Puppy socialisation / Summer Clip / Chickeny stuff

29th May 2012 by Gillie McNicol

This morning I took Zolli for a walk on her own as she had been so nervous when I took her out alone last week on horseback.  When her sister is with her she is up behind the horses, but alone, she was everywhere but behind and barked a lot as if calling her sister!  We went down to see the goslings and we achieved a fifteen pace stay (third time!) at the electric fence while the goslings were following me!

Nail clipping: Since they were tiny both pups have been completely relaxed about having their nails trimmed.  They are now one year old and suddenly Zeaver has decided that nail-trimming is terrifying and cannot be tolerated.  Two of us tried, we were quiet, calm and unreactive, but she wriggled, squirmed and even tried to bite… we slipped a soft muzzle on as she seemed to be meaning it now and finally did manage to get the front 4 clipped and ended on a good note.. Why she has suddenly developed this phobia is beyond me.. she loves being groomed, they both do and her sister is completely relaxed about her nails!

Went to dog training on Tuesday, it  was very hot and the pups were brilliant.. both did perfect stays, both came to the call past all the other dogs, and their heel work was not bad at all.  There was little or no barking when we let them off.  Zolli still glues herself to me unless she is loose with her sister!

Before

Zopi, the Tibetan Terrier had a bit of a “turn” the other evening.  She got very over excited barking at nothing,  it was boiling hot, she was overdue for a clip and she suddenly went all stiff with eyes rolling.  We  sat with her calmly and gave her a baby aspirin, a propanalol and some rescue remedy and waited for it to pass which it did and she settled down.  So yesterday we embarked on the clip. with Seonaid’s help we reckon our clipping skills are improving!  Before and after!

After

The hens : we have seven hens now, three of which were new this year. We noticed that six of them were getting really sore bald bottoms… the little grey cells suggested that the one with a beautiful soft feathery  bottom was the guilty party!  Went online and ordered some anti pecking spray which also soothes the skin, we have sprayed them three times so far and it does seem to be doing the trick. They are laying really well at least 6 eggs every day. Have a look at our Chookcam both in the house and in the run.

They are contained by a 50 metre electric poultry net with a battery run by a solar panel and a self closing door on the hen house which is fantastic.  We virtually never have to charge the battery.  We have never  (in four years of having our chickens) had a fox problem even though they lurk in the field below us a lot! All of the dogs have been zapped by it and never gone near it again, so I reckon Mr Fox and his family have been zapped too!

Last year we had to put a cage on the front of the hen house over the ramp as the crows learned to hop into the hen house and steal all the eggs.. we could  not understand why the hens werent laying, for several weeks..so put a rubber egg in the box and found it the next day outside the electric fence.. then spotted a family of crows.. two to herd the hens into a corner and two to go into the house and pinch the eggs! Once discovered.. the Crowation wars were over and finally we had a good supply of eggs again!

Merlin went to his first show this Saturday. He is 4 years old and very handsome. Heidi (Goddaughter) rode him in a nice easy dressage test which he did pretty well considering it was his first experience.   Whisky, Heidi’s new horse is an ex racer, quite mad and very very fast. He took off up the avenue which is a wide, long grassy track as if it were a racecourse leaving us miles behind! I did ride Merlin once and would be happy to again but cant imagine I will be getting on Whisky any time soon!