Winter sucks. This year wins as my most stressful and challenging winter, firstly because it was so long and so cold and everything was soooo frozen! Secondly, may I blame the dog? We decided to buy a pup from a neighbour whose dog had a batch before Christmas. The mom was great, the pups from the last batch were healthy and friendly. The price was right and the time was pretty close to right. So, we bought ourselves the pick of the litter. A healthy six week old female Rottweiler, with no dew claws. During her seventh week, her first week being home, she was cute and sleepy. She spent her days playing hard for an hour and resting for five hours. Then weeks eight to ten hit us like a punch in the face. She was pushy, knawed at your hands steadily, pushed any boundary you tried to set, chewed clothes to bits, caused no end of pain to us, mentally and physically - and not to mention the mistakes she made during bathroom training. We read books, watched training videos, talked to everyone whose ever had a dog... We tried everything - including despising the very look of her. But then week 11 rolled in - like the first warm day of spring where all the snow melts away - and voilà, she woke up being a good dog! Please note that I did not say a perfect dog... But at least she's live-able! I like to forget the last two months of muddled training and discipline, consequences and pleas, and focus on the progress she has made. She can sit, lay down, wait for her food, not climb all over the couch, come (most of the time), not kill the cat, she can hold her excrement for 5 hours AND overnight and WE dont loose sleep due to ceaseless whines and cries. Horray! I wouldnt go so far as to say that her good has outweighed her bad, yet, but shes well on her way there. Tonight was her first puppy class and she was miles ahead of the others! That made me proud of her, and kinda want to keep her. I just have one thing to say to anyone wanting to get a puppy - that cute face means NOTHING!! My last two months have been a write-off (and my last two pay cheques), simply because of the dog.
A quick update from the outside critters - I have been a lot more appreciative of unintelligent animals lately, you know the ones who obey you simply because you give them food. And you dont have to feel badly about keeping them in a cage/pen all the time...
The rabbits are living outside for the warm spell of +10oC weather we're having this week. At the end of the month Im hoping that Marigold will be pregnant - she's is really getting this nest thing down-pat. The chickens have been in good health - producing on average 8-10 eggs per day. Theyre definitely eating their eggs - they cant hide the yolk all the time. But I havent invested any time into solving that problem. I cleaned my coop after I lost the bird last month - what a job. But Im glad I got it done then, what a mess it would have been now! Im glad I can let them outside on days like today. I had to do a lot of chopping to get my pen door to close, but I got it and at 6:30pm they were still happily scratching around in the snow. Some garden planning has been happening here. Raised beds are a part of the plan as well as some vertical gardening methods. It takes the sunshine being out to really get the motivation to plan for the summer - but slowly and surely a plan is coming together. This week I must place my seed order or I may as well forget starting anything indoors.
Heres to the end of winter!!
