The Education of Ben

[Beekissed]

These dogs are smart and have a good nose. They can tell what eggs have hot sauce on them and what eggs don't

Must not had too good a nose, he picked it out of the nest and took a bite out of it. Then, when I tossed it out of the coop, he gobbled it up....after he sniffed around awhile to find where it was exactly.

The hot pepper paste was not ON the egg, but inside it. And it was painted on the inside of my trough. Didn't phase him a bit~good nose and all , though it made me cough just blending it down in the blender.

Wanted to tell you it wouldn't work but figured you'd try it anyway...

Actually, if you'd had told me you tried it and it didn't work, I'd have never bothered. I always give first hand experience a look see... if it sounds reasonable.

I suppose y'all thought that was horribly cruel and all. It's only uncomfortable for a bit, if at all....apparently not at all. He had no reaction to it whatsoever.

It's back to the coop blocker for Ben, though this time it'll be on a harness.

 

[Southern by choice]

I suppose y'all thought that was horribly cruel and all.

No I don't think so. Wasabi---- maybe but then again some dogs love it!

Good thing is he will be big enough shortly and he won't be able to get in.

 

[Beekissed]

Ben wore his coop blocker again today and I got my eggs..and the chickens got all their own feed. It was nice. He doesn't like wearing it...the stick of shame, apparently.

We had a good day, with time for sitting in the grass and lots of puppy loving. He's really developing a great coat~raw eggs will do that for ya ~lush and thick in time for colder weather. He's growing like a weed and continues to develop his good behavior...though he did break into a pint Mason jar full of ground ginger root and buttermilk and eat the whole thing!

Good for him, but I was going to give it to the chickens....after eating that hot pepper paste and a jar of fermented ginger root, there can't be a single worm alive in those tubes.

Still pooping where he should, which is heavenly , still leaving chickens alone, still minding well on basic obedience and other commands, etc. He's doing great~well...except staying out of my coop ... but he's really trained to the electric system now, that's for sure.

Today I took his collar off for working on his collar and again to see if he wanted to join Jake and us around the fire...he wouldn't go across that boundary for love or food. I was so proud of him! If I had led him across the boundary on a leash he would have readily went, but I didn't fool with it tonight. Too tired.

Did give some really good hugs, massages and sweet talk with him today as he "helped" me with sundry chores that required I get down on the ground in his part of the yard. Love those puppy nuzzles on my neck!

 

[Baymule]

Ben sounds like he is making you one fine dog!

 

[Beekissed]

He is! I'm so tickled that he's taking a cue from Jake and not barking his fool head off all the time. Maybe that will come with age and as he grows more territorial, but I sure hope not. It's a pure blessing from God to have a quiet homestead, particularly at night.

It's also good to see Jake paired up with another white dog...brings back images of when he worked alongside Lucy, my sweet old girl. Jake and he are already moving together like he and Lucy did, running together, lying down together, etc. They are officially a pack.

He put a paw up on Aliza's arm to day and left claw marks...I wasn't close enough to the action to do a correction, but that's why I don't like the "paw greeting". Tender skin, painful "greeting". I thought we'd made progress on that...but I'll keep working on it. Good thing I had trimmed his nails or it would have been worse.

Time will tell how valuable he will be to the homestead but it looks promising.

 

[Beekissed]

Left the deer gut pile at the edge of the woods for the dogs to enjoy this time...not one thing was left except the largest stomach, the one with the really stinky contents. Every other scrap of the guts was consumed. They also consumed every scrap of meat from the spine and ribs, while chewing off the ends of all the ribs.

Both dogs look like lions after a kill..stomachs sagging and swaying when they walk. Ben looked like he had a tummy ache today...he'll learn. They also wouldn't eat the lungs...no animal likes the lungs and I don't know why, but even the chickens won't eat chicken lungs when thrown to them.

Took what was left of that spine/rib cage and threw it over the hill for the wild animals and will do the same with the legs/hide and head. Jake's teeth are too worn to consume these things properly, though I may let the pup have the head...he'll make short work of that. But not today....

The chickens helped pick the bones of the spine and ribs...looked like white vultures up there. Meat protein, in its purest form, folks.

This is true carnivore/omnivore behavior...gorge on a "kill" and then lay around for a few days sleeping it off~sort of like us at Thanksgiving.

I love it that we have opportunities for them to have such a varied diet throughout the year, what with meat scraps of chicken and deer, garden overage and canning scraps, foraged fruits, whatever they catch~rabbit, ground squirrels, etc.

They wouldn't have all of those opportunities if we didn't have a lifestyle of growing and killing our own meats and hunting off the land. I'm glad we have that here, as every creature benefits from it.

 

[Beekissed]

I'll have to get some pics of Ben today,as he is growing in leaps and bounds right now. He's as tall as Jake, though lacks his bulk...but is quickly filling that in. Three or four eggs a day, dog food, chicken feed, kitchen scraps and all the deer meat and offal one can eat will do that for ya.... I've even seen him eating the rotten pumpkins I threw out for the chickens. Did I ever think that pup was a delicate eater? I think I did...well, I was wrong.

I haven't had time to work with him but will get back to that as soon as our busy season tapers off. Soon I'll have endless winter days to fill with some kind of work and I'll include the education of Ben in that list.

Now that he's getting bigger and I've killed the huge old rooster I had, I may narrow the opening to the coop a tad to see if that will take care of his egg suckin' ways. He's pretty wiry, so it may not, but we'll see.

That extremely long tail is amusing to me...it lollops as he runs and takes much effort to wag, so it's like a flag of surrender waving up there.

His winter coat is really coming in and his legs are filling in to be more sturdy and thick. I hope he grows into a really big dog...I love a dog I can just drop my arm around as he's walking beside me.

He ate a whole pint of ground up ginger root and buttermilk(stolen, of course), after eating a hot pepper paste filled egg and licking a hot pepper paste from the feed trough. I'm thinking, if there were any worms in his gut, they are dead and gone. Toast.


As you've no doubt guessed, I favor a natural, holistic approach to animal care that's never let me down for many a long year. It's kept my dogs, sheep and chickens incredibly healthy~no illness whatsoever~and parasite free for just as long. I use a preventative approach and it doesn't rely solely on treatment with herbs or similar items as the totality of the treatment. I build healthy immune systems, provide a varied and species appropriate diet, a natural life outdoors on clean soils, exercise, and no chemical meds for the food animals and the least I can get by with on the dogs and cats. I don't use any one vermifuge too often, nor any of them often at all, usually twice a year. It works, so I stick with it.

Will be taking Jake and him some more deer scraps and fat this morning...something that sticks to the gut longer than dog food and has more of the protein they need to put on a good fat layer before really cold weather.

Will also be making his sleeping place more warm and snug today in preparation for the subzero weather we've been getting in our winter months here. He doesn't have the long coat of a GP, so a snug place to be will keep him comfy this winter. When it gets teens below, they can always bunk in together if they aren't warm enough in their individual houses, but I'm doubting they will need it...both places are so well insulated on all sides and out of the wind that they should sleep fine.

 

[Hens and Roos]

an idea for your eggs- a friend of mine who raises chickens will put hydrogen peroxide into an egg if she is having problems with other chickens eating the eggs. Apparently, the chickens don't like the foaming action that happens

 

[Beekissed]

Dogs hate that stuff too. If I have to load an egg again, I'll try that...many thanks! Today I narrowed the pop door opening and will see if that has any effect whatsoever....he's pretty persistent, so it may not work even then.

 

[Southern by choice]

We do a great deal of raw too! Dogs love it we love it!
The only issue is the raw eggs.
Of course, like everything it seems these days, it is a very heated subject. If you ever look at the raw feeding forums it is unreal of how heated people get.

Our LGD's have been real egg stealers over the years (as any LGD owner has experienced) some worse than others. Never young pups but older pups and dogs.
One of my old timey vets made mention of being careful with raw eggs and explained in detail the affects... I did more research on the matter and found like most things... too much of a "good thing" can be a bad thing. Knowing the vet is not anti-raw I felt the advice was worth looking into.

Although a raw diet is great (not grocery store raw meat), raw eggs are not good for dogs. Raw eggs have an enzyme called avidin. Avidin affects Biotin, which is a B vitamin, and also Trypsin is interfered with in the intestines causing deficiency as well as mal-absorption.

Some of the affects of mal-absorption are dogs that are constantly hungry and eating and eating and eating. Some people will confuse this with worms.

The Hydrogen Peroxide usually makes them throw up.