesn't acknowledge their existence. She cannot walk on a leash, though we will work on that. She tends to walk in circles, especially in new surroundings and when under stress. She has difficulty targeting a food bowl, and differentiating between the food and soil. So we her eating out of a deep bucket which we have found is easier (and safer) for her. So far she has ignored all toys except for a tennis ball. Nor has she showed signs of playing with Willie, though she isn't afraid of him at all. He is the only animal here that she has acknowledged yet, but he's been hard to ignore. And the trait that cinches the argument that she is strange....she hasn't made a sound. No whimpers, whines, barks. Yes, she hears. Barks...no. 

Sweetie will be another of the farm's long list of useless animals. I don't foresee her having a farm oriented function, other than being a companion to us and Willie. While we hope to have her run the farm like our other dogs, I'm not certain yet that she will. It's up to her. Time will tell. We shall let Sweetie tell us how comfortable she is with living on a farm. She will have a choice of coming & going into the house, that is, if she can master the dog doors. Or she may opt to stay with Willie. If she bonds to him, then she might follow him around as he patrols. It would be a good experience for her and would extend her horizons. 

We've only had Sweetie a few days, so we are still in the discovery and bonding stage. And don't take it too seriously when I call her useless. We actually are fond of all our useless animals.....including Hubby. Oops, did I say that? Sshhhh. 

Drivel - Ka'u Truck Dogs

Maybe this is just a country thing, but it's common enough to see dogs riding in the back of pick up trucks, draped about on stock trailers, or atop cargo loads or piles of horse saddles. And it's usually not just one dog but several. A truck bed load of hunting dogs is also a common sight, 6 - 10 motley dogs all excited and ready. 

No, they are not tied in. Yes, the animal lovers go crazy, the SPCA gets regulations passed. Yet dogs ride in the back of trucks. They love it. Usually all is well. Occasionally you hear of one falling out but not too often because these dogs have been doing it since they were puppies. They learned from the other adult dogs and seldom get themselves into trouble. 

While owners are shopping, the dogs lounge around and wait. But get to their destination, be it home, the head of a hunting trail, the ranch, they shoot out like bullets ready for action. 

These dogs seem to enjoy life a lot more than most people. Sure they are taking chances, but by being close to the edge they enjoy the ride, the wind, the speed, and are loving it. More than you can say for most humans. If I were a dog I'd be in the back of the truck, standing on the edge with my face in the wind, panting with joy with a big smile in my face. It would be worth the risk. Far better than being shut up in a boring cage with no view, all safe but with a dull life. There's lots of people....writing safety regulations I bet......living in safe environments totally missing out on living. Naw, not for me! Let me be a truck dog! 

Homestead Dogs

Helen, a companion and enforcer of the farm rules. 

In our case, dogs are an integral part of the homestead farm. They serve as companions, teach one to take life as it comes, help keep us grounded in reality, plus earn their keep as active workers.

Collie Wobbles, our working Border Collie

What sort of working dogs are used in Hawaii? Well that depends upon the job needing to be done.  Many farmers and ranchers use watch-guard dogs. Cattle working dogs are common. Sheep herding dogs are also common. And hunting dogs are seen everywhere.

Our farm uses dogs for watch-guard duty. With the advent of the drug "ice", theft became a real concern. Dogs deter theft, for real! Another job the these dogs perform is keeping feral pigs off the farm. Pigs can ruin your garden in one night. So keeping pigs away is real important to us. Willie, our German Shepherd, also alerts us to wondering livestock. Many a time he has told us about cattle that have escaped neighboring pastures.

A Border Collie is a good farm dog for us, too. Our collie is now elderly but is still capable of holding the sheep. Many a time she helped move sheep to new pasture and helped return wayward sheep to the farm. I'm going to be really sad when she finally goes. Replacing her will be difficult because it takes a lot of time to train a new dog. But a sheep working dog is important to our homestead, so we will always have one.

So in our situation, dogs are really useful on the farm. We actually have more than two.....a bunch of freeloaders that needed homes. They were good dogs that didn't deserve to die, so since we had the room, we allowed them to join the farm family. A bunch of reject hunting dogs. Happy go lucky freeloaders!