Moving Our Hounds to the Farm

It has been a while since I posted here in our Rocketdog page(s). Things have been busy so most of the time I have kept the posts short and on Facebook. But here's something new: We are ready to move the hounds to the Farm.

We had already prepared water and a place to stay, (a place with a bed and enough to keep them safe when we moved cars and trucks through the gate) but simply being able to keep them all out there isn't enough. Hounds can get barky when they are cooped up and bored. We needed something bigger. I needed to build them a place to stay when the gates are open and when we are not there. This required building a larger fenced area.

Even though money isn't our main concern, we will have to build many dozens of them to define the edges of Farm features and paths. So this design does the job for about three dollars a linear foot and I can build them quickly. I used wire concrete reinforcement panels to keep people and dogs out while letting chickens and ducks roam the Farm freely. Best of all, each panel can easily be re-positioned as things get developed by just pulling up the rebar and moving the panels to their new place.

Each fence panel is tied to the next.by eye bolts
through which rebar is driven into the ground.

From their new yard they can see the whole farm,
but not the trail across the road.
So they won't bark at the bikers and hikers.

Their doghouse (with the heated floor)
opens into the lean-to workbench area.
The new back door opens into their  new yard.

Once the fence had been moved around a few times to find a shape that will keep them in while still giving them a view of the place, I put down a few yards of Hemlock bark mulch. The mulch is soft on the paws, keep those paws clean, easily cleaned up, and provide a good barrier to weeds.

After we move to the new kennel the mulch will have "cooked" down into a fine growing mulch and we will till it into the soil to add nutrients. The area where the Cabin and temporary dog yard is presently situated will become a pear orchard.

This is them the first time they went into their new place.
I got the camera out too late to show them tearing the place up.

We are now completely ready to make our move permanent.

March 16, 2018 Saying Goodbye to Carmel Corn SanDiego

In the beginning, when we were making plans rationally and had done none of it, we decided to never use a dog if it would harm them, and not keep one when they were not going to be productive. We decided to find good homes for those dogs that deserved a good retirement from the puppy business.

We seemed to have it all figured out back then.

Having found that Carmen would never have the psychological fortitude to be a good breeder  we struggled in deciding to follow through on our plans. But we bit the bullet and decided to let her go.

So this morning I dropped her with her new family. Nice people who have a goat farm near Ferndale, California. But it was not as easy to do as the plan carefully said it would. The plan said that these are farm animals and "we won't get too attached". The plan wasn't wrong. It just wasn't as easy as we thought.

Carmen came from eastern Washington.
From a good amature breeder.
Her mother was pretty.
Her father was handsome.

Carmen was our puppy and she will be missed. We hope she finds her new life to be wonderful. We hope her new family falls as hard for her as we did. 

When she was large with puppies,
she spent hours on my lap.

Her pups were a combination of
her parents and Clarke's good genes.
She threw exceptionally pretty pups.

Clarke is the tri-color (front and center).
Our litters were a family affair.

Most carried a championship stance.
Most were very high quality.

And all are were very pretty.

March 13, 2018 Carmen got fixed

I really don't know why the vet
docs call having a hysterectomy "fixed".

If it ain't broke you can't fix it.