I’ve been thinking about the things the pups have tasted in their short life so far besides puppy kibble. Outdoors, they have sampled herbs, especially mint, chicken poop, as well as many bugs. I have seen them eat live cicadas and beetles. Indoors they have had, in this order,
puffed kamut
cilantro stems
aged parmesan
genoa salame (uncured)
raw carrot
popcorn
salad dressing (homemade)
pistachios (in the shell)
bacon
Not sure why I kept a list but there it is. Most of these are things that fell off the counter. Honestly, from their reactions I’d say their favorite foods so far are chicken poop and pistachios. Oh, they have had some dog training treats too.
Also I like to note the ways that the pups differ. Woody is OK with getting wet, always runs after a thrown ball, eats food until it is gone (no matter how much there is), is goofy, overly excitable, and likes to give and receive a lot of attention. Stony, on the other hand, hates to get wet, never runs after a thrown ball, only eats what he feels like eating, is cautious/easily spooked, stealthy, and needs lower amounts of attention. Oh and Woody is clunky (when he runs he seems misaligned or crooked?) whereas Stony is more streamlined, agile, and quick.
Since the last blog post, we’ve had two snake sightings! One time I was approaching the coop and a snake had its head up on the ramp and it was facing me. We stopped and looked at each other for a second, then he elegantly retracted his body back under the floor of the coop. The other occasion was one early evening I noticed the dogs acting funny right outside by the back deck. I opened the door and there was a snake right there going across the deck! Dogs barked at it but didn’t attempt to bite it or anything. Snake moved along, off the deck and out of sight. Both snakes seemed like no big deals, maybe coachwhips? Sorry, no pics as happened too fast.
We have taken the pups out for “walks” a couple times to the end of the driveway and back. We aren’t supposed to take them anywhere until they are fully vaccinated so we won’t go further than that for now. Plus, they aren’t used to leashes so it’s total chaos we’re all ready to stop by then anyway. The most recent time we tried to pull the empty garbage bin back with us too…which caused the pups to FREAK OUT in FEAR! And a car that went by on the road also caused small freak outs. After this, we decided that we needed to get them exposed more to the outside world.
So we have put them in the car a couple of times to at least experience our neighborhood. But this is also incredibly stressful for them. Completely terrified of getting in the car and even during the ride. Especially Stony, he was trembling the first time and the second time was tolerating it but clearly on edge.
So we plan to keep up the little rides around the neighborhood until they are OK with it. It’s amazing how every sound makes them totally FREAK OUT!
It’s also really, really hot this summer. Worried chickens will perish so keeping my fingers crossed. Put ice water out during day and a container that I freeze of ice. And I put on misters in middle of afternoon.
I’ll put a few pics below.
