Coyote update.

Last week I was about up to my feet up and was having a cup of tea when I spotted a coyote pup on the lawn in front of the house. He was peering towards the side of the house..the same place I last saw the chickens. I bolted to my feet. It's funny how you can move so fast when you have to. Rattle snakes can make me move at lightening speed as well...like when I was spraying weeds with a heavy backpack sprayer and a rattlesnake rattled in the long grass right by my feet. One minute I was tired and sluggish, the next I was some distance away and feeling very energetic and awake. When I was very pregnant and sitting on a plank bridge watching Brad work by the irrigation ditch, a rattlesnake rattled right under me.. all I could think of was that knot hole in the plank. The next thing I knew I was some distance from the plank and I never knew how I got there. Funny thing was I was so pregnant I was having trouble getting up and down.

I dashed outside and yelled at the pup. He went into the long grass between the garden and the cultivated soil in the field. William came and we looked for him. William was convinced he'd ran off, but I thought he was hiding in that bit of grass. I suspect he's been hiding close to us for awhile and has become accustomed to seeing us and hearing our voices.

I took Bobby and Teddy outside to keep an eye on things and we lay on the slope under the oak tree. Within minutes Bobby focused on something behind me, rose up and streaked off. I turned around and there was that little stinker on the lawn again! I was right behind Bobby, actually running a bit. Bobby quickly caught him ...and....well Bobby is a very friendly dog and the meeting was very cordial until I came on the scene yelling, 'Kill Kill Kill', because I didn't know what else to shout. The pup ran under the crab apple tree near the chicken coops. Then Brad and William showed up. William got his gun and so I got mine. Things were starting to look bad for the little pup. While we were getting ourselves well armed, Brad and Bobby found the coyote pup trying to hide in the long grass and had him surrounded. William went into the tall grass first with his gun and mumbled something about shooting him if he was to run off. I went and had a look and there was this lovely little frightened puppy trying to get as low as he could to make himself invisible. I was all, "Awwwww hello sweetie". Keep in mind this pup is the same size and age as Teddy, so at this point assassination was out of the question.

Well, we had to come with some other plan and who better to come up with a cunning plan but me. I suggested catching him. Brad got his snare and welding gloves and I prepared a dog kennel to drop him into. What we would do with him after we had him in the kennel wasn't thought about. I'm not really a detail person.

In retrospect Brad should have given the snare to William who was in front of him and he could have caught him easily, but Brad went from behind him and the pup ran into some deeper grass.

Here's Brad and William with the pup right between them.

Crab apple trees on the right and strawberry trough forever on the left. We should have used the net from the strawberry trough to catch him.

The pup ran into this grass and we lost him. Bobby was useless. She probably found him and just winked at him. I threw in some firecrackers (onto a big rock) but no pup ran out.

William with his 72-year-old Soviet battle rifle.

I got in the chickens by dropping bits of bread to get them to follow me.

The ducks are easy to herd but this silly hen came in with them and they attacked her really bad. Ducks have a dark side.

The pup was fine with hunting the plentiful rodents in the meadow, but Brad ploughed it up and re-seeded it. As it turns out the pup is now hunting across the road in our hay field that we call the 'flat'. The hay there has just been cut and turned and there's lots of things for him to eat.

The other day William found this bunny trapped where she shouldn't have been and he brought her to me. The bunny was really tired. I offered her lettuce, but she didn't know what it was. She did have a drink. I sprayed her with a bit of flea spray and we let her go.

Echo does well.

Second day of saddle pad training and Echo does very well. He eagerly came in for the training session and gave a disappointed snort when he saw the saddle pad and realized it wasn't going to be a carrot eating training session.

He let me put the pad on his back and was okay with me banging on it and taking it off and on. We ran into a spot of bother when I took it off him and opened it up under his nose.....he ran off. But he came back and let me put it on him again. Because he wasn't wearing a halter, I had to tell him to "step up" to get him to move with it on. He did a little frightened trot but calmed right down and came to me.

Here he is being a good little lad.

Echo gives a saddle pad a ride.

The day started out hot and extremely windy. A wild fire started about 10 miles west of here and that was scary with the wind blowing so hard towards our place. It was so smoky! Then it rained and the fire and the wind died down. It turned out to be so very pleasant that later that evening and I decided to try something new with Echo.

Echo meets Foxsun's old saddle pad.

He was snorting at it and scared. I put it down on the ground and let him maul and bite it.

After awhile he seemed okay with it. And so I decided I'd put it on his back.

And Echo did what he always does when he gets rushed...................................................

he ran away.

He came back and the saddle pad was really staying on good....till it fell off. Echo never bucked.

I was getting ready to let that saddle pad have another ride when William showed up. He wanted to make sure I was okay. I asked him to take our picture. That's me giving the thumbs up as I rub the pad all over his back and bang it around. Notice I never put a lead rope on Echo and so when it was on his back he took off again. This time it slid off very slowly and when it did fall to the ground, Echo let it have it with both of his back hooves.

He was okay standing with it on his back and didn't mind me moving it around or banging on it, but he was uneasy when I lead him. We will have to work with that more.

He looks so small with William.

He did very well considering I never did de-sensitize him with bamboo poles, sacks and things. I will have to do that before I put a saddle on him. Echo gets so scared and puts his nose on my nose wanting me stop scaring him and to take it off his back. That's what he did when I first put he pad on his back. It was when I wouldn't remove it he ran off. I really enjoyed myself and I think Echo had a bit of fun as well.

Teddy goes to the vets.

Here's Teddy with her big sister, Bobby, learning to guard the chickens/ducks from hawks and coyotes.

The chickens love to scratch everything up but keep the snakes away, so they earn they keep.

Teddy gets along with all the other pets. Here she is playing tug with Bobby and Squeaky pig.

When she was out doing some digging with Blondie she got a cheat grass seed in her ear. When cheat grass gets into a dog's ear the only way you can get it out is with a otoscope and forceps. The mobile clinic comes to town on Tuesdays and I was going to go there but then Brad said he was going to Moses Lake to get some seed and asked me to go with him. I thought we could pop into the vets there to have the seed taken out, but the vet was in surgery. I was told she wouldn't be finished for three hours! So we went to another vet clinic that I'd never been to before. Here's poor Teddy looking worried at the vets.

The receptionist, at the 'other' vets, went in the back to talk to the vet and came back and told me that I'd have to leave Teddy there and she'd be given a light anesthesia. I didn't want to leave Teddy and I didn't like the fact they'd decided to give her anesthesia without even looking at her. So we left. When we got home, Brad went to do his seeding and I drove Teddy to see our regular vet in Ritzville. Regular vet can get cheat grass seed out of dogs ears without always doping them up. I put her in an old fashioned snout lock and the vet removed the seed quick as a jiffy. The vet told me that he thought Teddy was a very nice dog and seemed well impressed with her. Teddy then got more of her vaccines and her first rabies vaccine so she'll never end up like Old Yeller. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipVO3ZnrzWk

Teddy is looking cheeky because she just jumped onto a chair and finished off my cup of tea.

When I point my finger at her and tell her she's a bad dog, she barks at me.

Coyote Pup update.

That coyote pup must have been getting accustomed to the sight and sound of us for a long time and is very fearless. He spends his days in the meadow eating mice or hanging out in the shade under the farm equipment. He's doing a great job eating the mice and gophers, but comes too close to the house. I took Bobby out to chase him away a few times. (once I actually waited for him to enjoy his mouse before unleashing her). Bobby goes after him like a laser beam letting out her yippy war cry....but she's old and has arthritis, so as far as the coyote pup is concerned, it's like being chased by his great great grandmother.

The other day the pup was trotting along ahead of William and he came across the feral black tom cat that has been hanging about here for ages. The pup jumped on the cat and they had a big fight. William says there was lots of screaming and he's not sure who was doing it. I think it was the pup...cat claws are sharp. The cat ran passed William and both were okay. The tom cat is back to his usual tricks of peeing everywhere and waiting for out cats to appear so he can fight with them. The pup continues to hunt closer to the house. This is very troubling. I hope the pup has learned to avoid cats and stick with rodents..but...I'm worried about the birds and the cats. Normally we have no trouble from coyotes because there is so many rodents and other things for them to eat that they don't want to risk fighting with a cat or sneaking close for a chicken or duck. Our cats go all over the place. Two of them are very old and arthritic. Here's Maxwell.

Max walks with a limp and sleeps most of the time, but he enjoys catching a mouse or two a day....out in the meadow.....where the coyote is. I'm keeping the cats in until we can think of a solution. William has suggested The Final Solution.

Random and rambling.

We have a dump on our farm that hasn't had anything dumped into it for decades. There are a lot of old cars and trucks dumped there and even though it's not visible from the house or road, I've always hated it. For many years we have said we would get rid of it, but have never got around to it because it's such a huge undertaking. Last week Brad and William pulled down off the bluff 11 old cars, called hulks. There's still some very old trucks up there that are maybe 50 or 60 years old.

Brad squashed them as flat as he could and then they hauled them to the scrape-yard on a truck and a trailer. I thought we'd have to pay someone to take them off our hands, but the scrape yard pays for this old metal rubbish and these cars are very heavy like tanks! Before you can take them to the scrap-yard you have to have a policeman sign off on them. So we had the sheriff's deputy poking about the place. lol.. they'll never take me alive.

Teddy was part of the action.

Before we left the house, she jumped up and grabbed my camera bag that was attached to my belt loop and damaged her tooth when it got caught.

We have stopped Teddy from nipping us but she thinks it's great fun to nip the other dogs and poor Echo. Echo doesn't seem to mind too much, in fact he's extremely tolerant of her puppy ways. I have to have someone hold her because I dare not put her down around the horses because I know she'll nip their legs. Echo would just jump away but Wildairo would put her in orbit if he had the chance. I had Echo in to worm him. He's such a good horse.

The other evening William and Teddy walked over to Echo's with me. William saw two girls he knew out riding their bikes and so while William and Teddy talked to the girls, I played around with Echo. I brushed out his mane and tail and while I tugged away at his tail I remembered when, for such a long time, he wouldn't let me touch him and just the sight of my hair moving in the breeze would make him bolt off. He's as solid as a rock now. He stands so well without even a halter on and if I want to move him I tell him to step up and he walks towards my upraised hand. (I really need to teach him to be tied though).

I put his halter on and led him along side an object that I could stand on and leaned over his back a bit, slapped him with my hand all over and pushed my knee into his side.....he stood perfectly still....head in the air, like he does, and ears back paying attention to me. Here's the crazy part..I felt so comfortable and confident with him that if my body wasn't damaged by the sarcoidosis, I would have put my leg over his back. I've never mounted a horse that has never been ridden before (I sent Foxsun to a really nice trainer for a month when he was three) but it felt pretty natural just to get on. I'm thinking that I would like him to be broke for riding even if I never can ride again. I think I'll put a saddle on him... probably I should make an effort to desensitize him better first.

Tommy T Tone feeds a hungry coyote.

Today our cat, Tommy Two Tone murdered a plump young quail and was immediately put under house arrest as a punishment, (I love birds), but I'm not sure he noticed he was being punished though. A little while later Brad and William came in for lunch and told me the coyote pup they'd been seeing for a couple of weeks in the meadow, who is totally alone and had become used to their presence.

I went out to take a look and sure enough there he was, right where they said he would be.

I took Tommy's freshly murdered quail and put it in on the ditch bank, then I herded the pup towards the ditch.

Just as Brad and William had told me, the coyote pup wasn't very scared of people and because he didn't blot off I was able to steer him in the right direction.

He started sniffing as soon as he got to the ditch because I'd put some dog treats near the quail that have a strong smell that Teddy loves...I use them for training her. When the wild pup spotted the quail he jumped on it like it was about to fly off and then he carried his prize into the long grass to eat it.

For one brief moment I imagined Teddy and coyote having a play date. I know coyotes love to play because I found things on the bluff they have been playing with like a wooden goose decoy and an old shoe, both covered in teeth marks and always in different places. (I don't even know where the objects came from). And so being an old softee, I left a rawhide chew for the wild pup.

Meanwhile Teddy has turned into quite the domestic goddess. Here she is pre-washing the dirty dishes before I started the dishwasher. I didn't give her this job. She had been trying to lick the dirty dishes while I was loading them and when I went to get the rest of the dishes, I pushed the rack in thinking she'd leave things alone, but when I returned this is what I found...

Teddy has learned to jump onto things! Nothing will be safe now! Everything that is not nailed down she has made off with. She's such a happy pup and so entertaining. We love watching her play with Bobby and Blondie. She does this thing where she nips Bobby's legs or nose and then, quick as a flash, jumps out the way. I'm sure this is because she is a herding dog and they nip and then jump back to avoid being kicked. Bobby growls but is very tolerant of her...her tail wags with joy the whole time. Blondie likes to play as well but had to bite Teddy very hard on the nose to teach her boundaries. Teddy yelped and ran off shaking her head and rubbing her nose. It must have really hurt her. When she came back in the room she peeked around the corner at Blondie and wouldn't go near her for awhile.

Teddy still goes shopping and is still shy of people. She doesn't greet people but will back away from them when she's on her leash. She feels more secure when she's in the shopping cart or I am holding her. I just want her to know that people are okay and not a threat. One lady bent down to talk to Teddy and Teddy backed right up to the puppy toy basket in her favorite store. Once Teddy realized she couldn't back up any more she seemed to relax and let the lady make a fuss of her. She did not return the affection. I think it's doing her a world of good to meet dog loving people that are total strangers. Today I took her in the court house with me and even there some dog lovers found her.