Savingdogs-Saving the chickens

[rebecca100]

My dh brought home a cat like that last year. Only he drove a propane service truck for a living. It had crawled up on the truck and rode to a site nearly sixty miles when dh found it. In the summer under a hot vehicle. It was a long haired gray we named Lucky. It ate dh and one of his coworkers up. Dh warned us it was mean, but dd grabbed it out of the box and to our amazement it purred and loved on her. Almost every cat we have had has been dropped off or found. I hate that the last one had to be put down. The shelter at first refused to even see it until I plead with them that the cat desperately needed help.

 

[miss_thenorth]

I had a black cat that passed on athe ripe age of 21 about 6 years ago. Her name was Tash. so whenever I see a balck cat, it is a tashcat.

 

[savingdogs]

Yes, we are like that too. All cow kittys are "Isis" and all gray tabbies are "Shere Khans". Black tuxedo cats are Rhiannons. At least when talking to my family.

Black cats cannot find homes in this county, my heart sunk when I saw the color. Hubby also knows that black cats don't get adopted here. Glut in the market has existed for over 10 years. And short hair is not popular. But actually I like short hair the best (I hate hair ball issues). So I'm fine with that.

But I was just telling Trouble yesterday that when our current cats pass, I don't want ANY more. Why were the cat angels not listening? It does kind of balance things however, to have a youngster. Our dogs and cats are 11, 9,9,9, 10-ish, 6, and 7.

So S name suggestions? We usually pick about 10 names and then we decide as a family. I guess I have a new cat. :/

 

[Denim Deb]

Personally, I prefer black cats, tuxedo cats-either black and white or gray and white-or calico.

I"ll have to think on a name. First one that does come to mind though, is Sarah, which means Princess.

 

[savingdogs]

We already had a beloved, beloved dog named Sara, I can't do that again. I choke up just thinking about her, and she has been gone more than 20 years now.
There is a dog that lives next door that looks just like her (small female golden) and Hubby warned me I would cry when I saw the dog. I scoffed (although I've been known to cry when I see "Sara" dogs). Well, we passed the dang dog the other day. I tried real hard to hide it from Hubby, but she did make me teary-eyed. Sara was such a good dog, we just didn't have enough years together (12 wasn't enough). I actually stole her from the humane society, isn't that terrible? And that dog next door really has her look. We now refer to her as the "Sara-dog". I like to tease that my border collie Anika is Sara reincarnated because she has the same sweet personality and soft silky coat.

Sara probably would have been my daughter's name if I had not already had the dog when she was born. When I could hear, I was a huge fan of Stevi Nicks and loved all her songs, so I've had a Rhiannon too, and my daughter's name IS one of the Fleetwood Mac band members names. She does not mind being named after a guitarist,she loves music. I guess I've kinda revealed my daughter's name there, but only to avid Fleetwood Mac fans I guess.

We are having rain again today.

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

yay! savingcats! my two beloved old lady cats were both black - it never occurred to me that they would be hard to adopt - we are all black and white or grey here except for one cali.

someone suggested the name Inky for one of my black hens - so maybe that can be your kitteh's name? our basement kitteh is Gato Diablo....and that is the truth.

we just took Kai The Destroyer for a swim. we let her do laps until her curly tail went under water - then we knew she was tired. yesterday she was full of pizzzzz and vinegar. she grabbed my little duck and when she i ran at her ....she thought i was trying to play. i wasnt playin. i ended up doing a flying tackle, in the mud and poison ivy. then later in the day, Titan gave her a pounding (he didnt hurt her, of course). so we finally wore her out. she slept really hard for 3 hours - she even drooled. it was hard to be the pup.

i've been working on her stubborn streak - her "i hear you calling me but i'm doing something else now" thing. so every time she comes to me i give her something - a stick, a feather, or whatever. or i start playing ball with the big dogs (who always hold a proximity) and then she comes flying out of the bramble. now that we are fenced on all sides i'm so much more relaxed and dont worry about her running off for 20 miles like Bandit! (we have a gated community behind us and i laughed that there is no way they'd let us slide in behind someone! ha!). but still - she needs to know to come when i call her. with the big dogs if they didnt show up by the 3rd time i called them - they learned to run FROM me.
;-)

happy thursday!!!

 

[savingdogs]

Well you can do the old fashioned long lead trick, OFG, do you know that one? It works for most dogs (not Bandit though). But I totally "get" what you mean about the "I'm hearing you but I'm doing something else now".....but it is the kind of dog they ARE so we have to accept that trait along with the good. We can't trust Bandit around the ducks. We realize now that she is good around the poultry if we are standing there, but as soon as we leave, she cannot heeeelp herself......so she never gets left alone where she can see them, which is a pain in the rear.

But I can explain the long lead way of teaching a dog to come if you need me to, if anyone does. It is an old classic training idea most trainers know.

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

yep we've used it. the problem is - she's so smart she knows when we are training her! ha! we've also been calling her between us - this also helps to reinforce "where's momma? where's daddy?" so she can look for either of us. she is just a silly. she was so cute the other nite playing with us - of course we are smitten - stubborn streak and all!

i remember reading in one of the breed specific books that she wont want to do anything unless she sees a good reason - the "because i said so" isnt a good enough reason. so i'm hoping she'll figure out - hey, she hands me something everything i come to her. and that will do some good. like Titan, she isnt food motivated at all. so this is working - for now. and she loves to show the big dogs she has something, like "hey look what i have!"
;-)

and there is no way we could leave her unsupervised - we'll have better luck teaching the clucks to 'stay in the fence when the pup is out' - actually this is kinda what we are doing! i go out on the deck and yell, "run for your lives chickens! here comes the puppy!" ha!

but her hunting is really kicking in - we're working (joyously) on "get it! get it!" when we see something in the yard. so much fun with the running and all.

 

[savingdogs]

Yea, Bandit is the same way, she "humors" us when we do training sessions. When people tell me they are looking for a "smart" dog I say "be careful what you wish for!"

Bandit does like food rewards but not as much as her freedom. If Kai doesn't care for treats you might up the ante and not give her any dinner, give her the kibble when she earns it from you. I ONLY feed Bandit after she comes in from outside after being called and that has helped. I think realizing we don't chase her anymore helped too.

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

be careful what you wish for... hee hee hee ha is right!!!
;-)

and yep. we've always "worked" first and then food. but even Ti couldnt care less about snacks. but he loves playing ball. so we just need to find out what her "currency" is... and really - she's so good most of the time. we see other peoples dogs and think:

1. WOW we have huge dogs!!! (this always surprises us...)
2. wow we have really good dogs.

we think once she hits about 18 - 24 months she'll calm down a bit. we just need to keep her focused on the right things.

i know you are having rain there.. but we are having such a beautiful day! i wish i could send it to you - on days like this i'm so happy