Christmas day

Christmas seemed to arrive in a rush this year! Scurried about at dusk on Christmas Eve looking for a holly tree with berries to bring some branches into the house only to realise the blackbirds had stripped them all off. Luckily a kindly neighbour had stored some branches in the grass earlier in the winter, covered them with an old net curtain and so helped me out! Put up decorations and did the tree late on Christmas eve. Just hadn't really got the energy for it before. But I am very fond of our different decorations - the decorations from my maternal Grandparents wedding cake go on the top of the tree, some lovely old fragile glass baubles from my childhood and others items bought during our marriage so it was good to see them all again. Sent cards this year on Thursday - this is unheard of for me!! The only thing I had done is buy pressies - I hate rushing buying them because then it is so easy to end up getting stuff that just screams 'bought quickly, didn't think about it enough' and I can't see the point of it. That bit starts in the summer so I can wait to be inspired.

With my mum installed in our place Archie stayed with her and her dog Scout joined us for a walk for a couple of hours all over Hod and Hambledon hills. All 6 dogs had a lovely time. Nellie tried hard to herd Chester for a while.....

With my mum on starter, Iain and me on the main course and Mandy on pudding everyone mucked in in our little kitchen. It was a relaxing day.

And I won Monopoly - for the first time ever. Years ago when I was a child I used to spend a lot of time staying with a cousin who was a much longed for and loved only child. We got along fine most of the time, I was company for her even though I was a couple of years younger. Used to having things her way much of the time she wasn't fond of losing games so when we played Monopoly she would stack the odds very much in her favour by, well, cheating! I was only ever allowed to buy the blue streets and the orange. She liked the browns so they were off limits as were all the others. Needless to say I lost every game and soon became less than keen to play it, unless forced to. In those instances I think I may have pretended not to know her 'rules' and bought something I shouldn't have, just to make her throw a strop and fold the board up......A strop and silent treatment (which she couldn't sustain for long) were infinitely preferable to playing Monopoly. I use this anecdote to illustrate a dog's need to 'win' the tug/toy on a regular basis. Who wants to play a game they can never win? If you have taught your dog that playing with you with the toy is fun then no-one 'loses' anyway.

I would just add that my cousin is a very grown up person now! Though she does have a shoe fetish....

Happy Christmas wishes......

Nellie-Bean and Archie audition as shepherds for the local nativity play!

This picture is a bit of a cobbled together job. Archie had had his fight with a barbed wire fence only two days before and because this year I hadn't got the same enthusiasm for a Christmas pic before hand, nor the energy or time to think of anything exciting and new, it had to be something simple and easy. If you look carefully you can see I am cunningly disguised as a fleece blanket complete with sheep whilst holding both dogs in the porch (Archie especially carefully). Two flowery tea towels and some tinsel complete the 'look'. Couldn't quite bring myself to sprinkle straw all over the entrance to the living room though ;-) Still Nells and Marp look fab and that's the main thing.

Archie had his stitches out yesterday but four hours later, despite him having been completely rested in the crate still with his bonnet which was the vet's instruction for 48 hours to protect the wound, I saw a small amount of gaping in one part and rushed him back to the vet. The middle of the wound had begun to break down a bit and so that section has now been stapled. The top and bottom third are looking good. This bit of skin is right on where he flexes his leg - even going for a pee, getting up and moving in his crate flexes it. I think I was naive to think it would be straightforward after the stitches. Stupid. So two more weeks of crating, bonnet and 10 mins on lead and harness only 'walks'. To be frank, he is not even having that now. If he is on his feet for five minutes to toilet and sniff that's it - twice a day. Though obviously the crate is big enough for him to move very freely in - it was used in our old estate car and filled the boot. How on earth do the dogs recover from this sort of thing when the owners don't have or even know about crates, when the dogs are crashing round the house with their bonnets on, jumping off steps and so on. I have been soooo careful with him and yet.....Good news is that most of the wound is healing really well and looks very healthy and even the bit that has had a set back is very, very healthy skin and it is all so clean. So we are on the right track. Christmas and New Year plans have been changed to balance out his and Nellie's needs. Iain will be dismantling the old chook pen and I will be painting the book shelves we had made in the dining room almost 18 months ago....We have 10 days of holiday together (from the point when Iain walks through the door any minute) and so we can be sure that Archie is not left alone while Nellie can have good walks and we can take it in turns to enjoy those with her. Clouds and silver linings.

Can I wish all of you who read this blog a very Merry Christmas and happiness and good health in 2012? There you go, I did it anyway!

Thank you for reading, thank you for sharing that you read it and thank you for caring. This year, even more than usual, many different people have started a conversation with: 'Hi Helen, you don't know me but I love your blog.....' One lady went on to tell me how she and a bunch of other people who don't blog themselves, but like to read various ones, were all giving me virtual hugs, 'holding' my hand and sending so many loving thoughts to Pop and me after her tumour was diagnosed. What a lovely thing to do.

I realised recently (still learning about blog stuff!) that I could get the stats on blog hits so I now know lots of people read it, and that it is read in many different countries. It never occurred to me when I started writing it though that anybody unknown to me would read it. In fact I think if I had known I'd never have dared to write anything. Much too scary! I was just writing it for a few friends and family who knew me and knew Nellie - or so I thought.

But I have been quite amazed at how many of you are 'silent' blog addicts:-).You might not comment (it is easy to do as anonymous by the way!)but read and follow with great interest!

Someone said 'Hello Archie' at a show recently, a lady I have never met before, and followed it up with, 'he looks so small compared to how he looks on the blog' and so the penny dropped in my brain ;-). I have been reprimanded on numerous occasions when I haven't felt like writing anything for a while and people have even been worried about me when I have been a bit quiet.

I thought people would only be interested in things to do with agility or dog training on the whole so didn't write about much else very often at the start but so many people over the last four or so years have sidled up and said 'I really liked reading that one about your chickens or house or walks or holiday or garden or pictures or (even) opinions you expressed about..' etc that those 'other life' things have nudged their way forward more often.

I have, as someone pointed out to me, opened up a window on my world and, at times, into my heart, and met some very kind people as a consequence.

Thank you all of you. Have a peaceful festive season with your dogs and other family :-)

One finds that all one really needs to be especially comfortable on a sofa is a cushion for one's head

Her ladyship as I found her this morning.....

She is rather partial to a pillow. Strawberry is used for this purpose in her van crate. But a sofa offers other delights. We all share this sofa I might add.

She worked hard yesterday though. For the first time I needed her strong character in a stooge dog role. Pop was my stooge for a good while. So kind and trusting and easy going - quick sniff then off with mom. No side at all. Pop was brilliant at putting other dogs at their ease and ignoring defensiveness issues but she would not have liked the situation I needed Nellie for today as she would have found it too intimidating. Henry used to come in to Thursday classes to show a solid wait - I'd ask him for a down wait and I'd demonstrate how I taught him to do that even with me doing stuff with the dogs and owners all around him. He was also brilliant for demonstrating a long distance 'watch me' -I'd ask him to wait, go down the hall and then ask him to 'watch me' from there. They were always amazed by the way he locked eyes with me. Such a clever little chap. He helped quite a few people understand that jack russells are really quite trainable (and keen to learn) despite all the nonsense out there about how impossible it is. Archie has come into his own too as a stooge in my Thursday classes - ignoring other dogs when he needs to and socialising nicely when that's needed too, especially with the young dogs. He has quite a fan club! Nellie doesn't take any c**p though so where Arch will just ignore or give a low, polite grumble before turning away when an over lively older dog tries to jump on his head Nellie, who has quite a strong personality, will stand her ground (she's happy for pups and especially small dogs to do this on the whole though!) I don't need that particular strength in her in my Thursday groups at the moment (thankfully) but for this appointment I needed that ability to stand her ground and be confident and well balanced enough to bounce back from any repercussions. In short I needed a sociable and polite dog that is also assertive but not aggressive with bad mannered dogs. Nellie it is then.

I was cornered by a lady with a beautiful collie boy about the same age as Nellie over two years ago. She arrived at the farm when I was teaching an agility class and demanded I help her or she would have to give her dog away. What is it with people? He was 'too strong' for her and would not come back from other dogs or focus on her. Well, she didn't want to come to the hall (because he was 'too strong on a lead') but she was clearly desperate so I offered for her to come to my field and while I taught a couple of people and their dogs she worked through some focus stuff and recalls (using a line)with either me or Gina alongside her. Although he was improving and focusing nicely and his recalls were coming along there was, to my mind, still quite a lot of work to do when she suddenly didn't call again....I was so afraid she had given the dog away and didn't want to tell me that I couldn't face calling her. I would have been too upset.

Fast forward two years and suddenly six weeks ago I get a call out of the blue. It turns out that two years ago she had obviously decided she had got what she wanted, even though I felt differently, and so had struck out on her own. Now though he had attacked another dog that would not leave (its owner could not recall it) when he was playing ball with her. No damage done but still very scary and definitely unacceptable behaviour. We talked it through - I was having highlights at the time - no peace for the wicked. From what she told me on the phone it was resolvable. I told her what to do next time all those factors arose together and she was happy.

Last week I get another call. A friend with her own collie took him out with hers and when the friend went to have a chat with another dog she knew, in he went. Again no damage done physically to the dog I am told but I know how I would be feeling if it was my dog at the receiving end. His owner was beside herself and so she booked me to go and see her one-to-one. Which I did yesterday, having told her last week that she must get a basket muzzle immediately and use it.

This lady is in her 70s (she's fit and wiry) I might add and although she has had dogs all her life it was obvious to me before all of this, way back, that she was unhealthily emotionally entangled with the dog. It is always good to see people and their dogs at home and anyone who has ever done this kind of thing will probably be able to predict exactly what was going on in this set up. Anyway, after popping the muzzle on (she hadn't felt able to take him out with it on as she 'didn't think he'd like it' even though I'd told her he wouldn't..) off we went with Nellie trotting along off lead doing her 'I'm out for a walk with my mom, and I am more than happy to be joined by another dog I have never met before' look on her face and confident body language. Off lead he managed to get the muzzle off twice - it needed tweaking - but in neither instance did he bother with Nellie. I just adjusted it and he fought it once or twice, but he was so pleased to be out (he hadn't been out since the last call - the owner was too emotional and scared and didn't want to put the muzzle on and the friend wouldn't trust him) and that he soon forgot about it and, when on the lead, the owner was able to walk him along with it on much more easily than she had with his 'anti-pull harness' she had been using.

After a little while with them out and about and even running about together doing play 'skips' along side each other I tried a bit of treat giving. I have always encouraged my dogs to see other dogs coming in close to me when they are around me themselves as a positive thing by giving 'guest dogs' a treat first and then very quickly following it up with a treat for mine. It has encouraged them to like another dog having a treat from me first because it means they will have one too. So Nellie did her well mannered 'guests first' thing with this collie several times and he was fine too. And then I asked the owner to do the same in reverse, Nellie first and then her own dog. Well this was too much for him, as I suspected it would be - and he went in at Nellie.

He didn't realise he couldn't use his teeth though....(which was what I wanted him to find out) and she simply stood right up on her toes, hackles up and told him what she thought of his 'manners' in strong dog terms: teeth bared, firm growl, strong eyes. As I say I knew she wouldn't use her teeth and I knew he couldn't and so I knew he could do what he was likely to do but that he would not be hurt by her at all. I did not want him to be afraid of other dogs (he isn't) but he needed to be brought up short politely but oh so firmly in a language he understands.

The speech bubble over his head read 'WTF!!!!****!!!'

He was rather more respectful afterwards and gave off some calming signals when she gave him 'the look' a little while later.

The owner isn't to be trying this around other dogs just yet - other people almost certainly will not like their dogs being set up, and some of the dogs might not be polite and yet very firm in the way Nellie was with him. Or they might be really scared. But he should have worked out that being a possessive bully and trying to use his teeth on other dogs in the way he has been doing won't now pay off. And the owner has seen that he can't actually hurt another dog with the muzzle on so she should relax a bit out with him near other dogs, which might in turn make him less reactive when other dogs are nearby..........

We're some way off him having the assertive owner he needs. She has been letting him rule the roost at home for quite some time. It is only because he is innately actually a nice natured dog that he isn't a complete monster. You'll know the advice I have given her - all pretty much dog sense. And designed to get the balance back into their relationship so that she is in charge and he is not. I got a call later telling me that he was 'annoyed with her and was sulking' because she was insisting on attention on her terms, not his. You can imagine my response.....

She says she feels more confident to go out with him now; we spent quite a bit of time working through the muzzle and how to use and adjust it and discussing the psychology of it for the dog. The more relaxed she is the more walks he can have - better for him physically and mentally. He also needs to lose a lot of weight. He's put on a lot in two years and she was horrified when I showed her what Nellie has - and she's entire. That should help to improve his life quality too.

I am sure this will need following up several times but if she has the will to improve things - and she definitely does not want to go on like she has done which is a good sign - then she can turn it around. I hope so anyway.

Nellie and I followed it up with a good walk in the rain on the heath meeting other dogs - including a lost Gordon Setter called Finn who we stuck on Nellie's lead and carted back to the car park where I'd last seen the owners calling for him. I've got a cold now anyway, despite all my efforts to not get ill all term, I get it once again in the holidays, so what the hell if I get wet again....

Archie went to work with dad all day and had lots of attention in the office. His stitches come out tomorrow.

New HQ

Coming home after delivering a Christmas present I found Iain in the garden retrieving squawking chickens from the wisteria. Herb was giving him a particularly hard time :-)

Last night we let them roost up in the pen as is their habit when the light fades before sneaking down at 5.30 to move them all into their new HQ. Mutterings and chunterings ensued but by the time the timer assisted door came down at 5.45 all were installed on the perches and were hunkering down for the night.

It is better apparently to shut or remove old coops or night arrangements so as not to confuse the hens, which we duly did. As well as putting a fence across the path down the side to keep them up in the top part of the garden and therefore more likely to find their new beds! So with all this set up for the next day's proceedings we left them to it.

The timer is set to open the door at 7.45am, which it duly did. I was expecting to see chooks dotted about the lawn when I pulled back the curtain this morning. But at 8.40 when I peered in the chooks were all still asleep and showing no inclination to get up! Puzzling this over I realised that in the outdoor pen they have been used to they have never experienced such intense dark as this coop creates inside. Even the moon and star light would affect them in the pen, and the sun coming up would wake them slowly. In this coop there are vents high up, but as we have placed the coop next to a hedge for shelter from the worst of the weather - wind and rain in winter and too much sun in summer (we can hope) some of the daylight is filtered out by the branches, so the vents don't let in so much light on that side.

It's quite odd to give a cockerel a wake up call, but that nevertheless is exactly what I did this morning!!!

So why was Iain scaling the wisteria this evening? Well, three of the black rocks had worked out where their perches for the night were, but the others has simply decided it was all far too much to think about and had reverted to branches and the wisteria seemed like a good bet I guess.

Herb has no excuse. Until I got him a few weeks ago he was pottering sleepily into a coop every evening in his previous home. He'll catch on. There'll still be one or two stragglers at the end of the week I am sure but it won't take them long. They do like to toddle off to sleep as soon as the light fades - it is hard-wired into their brains and the more sleeps they have in the coop the more they will recognise it as where they toddle off to for them.

It isn't the most perfectly designed coop in the world - we have discovered a glitch or two but nothing insurmountable and certainly nothing that could adversely affect the chooks' well being. (One thing I realised is needed is some means of holding the nest box lid open...With a wood coop you'd put a hook on the lid and a chain on the wall behind but this is plastic so Iain found me a bit of dog walk trestle leg. He turned my old dog walk into a lowered one ages ago and kept the bits of wood. Perfect!) Whatever the short-comings, it is still 100% better than anything in wood. The best thing from my point of view (and it is definitely on any chicken's Top Ten Best Things List) is the fact that it should be really quick and easy to keep clean and dry inside. This will make it very Red Mite unfriendly. Iain has made up some sheets for me to fit in each nest box and in the main coop so all I have to do is lift those out, empty them into the compost, rinse them off, leave them to dry and put in the previous ones - already dried - chuck in some aubiose and hey presto, done. Any cracks that red mite might have found nice and cosy in a wood coop are exposed to the air in this. So that will put them off too.

It is comfortable for them but very well ventilated too. I'm working on keeping the ambient temperature on the inside with them in it as near to the temperature on the outside - as that is what they hav been used to in their pen. And although the design is perhaps, well, a little off beat, I rather like it's functional 'look'.

I'll know the chooks really have it all worked out and are settled in when they begin laying eggs in the nest boxes. I won't know this for a little while because, although we could now actually eat the eggs (hoorah), all of them except Edna - and Herb - have decided that this is a good time to have a communal moult! Ergo, no eggs. Normally they do it in a kind of rotation so we always have one or two eggs here and there, but not this time. I suspect Edna will join in the feather fest very soon. Fanny Ann and Tilly seem to be competing for the 'who can lose the most feathers in the shortest timespan' trophy. It seems they will be fast moulters which, I found out, means they are my best layers. I think when Edna joins in she will be the same. Phoebe and Maggie are drawing it out over several weeks - which makes them my worst layers (and if I were being mercenary about it they are the ones to cull apparently) and Fliss and Belle are somewhere in between.

Chickens! There's always something.

A different view - Part 2

Chooks do have a mind of their own and mine have decided that the treadle feeder is not for them.

I want to see hens foraging and eating grass. Belatedly, I have realised that doing those things makes them far less likely to want to learn to use the treadle. I have given it a good shot, kept them in for 10 days for the second attempt (which coincided with Belle's claw needing to be kept as dry as possible) and worked through the first and into the second stages of treadle training twice, and each time got to the same point before grinding to a halt: they are so frightened of the feeder lid moving, even just a little distance, that they would rather not eat at all. And that is where I have to bail out: I cannot, will not, starve them.

It's probably naive but I really thought my chooks would want to eat their pellets, as well as grass and bugs and worms, from this new feeder in just the same way as they have eaten pellets from the old feeder. But it seems not to be the case. I did understand the treadle feeder 'action' as I had watched lots of videos (!!) of it being used with hens but I did not factor in, until it was rammed home to me by mine, that the chooks in those videos are living in relatively barren environments - indoor or outdoor areas with no foraging opportunities. No grass to eat, no earth to dig in, no hedges where dozens of bugs and flies lurk, and no worms. Those hens are totally reliant on pellets for their nourishment and haven't learned the delights of self- sufficiency, so of course they will be more likely to approach and step on the treadle and take their chances with the moving lid to reach the food. Mine however have learned to get much of their daily food needs by foraging and there is no way they are going to be so desperate to eat pellets that they will take the same 'risk' with the moving lid.

I 'get' the concept of ensuring they do not have access to any other food source so that they overcome their wariness towards the feeder but at what point does this stop? 'Til they are so hungry they have lost the will to live? I had no objection to putting all snacks into it, that seemed fair enough to me. But taking them out of their foraging environment as well made me very unhappy. I know I had to do something for Belle, but she can have outside access now, and I can't justify confining them just for the feeder to work. When I felt my chooks empty crops last night that was it. They have enough weight on them to withstand a few days probably but I still can't bring myself to force that on them.

It was only my wish to deal with the rats and the fact that I needed to keep Belle under cover for several days that made me try again. Simplistically I know the chooks should be hungry enough to eat any food if that is the only source - which it has been but I guess my hens have a different mind set. They have become the kind of chickens I have encouraged them to be - busy, curious, independent minded birds who enjoy being out in almost all weathers and are keen to investigate the world. The kind of hens I see in villages around here and elsewhere pottering contentedly around farmyards and lane edges. It may seem odd to some, but it makes me happy seeing happy hens!

As it is my hens do not want to take that step back from the life they know and quite plainly enjoy. Foraging for their own food creates brain activity. OK so they don't have big brains at all, you really can't accuse a chicken of being an intellectual but what they do have is alive and tingling when it is given the chance to be used. The whole experience of trying to incorporate this feeder into my chook's lifestyle has made me even more adamant that I don't like any method of training that exploits a basic need.

You will probably guess (if you read my blog a lot) where I am going with this but I really can't help making comparisons between the treadle training and feeding from the hand dog training methods. Nor is it too far from the mindset of those who keep their dogs crated all the time unless they want the dog to interact with them. Dogs have a need for affection and closeness - denying them those exploits a basic need...... Anyway, my chooks didn't eat for a couple of days twice unless they performed an action (stepping on the treadle), they did not do the action so they did not get food. Some people use this principle to train their puppies or youngsters: only feeding the dog when they perform agility or related (eg tricks) behaviours they are 'training'. I'm talking about all the dog's food being withheld - it all comes from the hand as rewards for training.

Some who use and/or promote this method say it is 'all about trust'. Talk about putting a positive spin on something! Trust is hard-wired into properly well thought out positive reinforcement training methods where the dog's learning is carefully managed and structured to encourage understanding, and potential 'failure' is micromanaged to ensure the dog remains confident about wanting to learn something or to try something. So long as you have the skills and patience to do that and make learning with you fun and the pup gets most of her food needs as meals and some food as rewards, what's not to like? The trust will create and intensify a really strong bond between handler and dog. I have no problem with that.

What I have a problem understanding are the motives of people who do know all about properly structured positive re-inforcement methods to train these behaviours yet who feed entirely from the hand. Why do it? I guess it means stuff is taught quickly and I guess the pup learns to focus really fast. It needs to! I know I would. But it isn't nice, it abuses trust, and really there is no excuse. It is even worse when they pass on this 'training method' to people who don't know how to structure and manage or shape a learning experience so in effect combining abuse of trust with ignorance. This is cruel.

It really upsets me to read about, for example, a dog having to 'earn' its food by 'targeting' or 'going to a toy or to tug' or whatever it is the handler wants the dog to just do but hasn't actually taught effectively, if at all, either because they genuinely don't understand how to or they just want a quick fix. There's no trust, it is exploitation and manipulation. A dog should be able to trust that it will be fed, end of. It should not be made to go without meals to make it frantic to 'perform' a behaviour that will supposedly improve its agility performance.

I do know it is perfectly possible for someone to make it look like they and their dog have the best bond ever, and the dog has eyes only for them - all by feeding entirely from the hand. Shame on you if you do this, and more shame if you use this 'bond' to make money out of others' ignorance of how you actually achieve it. Actually, I am not sure which is worse - making money out of others without telling them exactly what you do, or telling them to do it too because it gets quick results knowing they will be abusing their dogs even more than you are.....

Personally I don't want a bond that relies on exploitation of a basic need thanks very much. I want one based on kindness, fun and love. Nellie and Archie may not leap in the air all round me and watch me like a hawk at all times at agility shows, demanding my attention and eye contact, but that suits me. We get along fine without that.

I think some people have forgotten why they originally chose to have dogs and have fallen too much in love with the idea of agility 'success'. Perhaps some people simply need to get a life? And maybe others need to ask more questions? When I got Pop I also bought Carol Price's 'Understanding the Rescue Border Collie'. What she wrote applies to any dog: that whatever our own aspirations might be in dog activities, we should always be sure we don't pursue them at the expense of our dog's wellbeing or we will lose the trust that our dogs have in us and that is far more precious than any accolade. Wise words. It is easy to become a bit frustrated sometimes, we all do, but that is a whole world away from abuse of trust at a most basic level.

Not that this is the only way to abuse a dog's trust, let's face it, there are plenty of others. We all see people getting away with things week in week out without being challenged. It doesn't take much to guess what goes on that we can't see. Someone has to set about their dog before the powers that be will step in, so there isn't much chance that other supposedly 'lesser' cruelties will ever be meaningfully challenged is there?

The more money people can make out of agility the more likely abuses on different levels will occur. I hope it never becomes a professional sport.

I haven't forgotten why I have dogs, or chickens, for that matter and so the treadle feeder will take a back seat. I'll be led by my chickens' needs, not by my own plans, however good intentioned, to eradicate the rats! I'll have to try a method to curb the rats that my chickens will find more sympathetic to their needs.

Plan B it is: We have a field shelter on order (snazzy one to go with the coop), the old feeder will go under it, and we will bring the feeder in at night, to stop the worst of the food stealing. Here's hoping the girls and Herb like their new sleeping quarters!

A different view - Part 1

It took me a couple of days to stop hyperventilating about Nellie's pad though she has still had a quiet week while it heals and toughens again.

For Archie though things remain very restricted compared to his usual lifestyle but since Tuesday his horizons have broadened just a little bit. Instead of a couple of minutes in the top bit of garden for his morning/lunch and evening 'walk' that he had to have until early in the week, I have carried him over the muddy bit to the track going along the fields beyond our home so that he could have 10 mins pootling around just on his lead and harness on the grassy stretch there. The field at the bottom of the gardens has been another morning adventure.

Then they come to work in the van with me, which they do anyway through the late autumn and winter. I take a change of clothes so I can change in the van and then either shoot off for a walk in the afternoon before it gets dark or, more often, go to my rented field for a few minutes with Nellie to work on something, before then going for a walk etcetc. I thought that Archie would appreciate looking at the school car park from his van crate, and Nellie hates me leaving the house without her. She isn't separation phobic, she just doesn't want to miss any action!! So why not let them carry on coming with me this week?

But instead of our usual routine after I finish work, we went to the heath where it is relatively dry and grassy underfoot to keep Archie's stitches clean and so Nellie's pad wasn't under any pressure either. Just for 10 mins pootling about again.

Yesterday and today we stopped off at Badbury Rings - an ancient hillfort adjacent to the lovely Kingston Lacey avenue of beech trees - on our way home, where not only are there terrific views (different ones from the heath) but it too is dry and grassy underfoot.

Today Archie and I walked about slowly with him on his harness and lead, without bonnet, for almost half an hour stopping a lot for him to 'collect' scents, while Nellie loped energetically about in all directions enjoying the feeling of flexing her muscles in the bright winter sunshine.

The weather has been bright and clear for all our little walks this week - even though it had rained before or after. How lucky!

Like Nellie, Arch doesn't worry about the bonnet. When they have had to wear one they are put in our large crate, because they need to rest anyway. Because they are used to resting in a crate, it is a calm place to be (it has never been a 'punishment', nor a place to 'separate them from me to make them want my attention more and therefore make them more willing to train'. How can people who do this claim their dogs are their best friend??? It's b*******s) and so they just settle to sleep. Same with a big floor cushion. So if in, or on, either they just settle and relax. Because a crate, or cushion, creates this mood in them they don't bash around and get themselves in a state fretting about the bonnet. When they are out of the crate the bonnet can come off usually and they are supervised. Although Archie, who will still go for his stitches any chance he gets unless he's on a walk, keeps his on now, sprawled out on one of the large tuffies on the floor next to my stool, and I am sat on the end of his lead to prevent him suddenly leaping up (say if the door is knocked on) and charging downstairs. Leaping off or on or down or up things is off limits 'til those stitches come out.....

Giving him different views rather than just one - from the crate - for the duration and different sniffs and different grass under his paws helps to keep him happy and relaxed.

I am hopeful this will ensure his stitches will be OK for removal next Wednesday as planned and he can enjoy all the things we want him to be able to over Christmas and the New Year.

Three brave little wounded soldiers

So, it is my whole day off on Friday and the sun is shining! How serendipitous is that and how unlikely at this time of the year? It was a perfect opportunity to walk the Kimmeridge stretch of the coast path.

There is going to be a Nedlo website apparently and we've all been asked to submit a photo. Well I can't choose! I already have several hundred to choose from and as I am always taking pictures of my dogs it just becomes more difficult as each day passes. There's no harm in trying to capture an even more perfect one is there? And in a beautiful setting too.

Anyway.

Having reviewed this one on the computer screen, it won't make my short list but I still like it.

Archie firmly planted himself between my phone camera and Nellie, clearly telling me he wanted to be part of the photoshoot too :-)

Took this picture after we had walked along that part of the coast from the bay. We were having a great walk. Another woman out and about stopped to ask me about the beach after the storm the night before and out of the corner of my eye I saw Archie trying to walk along the rather loose stoned dry stone wall just behind us. I turned for a moment to answer another question she asked and when I flicked my eyes back he had disappeared. He isn't in the habit of walking along dry stone walls, preferring to jump over them via srone stiles as a rule, and I joked to the woman that I'd better go check he wasn't up to anything naughty. My call to him had no response and as I peered over the wall I saw that there was a low barbed wire fence adjacent to it and that he was stuck the other side of that. Climbing over the wall was a little tricky as the stones were really quite unstable (I think he must have lost his footing on it himself) then squeezing between it and the fence and leaning over to pull him up proved difficult too but there were no other ways through. On close inspection he had pulled all the skin off the inside of his hind left leg - just like he'd been skinned. Thank God he hadn't severed anything but he was in shock and it looked nasty enough, nor could I risk him walking on it in case he did further damage so I had to carry him. We still had at least half an hour before we'd get back to the van and as soon as I got there I phoned the vet to warn them and drove like crazy to get him there as fast as possible. After debriding, and flushing out they tell me the wound is very clean and he was stitched under a general. We picked him up at 9.30 that night. Our vet we have used since Henry died have their own in house 24 hour emergency service and we were especially glad we had changed when Pop became ill almost a year ago.

The little chap must now reside for 12 days in our brilliant Barjo estate car crate that I am eternally grateful we never sold when we bought the van six years ago.

Arch is having on lead and harness 'walks' five minutes max around the top section of the garden for toileting, and lots of cuddles. Oh and a hot water bottle to make up for the lack of aga that he likes to sleep up against. As he is my little shadow around the house he is currently being allowed to lie here by my chair on the bedroom floor - with his harness, lead and 'bonnet'.

I had already decided that today would be a stay at home day. Nellie and I had a good walk on the heath yesterday after I had run my agility classes and I don't think it does her any harm to have the odd total rest day here and there, as much as she loves her walks. She was just going to have a short 10 min walk from the house for a little stretch etc earlier today and I saw with horror that she suddenly picked up her hind left leg. She had been fine in the house, it was just when we were outside. You can imagine what kind of a state I was getting into. I couldn't see anything obviously wrong with her paw or pads and with a sinking heart I was seeing 'groin strain' (how??) or worse and working myself into a bit of a nervous wreck. Back at home I cleaned her whole paw and Iain held a torch and, lo and behold, there was an exposed bit of pad looking raw and tender. Phew. So she too is under house arrest - she will be sleeping in her soft 'World's' travel crate ( I bought it for her when she was younger - it was on offer - on the basis she might need it one day for travelling abroad..so far she has only used it for Sark!) And she has her paw all bandaged and vet-wrapped for a couple of days, will be wearing her bonnet when unsupervised around the house or in the crate and will only be having 5 min walks on lead and harness for a few days 'til it heals (with a bag over it to keep it dry).

And my third little wounded soldier?

It's Belle.

Belle had a small lump on the side of a claw which I investigated and found to be an indentation underneath her foot that had filled with soil...Cleaned out, it wasn't infected but it was sore. She has never given any sign of lameness - the only indication anything was amiss was this little lump. I cleaned it for a couple of days with boiled cool water and tea tree oil but although it wasn't worse it didn't improve, and kept filling up each time with soil, so I took her off to the vet. Only to discover that she must have had a wound - perhaps a thorn? - which had caused this indentation and she had a very mild 'bumblefoot'. Where do they get chicken ailment names???? Now 'bumblefoot' is one of the main reasons why I put straw on the slabs in their pen - they can develop problems when forced to live on a hard floor 24/7. I know mine don't usually live on it 27/7 - only at night - but it is better to err on the side of caution or at least I try to... They can also develop them when their perches are the wrong width but as mine have different sized branches to perch on they get to choose where is most comfortable. And now I have learned they can get little wounds in their feet living free range too - just different kinds of wounds. ARRGH!

So for the last week I have been treating Belle with half a cephacare anti-biotic tablet crushed in water and syringed into her beak twice a day (she doesn't like the taste of this), metacam for anti-inflammatory benefits also by beak once a day (this makes her smack her 'lips' appreciatively - it is the honey in it apparently!), and Iain has been holding her while I pop a little ball of vaseline covered cotton wool in the indentation, then wrap her claw with vet-wrap (pretty camouflage pattern!) everyday to keep the wound clean.

I also have to keep her in the pen all the time or, with such unpredictable weather and wet grass, the dressing would fall off, the cotton wool fall out and the other treatments would be needed for far longer. So...

I decided to keep them all in the pen. Why? This goes against everything I keep chickens myself for - to give them a happy, natural, free ranging life. But in these circumtances I just have to do it and not listen to that little voice inside me telling me this over and over again. The pen, I might add, is spacious and does allow for all their basic needs and then some but it doesn't fulfill all my 'needs' in terms of how I want to keep them. Too many chickens - even domestic flocks - don't have even the standard of living mine have in their pen. But I don't want to isolate Belle by keeping her in away from the others because that isn't kind to a chicken. By doing this I can also - I hope - ensure she is in synch with the others in their training for the treadle feeder. Or she would starve later and that isn't going to happen.

Penning them for a few days, so not allowing any access to other food like grass and bugs, might just mean we crack the treadle feeder training - the first 'prong' of our rat offensive -which currently isn't going to plan. That is, the plan as laid out by the manufacturer. I think it is based on the premise that chickens are not having access to any, and I mean any, other kind of food source and initially I made the mistake of thinking they could still have access to our garden. Which might explain why I got the response I got after the first week. See below. If we cannot crack this feeder, we can still move the chooks out of the pen (once Belle's foot has healed of course) but it will mean we won't be dealing so effectively with the rat problem. Any exposed feeder will be an open invite that the rats will happily take advantage of....

After a week on the 'fully open' stage with no movement of the treadle step , as the instructions indicated I should, I moved the bolts, *to allow the feeder to half close and then open only when the step is stood on*. The first chook that did this was so shocked that she flew into the air, hastening her moult by a few feathers, screeched loudly as if being chased by a tooth gnashing monster and they all unanimously voted it was The Scariest Thing Ever and refused to go anywhere near it. I hardened my heart: they didn't eat for almost two days. Not even the juicy sunflower hearts I put on the top, nor the corn they usually squabble over, tempted them. So we needed to adapt the standard 'plan'. Iain came up with the brilliant suggestion of attaching a small piece of rubber matting (as per the bottom of the Barjo crate) to the treadle step to make the surface more chicken friendly and give it a good grip. It would also 'feel' different. And we put the lid on to the fully open position again with no movement of the treadle required. I also filled the feeder up to the top level to make it easy for them to reach the food. Four days later they can all stand on the rubbered treadle again. So now I am reducing the food level in the feed section over the next three or so days so they have to reach further into the feeder to get food, and stand very firmly on the rubber to do this. As the food level falls they should (I hope) become more confident on the step. Once we get to that stage I will drop the bolt to *as they step on the step it will push down half the distance and the lid will move a little bit* and leave the food level low all the time. Fingers crossed.

Because they are all in the pen all the time I am scraping chicken poo off the slabs every two days, sprinkling small amounts of straw to keep their feet off the slabs, vaselining their legs once a week to prevent a re-infestation of Scaley-leg mite so that we don't take it over into the new coop when we move them across and keeping Belle and one of her 'genetic sisters' in an eglu overnight so I can catch her easily for her morning cephacare. So the eglu needs cleaning more frequently too.....

Somewhere in amongst all this chicken training, chicken treatment and doggy supervision I have to go to work and get a lot of work done before the end of term on Friday. Wish me luck.

Hips, haws and sloes

Nellie takes her raw diet very seriously. Having taught herself, as Henry did too, to pick her own blackberries whenever I was out foraging, this year (for some strange reason not before) she has expanded her tastes on to hawthorn berries, sloes and rosehips.....

Good to know she can take her well developed proprioception skills 'on the road' ;-)

Things chicken

I now understand why people have been so pleased and even excited when I have given them a box of our girls' eggs. Not having bought eggs for a few years now, as even in the winter they lay the odd egg and this keeps us ticking over, I had forgotten just how horrid standard sold eggs are.

We made the mistake of buying organic, free range 'blue' eggs in Waitrose and I tried (that is the right word) to fry one. The yolk was bright yellow but it was flat and the white was liquid. It dried up in moments and tasted awful. I bought half a dozen free range (I could see the chickens on grass pastures with my own eyes) eggs but these too had watery whites, flat yolks and the taste was inferior. Our eggs (as anyone else who keeps their own chooks will tell you) have upstanding rounded yolks and thick, sturdy whites. Nutritionally they are worlds apart too. But then we are eating eggs that are no more a than a day or two old laid by very contented hens that forage everyday on grass. Sometimes I am eating an egg laid only moments before. No shop can compete with that. So while I think it is brilliant that shops like Waitrose will only sell and use free range eggs, I have been too spoiled to want to buy anybody else's eggs.

So we are just going without now until we can have our own again.

Why can't we eat our own? After last Winter's experience with Scaley-Leg mite when I hadn't a clue what it was, I have been watching the chickens really closely and it seemed to me a couple of weeks back that Maggie was showing early signs of having this again. Off to the vet and yes, she did.

Last time we used Vaseline and Tea-tree oil and it worked well (the vet was impressed) but I wasn't happy that we had complications with secondary leg infection with Lizzie and Bert. I treated this with anti-biotics from the vet but I felt an even more robust line was needed this time. So Ivermectin it is.

This means complete egg withdrawal from the time of first treatment to at least 7 days after the second treatment, which must take place 10-14 days after the first treatment......It also means, as we have dogs, that they are not allowed anywhere near the chicken areas at all. Especially Nellie, being a Border Collie. No idea if she has the gene that is affected of course and I don't intend to find out the nasty way. So we are both being really vigilant about our footwear when we go down the garden to ensure we don't bring any chicken poo to the top half of the garden or the house. Ivermectin ingestion can kill dogs. Dogs have died as a result of eating horse poo after a horse has been wormed with the stuff. OK I know they'd need to eat or lick a large amount of chicken poo with Ivermectin in, but I'd rather not take any chances.

We are also smearing their legs with Vaseline every three days to loosen any raised leg scales and smother any mites, and bathing their legs in warm water and teatree oil. This causes much disgruntlement. Even poor Fanny-Anne, Edna and Herb get the treatment even though they looked 'clean'. Whilst they all have a bit of a grumble, Tilly is a terrible drama-queen; she makes a awful screech when Iain lifts her off the perch as if she is about to be killed. The sound, amplified as it is by the still quiet night air, has an air of mandrake roots about it!! We are surprised that none of our neighbours have enquired! I think they are all too polite - or too afraid to ask...

All the chooks must be treated at the same time to ensure all the stages of the mite's development are hit. Regardless of whether they actually have it or not.

It is a disgusting infestation and can be carried from other flocks via wild birds. My chicken vet assured me that Maggie is exceptionally healthy (and weighed in at a highly muscley 2+kg!)with no other infestations, and lovely strong, glossy new feathers growing through in her 'moult', that I am clearly doing all the right things to care for them, but that sometimes we get caught out by these sorts of things and that I mustn't beat myself up about it. But of course, I do beat myself up about it. They didn't ask to be our chickens.

I don't want to keep animals -or birds - unless I can give them as natural a life as possible in terms of being able to exhibit natural behaviours for as much of their everyday life as possible. Although I have two eglus, I would not for instance keep two or three chickens in an eglu run, even if I could move it everyday. Our eglus are attached to a 12ftx9ftx7ft covered run that the chooks sleep in on branches for perches off the ground. Positioned behind a hedge and with sheets to protect the sides, it 'feels' to them as if they are sleeping in a tree...In the day time, they roam around the garden, eating grass, digging craters and chasing bugs...so things are pretty rosy for the birds on the whole. However....

...we have been pondering how to further improve the chickens' living arrangements for quite some time now- and trying to combine this with a bit of re-organising of the veg patch/bottom part of the garden.

Rats have forced us to evaluate the whole situation sooner, rather than later.

I have nothing personally against rats. This is a rural place. Lots of people have ducks, chooks, geese, turkeys and other livestock abound. They say most of us are never far from a rat. But I do not want them in our chicken pen, thank you very much.

In the time we have lived here we have slabbed almost the entire floor area and there is only one bit (18insx18ins) we cannot cover. Last Spring the rats realised they could dig a tunnel from under the greenhouse to get into the pen at night. I succumbed to Pasta Bait, left at the entry of the hole with surgical gloves at night, and taken down by the rats into their run to eat - and kill them. Difenicoum makes them bleed to death internally. They didn't re-emerge. And so we are hopeful they didn't enter the food chain (raptors will eat dead rat..though there is so much game here I suspect they don't need to be that desperate). A whole colony dealt with, I was feeling quite pleased...

Iain filled that hole in but new rats became more bold and subsequently dug a new route under the edge of the run - in the one tiny place Iain hadn't managed to dig wire gauge fencing down into..

More Pasta-bait. Luckily, both places are inside the veg patch and are beyond the reach of the dogs and the chooks. Anyway, the rats obligingly keeled over.

Then they got really clever. Recently I realised they had dug in again - this time from outside our garden. We don't know exactly where, but they must be tunnelling under a thick hedge - or even two - to do this.

So no more pasta bait as I will not put it in sections of drain pipe (as is recommended) because then the rats are likely to be travelling over-ground with it and God knows where they might drop it.

As we have been treating the chooks for the Scaley-Leg mite we can hear the little buggers partying, just waiting for us to finish before they come up and stuff themselves with all our lovely organic, expensive chook pellets. Certainly the rats I have seen - and they can be pretty bold - look marvellously healthy.

Not only that, but the slabs on the floor of the run mean I need straw on the floor to protect the chooks feet. Straw (or any thick layer of flooring material) can encourage Scaley-Leg to develop and recur. Things have reached a point where change is required.

So we are taking a two-pronged offensive.

Prong One is:

I have bought (at eye wincing cost) a 'Grandpa's Feeder' which the chooks are, even as I write, learning how to use with the aid of a couple of bolts to stop the treadle foot moving. All their feed is in there (including snackettes such as sunflower hearts and corn) and I believe it will take a couple of weeks to 'train' them to feed from it, eventually by standing on the treadle foot to lift the lid and access the food. These feeders are rain proof and, by all accounts, the best way to avoid rats eating the food. By my calculations, it should pay for itself in less than a year by way of saved food costs. Take away the food and the rats will find somewhere else to live. We hope.

Prong Two:

The run is going. And the chooks will have a new house/coop further up the garden. Made from 100% recycled plastic and with a really clever sensor operated door, this isn't cheap either but we hope it will give the chooks a better quality of life and make it easier for me to care for them well. The sensor is going to take some playing around with I think. But we can put a timer on it too, so that for instance, the timer can let them out in the morning, and the sensor will shut them in at night or various different permutations.

No run = no slabs = no straw. And hopefully, no rats. And, I hope too, no re-occurance of scaley-leg. But still the chooks are able to roam freely. We are hopeful of positive results...

Why a sensor? In order to avoid leaving our chooks in the run for longer than overnight, we can ask others to let out and shut in our chooks the weekends we are away; we ask our neighbours sometimes - but this is out of the question every weekend we are away for agility. It isn't fair to impose. My mother is happy to be here much of the time in the summer, but sometimes it isn't convenient. On such a regular basis we need more flexibility. Of course continuing with the pen seemed like the perfect option before the problem of rats and Scaley -leg reared their ugly heads because the chooks could be left safe from foxes and heavy weather in a large airy pen on the odd weekend we didn't want to impose on anyone to look after them. But it isn't now. After a lot of research this plan seems to offer the best outcomes - for the chooks and for us.

The coop has legs so they will have shelter in the daytime under that as well as under the yew tree or the bay bush.

As I say, one of the main reasons I first chose to buy and use a pen over 7 years ago was to keep our original 3 chooks in it all the time. I calculated that the 12ftx9ft area plus shrubs in pots, branches and other pots for them to climb on, dust bathe in and perch on would create a sufficently natural habitat for them - especially with the roof half covered. [Of course the principle (on which I based my persuasion of Iain to keep chooks in the first place!) of keeping them permanently penned lasted only a few days as I decided to let them out shortly after - just for a couple of hours of course...... - just to see how they enjoyed the garden.....and I so enjoyed seeing them quite obviously enjoying the garden that from then on they were out almost all the time......]

But now the pen is going. I don't want to shut 8 chickens in there all the time indefinitely anyway, even if there weren't the rats, straw, slab problems. But we do need something for them to sleep in overnight to protect them.... With this new coop the sensor/timer door will enable the chooks to continue to enjoy the freedom of the garden the odd time, say overnight, even when we have to leave them overnight or if my mother cannot get here til the following morning when we are off for the weekend, or if we or she wants to go out/come back late....and they won't have to be walking about on straw/slabs in the pen on any of those occasions anymore.

Another benefit of sleeping on perches as our chooks have done in the pen is that red mite are discouraged because there are no warm, damp crevices to hide in and then come out at night to suck the blood from the chooks (red mite are evil things). They won't be 'sleeping in the trees on branches', but on perches in a coop which is a bit of a pain. It feels a bit like a backward step. So to reduce the impact of that, we have gone (as with the eglus as next boxes) with plastic for our coop.

Why plastic? Well, it is hotly contested by 'traditionalists' but most evidence shows that wooden coops are renowned for encouraging red mite. They are virtually impossible to keep clean and dry inside and red mite love all the crevices and nooks that wooden chook houses are full of, never mind the felt roofing. It is red mite heaven. So far none of my chooks have ever had this - or lice (because they have several places to dry dust bathe all year round). Plastic is superior because the construction of coops made of it offer far fewer opportunities for red mite to thrive. Plastic is superior for other reasons too.

It is far, far harder for foxes or rats to chew through. It is way easier to clean, keep clean and, even more importantly, dry inside (red mite) It is a more versatile material to create chicken friendly structures out of. And it is cooler in summer and warmer in winter.

So the pen's day are numbered, it is time to move on and try something different - we just have to wait until the chooks adapt to the feeder, and we have the timer/sensor worked out on the new coop.

On Sunday, Iain has the dubious pleasure of constructing our chooks' new coop. I think I may go out for a little while.........If you look at the pictures of the instructions you'll easily see why......