Hey Jude

Please welcome a new addition to our family!

Delta Bluez Jude

Jude arrived via Alaska Airlines on Friday, July 30th. I picked him, and his dam Sleat up from the airport as they arrived from Sacramento - it was only a short flight and both dogs did very well. They happened to be on the same flight as Martin Buser's Itidarod sled dog team (I saw Martin and his staffers as well as all his dogs, but I had no clue who it was until yesterday!).

Jude is nearly 12 weeks old and is really quite a pistol as well as being quite a looker. He is marked just like his mother Sleat who is one of the most unique Border Collies I've seen - and that's unique in a good way (she is beautiful!). Although we've had Jude less than 48 hours he is already well adjusted to the other dogs and is getting the hang of our routines. Right now, he is winding himself up in a fleece blanket... As expected, Scott and Lucky are not amused by a puppy in the house but they are taking the new addition quite well. Mattie is non-chalant about the whole thing - she knows she is still my number one girl. In a couple months as Jude gets bigger, he will become Mattie's #1 play buddy, giving Lucky a much needed break.

Jude went to Diane's sheep farm yesterday and our friend Kathleen surprised us both by announcing her new puppy as well! A 12 week old Australian Kelpie named Josh. Talk about cute! He and Jude came to be fast friends and it will be great to see Josh and Jude grow up together.

The pups found a piece of hard plastic and decided to wrestle for it...

Jude seems to think that by sitting on your opponent, you can get what you want. In this case, he was right and ended up taking off with the plastic-prize.

It will be fun to document Jude's puppyhood on the blog. Stay tuned!

Chicken Run

Well, the girls have settled in quite nicely. They are yielding about 3 eggs a day now and my three young gals, Holly, Kendra and Bridgit, have not yet started laying. I suspect once they mature, we'll be getting 4-6 eggs a day!

What to do with all those eggs? Well, how about deviled eggs? I actually just made a batch of those to take to a 4th of July party tonight. And, what about quiche? Why yes! These quiche must be the most unhealthy things I've ever made - 8 eggs per quiche, cheese, sour cream, bacon, half-n-half... but hey, there's three cups of spinach in there too so that negates the real bad-for-you things, right?

The Russian Orloffs lay one egg a day right now. Their eggs are light brown. The Sicilian Buttercups lay every 40 hours or so - their eggs are smaller and white. I've given some eggs to my parents and also gave them out as gifts on Father's Day.

None of the birds are easy to photograph. I have a decent automatic camera with a substantial zoom on it; however, the birds move super fast; I have too many shots with their bodies in focus but their heads are a total blur. I did manage to take these today...

Free ranging all day long in our "Triangle Yard."

The Russian Orloffs Myrtle and Mergatroid

Sicilian Buttercup, Flo. They're named "buttercups" because they have a doubled comb and it makes a cup

The Rhode Island Reds, Bridgit and Kendra, are playing peak-aboo. Holly is off somewhere and didn't get into today's photo shoot.

I also got some cute pics - well I think they're cute - of my three dogs. Mattie is actually due for a hair cut, hence why her bangs are in a ponytail.

Mattie, my working beardie. She had a great herding session with Diane yesterday!

Scott isn't a big photo-fan. He looks pretty serious here. He worked hard at the farm yesterday and is taking it easy today.

Lucky, the Maltese-Shih Tzu. He's such a cutie-pie! He didn't do anything yesterday.

Obscure Dog Breed of the Month

This month I will highlight a Russian herding dog; the Nenets Herding Laika.

First, "laika" is a Russian term used to describe Russian working dogs in general. The website, http://dogbreeds.bulldoginformation.com/, describes the Nenets Herding Laika as...

The Laika breeds are Russian working dogs of the Northern type. Laika is the Russian word for 'barker' or 'barking dog' and is derived from the verb 'layat', which means 'to bark'. The breed's name thus simply means 'a dog that barks' in Russian, referring to the fact that the hunting laikas are bark pointers, dogs selectively bred for their barking abilities.

Six breeds belong to this group: West Siberian Laika, East Siberian Laika, Russian European Laika and Karelo-Finnish Laika, Northeasterly Hauling Laika and Nenets Herding Laika. The first four are hunting dogs for bear, elk, forest birds, which are also occasionally used for pulling sleds; one is a herding dog (which can also pull sleds) and one, the Hauling Laika, is a pure sled dog.

They all have a tick, weather-resistant coat with woolly undercoat, a very strong and muscular neck and a feathered tail that is carried curled over the back when the dog is working.

The Nenets Herding Laika is a medium-sized working dog that owes its name to the Nentsy tribe, an ancient nomad tribe whose main activity is reindeer herding. The Nenets Laika looks very similar to the Samoyed, a dog developed under similar circumstances by the Samoyed people.

Their main distinctive feature is their coat color, which is solid or bicolored grey, tan, black or white for the Nenets dog, while pure white for the Samoyed.

This is not a bath towel!

This is NOT a Bath Towel!

Don't step on it!

Dog Haiku

Dog Haiku
**Contributed to Swenny's E-Mail Funnies by Bob Laurie, Juneau , Alaska, who dedicates this to all his doggy friends

Haiku stands as one of the great cultural gifts of the East. This wonderful poetic form in which a universal moment is captured in just three short lines of 5-7-5 syllables, bespeaks the magnificent skill of brevity.

I love my master;
Thus I perfume myself with
This long-rotten squirrel.

I lie belly-up
In the sunshine, happier than
You ever will be

Today I sniffed
Many dog butts-I celebrate
By kissing your face.

I sound the alarm!
Paperboy-come to kill us all-
Look! Look! Look! Look! Look!

I sound the alarm!
Mailman Fiend-come to kill us all-
Look! Look! Look! Look! Look!

I sound the alarm!
Meter reader-come to kill us all-
Look! Look! Look! Look! Look!

I sound the alarm!
Garbage man-come to kill us all-
Look! Look! Look! Look! Look!

I sound the alarm!
Neighbor's cat-come to kill us all!
Look! Look! Look! Look! Look!

I lift my leg and
Wiz on each bush. Hello, Spot -
Sniff this and weep

How do I love thee?
The ways are numberless as
My hairs on the rug.

My human is home!
I am so ecstatic I have
Made a puddle

I hate my choke chain -
Look, world, they strangle me! Ack
Ack Ack Ack Ack Ack!

Sleeping here, my chin
On your foot - no greater bliss - well,
Maybe catching cats

Look in my eyes and
Deny it. No human could
Love you as much I do

The cat is not all
Bad-she fills the litter box
With Tootsie Rolls

Dig under fence-why?
Because it's there. Because it's
There. Because it's there.

I am your best friend,
Now, always, and especially
When you are eating.

You may call them fleas,
But they are far more -I call
Them a vocation

My owners' mood is
Romantic-I lie near their
Feet. I fart a big one.

Rub a Dub Dog

Oh Lucky; he's such a cutie pie!

Lucky is a Maltese Shih Tzu mix. I adopted Lucky from the Seattle Animal Shelter in November 2003 - he was 3 months old when he was surrendered to the shelter and he spent a whole 10 minutes in the shelter before I whisked him home. Once home, we realized why Lucky might have been taken into the shelter - even at 3 months he was a handful! Very mouthy, very determined, very stubborn and willful . He LOVES to wrestle, play tug, and most of all, retrieve tennis balls / play flyball. He's a joy to have around and I couldn't imagine life without him.

Now, Lucky is nearly six years old and is still quite active (and stubborn). I retired him from the sport of flyball last year after he started slowing down (he wasn't that fast to begin with) and his knees began to give him trouble (fluxating patellas and signs of arthritis already setting in). He has pretty jacked up teeth too. I suppose his poor conformation is really the product of where Lucky likely originally came from - a pet shop / puppy mill situation, I can only imagine. Lucky's determined temperment is probably what got him through his early puppy-hood so smoothly; he has no real behavioral issues at all and will eat anything I put in front of him.

Being mostly white, 98% white, Lucky gets baths with a bit more frequeny than Scott and Mattie do. Today was Lucky's unlucky day....

The 16lb pooch fits perfectly in the Utility Sink / Doggie Wash station

Mattie and Scott look on... you can tell they are there to support Lucky through this horrible ordeal but are also secretly laughing inside - better him than me!

Mattie is starting to get concerned that as we near the end of the conditioning session of Lucky's bath that perhaps she's next...

That's one wet puppy!

After a blow-dry. Viola; one Super Fluff Puff! Sometimes Lucky does get called "Fluff-n-Puff", at least when he's not be called "Turd Burglar"

What has 8 eyes, 16 legs and 4 wagging tails?

It's Sunday and I'm sitting on the couch totally surrounded by sleeping dogs - 3 collies and 1 Shih Tzu mix. Jerill and I are taking care of Rainey for Diane while she undergoes another heart procedure this week.

Rainey is a daughter of Scott and she looks a lot like her daddy, albeit she has brown eyes and and she probably weighs 10-12 pounds less than him. She's about 18 months old and as cute as they come...

Four Dogs! They're all getting along marvelously

I am actually running in a sheep trial with Scott and Rainey at the end of the month. Rainey and I will be running in a Novice-Novice class, as she is now beginning her career as a working dog. The apple doesn't fall from the tree and Rainey has a lot of tendencies/flair that her dad does, as well as those of her momma, Tess ,who is as accomplished in stock work as Scott.

I have a trial with just Scott this coming Saturday, up in Acme, WA (wherever that is!). Jerill is coming with me so I hope to have some pictures to share!

Return of the Elk

I haven't seen the elk in awhile but today, about 9 showed up in the neighbor's yard. It appears this group consisted of moms with their yearlings. I think the pregger-elk are up in the mountains calfing right now. The elk looked like they were at peace. There is a movie of elk actually moving in the few pics below...

The little guy on the left has his tongue sticking out!

Also couldn't resist getting the dogs together for a non-bubble-headed picture... I have to say, it's hard to get them all to sit together let alone look at me when they're in the correct position. Mattie is actually gazing out the window watching the elk here but this was the best I could get! .