I'm on vacation now, wrote this earlier in the week, but here are some of the pictures I promised while I was gone: Bee Balm in full bloom in front of the barn. Very 4th of July-ish. Heavy hydrangea blossoms weighted down by the rain (yes, it's back, just in time for my vacation, of course!) Will and Hope playing on the front lawn (love Will's relaxed open mouth expression): Read More
Low Stress Handling Book
While we're on the subject of books (and ooooh, I love the suggestions from so many of you about books you have loved. Oh boy, can't wait to check them out. . .), have you seen Sophia Yin's Low Stress Handling, Restraint & Beh Modification of Dogs and Cats? This is not a cheap book, as a matter of fact, it's problematically expensive ($117 on Amazon), but it's a great book to encourage your library or shelter or vet clinic to get. It has the best, clearest photographs I've ever seen of how to, and how not to do just about everything you need to do around a cat or dog: enter a kennel, pick up a cat, restrain a dog, etc. If you are feeling flush, it'd be a great donation to your local humane society. Would that all shelter volunteers had a chance to look at it. Pages 46 and 47 have Read More
Book Report – American Lambs & The Art of Racing . . .
A dear person sent me a book titled American Lambs, by T Yamamoto. It's subtitled "Poems and Stories about Working Border Collies, Sheep, Family and Life on the Land." The author explains that it is a mix of real life and fiction, but is all based on a real island off the North West coast in which sheep were allowed to graze the pastures and beaches until the rural land slowly, inexorably, evolved into a landscape of urban dwellers who, in the author's words "didn't realize that they were changing the exact things they loved about the land." But don't think this is a sad book. It is a rich and moving celebration of our connection to animals and the land. I loved it, absolutely loved it, and I don't think you need to have sheep or herding dogs to love it too. I read it in one night, and Read More
Imitation # 2
Thanks for your comments with examples of what looks like imitation in dogs and cats. I was especially intrigued by the cat stories, having had a cat myself who did a perfect imitation of a herding Border Collie after watching me work Luke every day. Luke and I would drive the sheep up the hill to the pasture, and Ayla, my tiny, gray cat, would follow behind. She often sit on a log and watch as I worked Luke on gathering and driving. The sheep, although never abused, did not enjoy this exercise as much and Luke and I, and were always ready to bolt to the barn if given half the chance. When that happened, Luke would have to streak around them at lightening speed and stop them. When we were done working I'd say "That'll Do" to Luke and let the sheep run back down the hill. Once they Read More
Toy Story with a Twist
We're still all about toys at the office, given the boxes and boxes of them that arrived last week. And there's nothing like having a new puppy in the house to get you back to thinking about toys! A great happy surprise has been that the toy we were afraid would live on our shelves forever, Sherman the (Big) Sheep, has been a big hit. It's sold more than any of the other toys, and we are still smiling about it. (And so is Will, he adores it.) There are a few left, but we don't expect them to hang around for long. Just fyi, the loser of the new toy choices is the hapless Scorpion, undoubtedly an image most people don't want to see, and to make matters worse, it's covered in "nature's warning colors--red and black--just to make it more off putting. Poor little scorpions, I suspect Read More
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