I wondered if you have seen this — an automatic ‘dog washing machine,’ in which you put your dog into a metal box, streams of water and soap engulf him or her, then presumably the dog is dried with blasts of hot air. Here’s a link to the Dog-O-Matic (sent to me by an alert UW student). I’m relieved to say it’s only in France so far, but honestly, keep your eyes peeled for it to show up in your area (and be ready to stop it!). Poor poor dogs!
Speaking of animal welfare, thanks to everyone who wrote interesting and informed comments about my last blog, basically a rant on the problems associated with horse racing. If you are interested in the topic you might want to read the comments, there are some very good ones. Thanks to everyone who wrote in, and keep up the conversation.
Meanwhile, back at the farm, I promised I’d tell you what happened to Redford the Ram (and Willie). It was one of the accidents that come out of nowhere, in which everything is going according to plan, and then, surprise! Redford had been split off from the flock, along with a neutered five month-old ram lamb to keep him company. I needed to ensure that my ewes didn’t get bred early and deliver lambs in the depth of winter (like last year) so Redford and friend were moved out of the main flock, and into the orchard pasture up the hill from the house. We call it the orchard pasture because of the wild apple trees that used to punctuate the grass in spring with a flurry of white blossoms, and it is my favorite place on the entire farm. The sheep seem to like it too (that’s where the photo from the last blog was taken.)
I went up to practice Willie’s flanking whistles on Redford and lamb, knowing that they’d be a bit more flighty than the main flock because they were split off from them. The main flock is slow and pokey, so a bit more speed is good practice for me and Will. But, Redford and friend weren’t a ‘bit more flighty.’ They were an ovine version of hysterical. I sent Will to take them out of a corner, something we’d all done–sheep, dog and human–a gazillion times. However, rather than moving away from Willie and out of the corner, as usual, the ram lamb panicked when Will was a good 40 yards away, and turned and smashed his head into the fence to try to get out. Oh my… I love my sheep and hate seeing them frightened or hurt, so I immediately said “LIE DOWN” to Will, and bless him, he did. The lamb settled down and moved away from the fence a few feet, so presuming we were back to relative normal, I flanked Will and asked him to go around the sheep to move them out of the corner.
My mistake, because apparently the sheep weren’t as settled as I had thought. Redford turned and, true to his name, rammed full speed into Willie, who stood up for himself without biting, bless him. It gets blurry from there… imagine two white shapes and a smaller black and white one, moving left, right, up and down at high speed for a few seconds. Somewhere in there, Redford took a tumble, and ended up with a bruised shoulder. He limped quite badly a few hours later, and I fussed all night worrying about him. I’m quite fond of him, and he’s valuable besides, so it felt important that he recover.
Good news, after two days Redford is as good as new. He’s going to some dear friends on Saturday morning, to live with their ram for the summer, and then we’ll both use him for breeding. I’ll let you know how the transfer and ram introduction goes. Unfamiliar rams can be very aggressive to each other.. think National Geographic and Mountain Goats.. and in some cases can even kill each other. Peg and I have no intention of that happening, I’ll tell you more about what we’ll do to prevent that in a subsequent blog. Meanwhile, here is one of Redford’s daughters, a lovely little ewe lamb from the good ewe Martha 2.0 (her face is behind the lamb). Martha is my oldest ewe and is beginning to breath in a labored fashion, so I’m waiting for a visit from the vet for her. She was born by emergency Caesarian section when her mother, the original Martha, died in delivery. Thus the name, Martha 2.0. Cross your hooves that it’s nothing serious…
zxx
Liz F. says
I can’t get this picture of Martha’s little cutie pie out of my head, she’s too adorable.
Glad all are fine after Redford’s behavioral hiccup, and hope Martha is well or can be helped. Good for Will, too! Before regularly reading your blog, I imagined the to-do list on a farm being long, but I couldn’t really imagine the beauty and joy that the rest of the farm can bring. I always look forward to reading about the ups and downs, comings and goings, of your farm, so thanks for sharing.
Also, thanks for bringing attention to this latest crazy and scary contraption, and hope everyone avoids the dog-o-matic like the plague.
Ignacio says
That dog wash-o-matic is such a bad, BAD idea. I can’t imagine how stressful this could be for the dog. Besides, how lazy can people get? You don’t need much room or resources to give a dog a bath, we used to wash our 68lbs dog in the bathtub… all it takes is less than an hour and the willingness to get wetter than he is! 🙂
Holly says
oh.my.goodness.
is Willie ok? He isn’t frightened now is he? Handling livestock is NOT for the faint of heart. I think people see the sheep herding trials and assume all sheep are dog broke and easy to handle but that only comes after long association and thus understanding. I also know how panic can spread like wildfire among livestock, when one is scared and the others can’t see what is so frightening…..they can all end up in hysteria which is incredibly dangerous.
I am so glad this turned out ok….it did for Willie didn’t it?
As for the Dog-O-Matic…..holy dog washing Batman!
Trisha says
Thanks for asking about Willie, he is doing great! Something happened during that episode, because he lost a tiny bit of hair beside one eye, but he didn’t seem stressed afterward and he worked the flock beautifully last night.
And by the way, Martha the old ewe probably has pneumonia, she has an elevated temperature and her lungs sound full. She’s on two medications, and I’m going to put her in a quiet pasture with a few other ewes so that she is never being asked to go up and down the steep hill behind the barn (or have to move around while being worked by Will.)
Jim says
I’m buying a Dog-O-Matic… for my kids!! 🙂
Gail says
I was shocked to read about the Dog-O-Matic and immediately forwarded your link to friends so they could be on the lookout. Guess what? It’s out in Manhattan Beach, California: http://www.bubblespetspa.com/Hydrobath_New.html
So much for bonding time with your best friend.
Anne says
Poor Martha, I hope she can recover.
I had something similar happen with a ram (his name is Yogurt, thanks to my son) and a lamb when they got separated from the flock. The ram didn’t consider the lamb a flock, and he acted like he was alone, mainly by trying to fight the dog, and then bolting and running like crazy, ending up in the hay loft of the barn (we have a earth ramp- he doesn’t fly). Ben and I got him back down without injury to anyone.
So I have decided the ram needs at least 2 friends before he’ll act sensible.
hornblower says
We have one of these machines here in the Lower Mainland of BC.
http://www.easywash.ca/section.asp?catid=1932&subid=1934
They say it was created by a team of vets & animal behaviourists (!).
I thought it was mostly a publicity thing – they did get a lot of media coverage of it & in our case it’s attached to a car wash business which purports to be an eco-friendly alternative to regular car washes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuTJ-XqZqI4
Awful thing.