PREGNANT SAMMIE…
Sammie now has roughly 3 more weeks of being pregnant, and she is definitely showing! She’s gained a bit, around a pound in the last week. It has been getting a little warmer out, frequently around 85 degrees, but then cool in the evenings, with lots of storms coming through, so I’m sure it has been affecting how she feels. She’s been laying kinda low, not as active as she normally is, but still going out with me to irrigate and going with my husband. But she seems to be as content to just stay home and hang out on the couch or the bed. And she’s loving dinners and eating well.
COON AT NIGHT…
The other night, I went out to take care of the chickens with the pack. Since it was dark by then, I had a head lamp on. When I was in the coop, I happened to swing my head around and looked towards the small wood shed that is beside the courtyard area. I saw eyes reflecting back at me and knew they were not the eyes of my outdoor cat. Uh oh! I could just make out the shape and coloring of a young raccoon, and he was busily attempting to get into the container that I have cat food in. I closed up the chicken coop, grateful that he hadn’t gotten ahold of any of my birds, and walked around outside. The dogs all got wind of the coon and went ballistic! They raced around the shed, but didn’t really go into it. Soon the coon came out angling towards me, then ducked between the shed and fence towards the irrigation ditch. I have no clue how in the world this guy was avoiding the dogs, but he ran down the ditch to duck into the large hay barn building that we have a lot of random equipment and pipes stored in. The dogs trailed him down there and I followed on the other side, flipping on the large light that is used for that area to see if anything showed up. All of the dogs were focused on one spot, with a few continuing down the fenceline to the corner. I walked around to the corner of the building, but stood away from the commotion. Soon the coon trotted out again and ran between the wall and a large door that is leaning against it. Tucker ran by a few times, then finally seemed to get his scent and went after him. I saw the coon scramble up the side of the hay barn and onto the roof, where I lost sight of him. It took me a few more minutes to quiet the dogs and get them into the house, although they chased after him another time or two before all was settled down. I can tell that Sammie wasn’t into it as she didn’t join the fray. Poor thing is really feeling pregnant now.
Now, every night the dogs make a beeline for the shed, barking up a storm. I don’t know if he’s still hanging out there, as I haven’t seen him again. Last night I went out with just Tucker first and he didn’t alert to anything, but when I let the dogs out, they all lit out for the shed barking and hollering their fool heads off!
PIONEER DAYS IN THE LOCAL TOWN…
My husband and I went down to the local pioneer days celebration yesterday to check it out and take a couple of the dogs. I chose to take Colt and Maddie with us this time. It was a relatively small event, but enough to get the dogs introduced to a large number of people and noise. They did well, a bit nervous and apprehensive, but relaxed after a little while. We sat and listened to a lady singing old cowboy songs, she was good, and the dogs relaxed and started sniffing around the tables. Little kids kinda scared them, as they rarely see kids, but all in all, they did well.
With the weather warming up, there will be a lot more places I hope to get some of the dogs out to in order to socialize them more. One huge drawback to living out here in the country, there just aren’t a lot of people around, not even in town.
Rat Race Rat Terriers 