Wife melted down last night. Afraid she is going to kill herself falling asleep on her commute to work. Said it has happened 3 times each on 2 days. She can not block out Merlin when he is at work and he works nights. She gets up at 5 AM for work 6 days a week. She is frequently pretty stiff and uncomfortable with her RA which makes it hard to get to sleep anyway.
Very very
I will be returning Merlin to
@purplequeenvt on Wednesday. DD1 looks on the outside
like I am on the inside. Doing my best for
@CntryBoy777: My 1/8 teaspoon is half full, the fencing I put up to keep Merlin in should keep the coyotes away from the alpacas.
This is not good for PQV either. If it happens we have someone here that PQV feels would be a good match for him, I am willing to do some transport. Maybe a "doggie express" if there are intermediates on the route willing to drive some miles AND those that know about such things don't think it would be too hard on him to have several people moving him along.
He is a very good dog. I was out with him last night. Seems we have a coyote pack NE, he and dogs that direction were sounding off as the pack was howling. Later he and the dogs SW were on. Later still he and the dogs south were on. That pack was loud, I seriously doubt they were more than 300 yards away in the woods past the south neighbor's property. He hears what I do not, smells what I do not and can go from "dead on the ground" to "rocket" in 1/4 second.
He doesn't have a long fence line on a road people walk on much this time of year but I've never seen him bark at someone on the road or on the neighbor to the South's driveway that parallels it. Their house is set back 650' from the main road and he will go to the fence and watch, follow along the fence line but not go nuts barking at them to stay away like some dogs do. He seems to know they aren't planning to come his way. He doesn't even look when the neighbor to the South's dog is barking as it often does during the day; yada yada yada, unimportant. He and the alpacas get along fine and I'm sure the whole chicken thing would have worked itself out. He is very people friendly.
For
@CntryBoy777 who's wife has decided a GP is something they might get:
- Fence! @Mike CHS will attest to this
- They bark. Loudly. For as long as they perceive a threat. They are warning that threat to not even think about coming near. They don't wait until it is a yard from the fence then warn. Merlin didn't see any coyotes last night but he was making sure they knew where he was. Unlike a lot of 'pet' dogs, I don't think I've ever seen/heard Merlin barking to hear himself bark.
As far as the bucket goes, I'd keep hanging it inside for him to take his Lunch to Work with him so he thinks he is doing something Constructive....just a thought. I always watch an animal and work with their 'Natural Tendencies' to get things accomplished....less discipline, training, and a whole lot less Frustration. 
