Eight Acres

Gus arrived here last April, only 6 weeks old and taken from his mother and litter and everything he knew in the world.  Poor wee fella.  He was much younger than Taz when she first arrived, and we noticed the difference, he cried at night and when we left for work.  The first week he was here, Pete had to go to a course in Brisbane, so I was home alone with the dogs and had my first week at my new job.  As I left for work on the first day, Gus was crying and Taz was barking at Gus.  Not a great start (if you get a young puppy, plan to be home with them for a few days until they get settled! we got Taz at 12 weeks old and she had been separated from her mother for a few weeks). Gus grew and grew and grew.  He's a Great Dane cross Bull Arab (a "pig dog" bitza, I like to call him my boer hound, he is also known as Horse Dog and Gustopher).  We realised after a few days that he needed to be fed more than once a day.  He was walking around with his ...

Just so you know, this post is mostly an excuse to show off some photos of my big Gussy, but I did want to also share some observations about Gus' puppyhood compared to Taz, because so far they have been very different puppies.  I have been asked if Taz is helping to get all of Gus' wiggles out, but really I think Taz is still more wiggly than Gus, even though she is 2.5 years old now.  She is often the one barking at him to come and play, and she can still get him on the ground if she runs at him side on! A rare view of Gus with his mouth shut Here is a list of observations and comparisons between Gus the Great Dane/Bull Arab/Big dog and Taz the Kelpie/Collie/Working dog (they are generalisations which may not apply to other dogs, just what I have seen so far). Taz really benefited from her puppy box and we used it until she was 1 year old.  With Gus we only used it for a few months.  At night he started to hop onto Taz' bed, so we stopped putting him in...

Last week was Pete and my 5th wedding anniversary.  I wrote a series of posts about our wedding on our first anniversary.  You won't be surprised that it was very simple and frugal and I didn't wear white! A simple wedding in several parts  - location, guest list and invitations, accommodation A simple wedding part 2  - the dress and flowers A simple wedding part 3  - the ceremony A simple wedding part 4  - the reception family portrait Also, our little Taz turns two in October.  We got her from the market in the first weekend of January 2014, and at the time she was 12 weeks old, which puts her birthday some time in October.  Its hard to believe this little furball has been with us such a short time.  When she first came home she had a habit of hiding under the bed, that lasted until she got too big to fit under there.  Lately she has developed a habit of lying ON the bed, but its just too cute to see her napping the...

As I've lately been thinking about what I eat and about real food for humans , naturally the next question was how to feed real food to Taz, and what is real food for dogs? Taz pondering the question of real food for dogs I have gradually been paying more attention to the ingredients in dog food over the last few years.  We used to buy the big cans of dog food when they were on special at the supermarket and that's all Cheryl ate until I read Pat Coleby's "Natural Pet Care ", which recommended a plain kibble, with minimum additives.  I couldn't find the particular one that she mentioned, but I did switch Cheryl and Chime to a plain kibble.  I got the "old fat dog" version because they were both a little overweight.  Strangely they never lost any weight on this high carb, low fat diet (I can't believe I didn't work that one out earlier). When we got puppy Taz, she ate puppy nuts (as Pete calls dog kibble) for her first 12 months and t...

RIP Cheryl (Chez) 2003-2015 Pete's best mate. Comments will make us too sad.  Just hug your dogs for us.   And this link about a dog's purpose in life is very sweet.   I'll be back next week.

On our farm we have dogs, cattle (the house cows being a special category) and the chickens (also guinea fowl until recently).  They all offer entertainment and learning opportunities.  This is what I wrote about our animals in 2014. The dogs - Cheryl and Taz What I've learnt about puppies Training our Taz - puppy months and dog years Dog box update Happy Birthday Puppy Taz! The cattle Cattle fencing tips for small farms Solar electric fence energiser How to join electric fence polywire Branding our cattle - Part 1 - registering a brand Branding our cattle - Part 2 - how to brand Animal behaviour and staying safe around cattle Keeping a bull on a small farm Lantana poisoning killed our little bull How to give an injection to livestock The house cows (special cattle) How to tell if your house cow is on heat House cow milking schedule The story of our house cows The story of our cows - Part 2 And my ebook "Our experience wi...

We are not exactly sure when Taz was born, but when we bought her in the first weekend of January 2014, she was 11 weeks old, so counting backwards, that puts her birthday in the second week of October, which means Taz is now one year old, give or take a few days. Happy Birthday Taz! Taz meets Cheryl Taz is still a collector Taz was my first ever puppy, and I as I wrote in the last update , I was really dreading having a puppy. I don’t know if its good luck or good parenting, but Taz’ puppy months have passed quickly and she’s calmed down and stopped chewing things (although she does still collect gloves). When we bought Taz, shortly after Chime died , we had been debating whether to buy a working dog. Trained working dogs are very expensive and we don’t have a lot of work for a dog, just the occasional day when it would be nice to have a good dog around. We have friends who got a dog from the pound that turned out to be a good working dog, so it is possible to ge...

We only have a single cab ute, so any time it was too hot or too cold for Cheryl to ride on the tray, and we thought she should really be in the cab, she would end up laying on my lap.  And at 25kg, she is not a lap dog!  A few years ago when we agreed to look after a second dog (Chime), Pete decided to build a dog box so they could both sit safely and comfortable on the back of the ute in all weather. The dog box when it was just finished I first wrote about this back here , and I didn't go into much detail, so a few people have emailed me to ask more about it.  There are no plans as such, its just shaped to fit the angles of the ute and enough room for two dogs.  To be honest, we kind of made it up as we went along, but here's a few tips to help if you are thinking of making a dog box: We made it nearly the full width of the tray, with just a small gap either side Its the same height as the backboard of the ute, and mimics the angles (a little b...