This and that

Remember Hannibal and Nemo? Two great looking, young male shepherds, brothers. They were both adopted out to great homes and I heard from both adopters within the past couple of days. Nemo is now called Huck and is described as a canine comedian. Hannibal made himself at home and is doing well. He trained to an electric fence very quickly. Both dogs have canine companions in their new homes and get along very well with them. Both owners also report that they have a problem with counter surfing. For people with dogs less than knee height, the term "counter surfing" refers to helping oneself to whatever can be reached off the counter with the paws or mouth. Our Bremo did it for a while, when he discovered how easy it was for a dog his size. Anything we really want to be out of reach now goes on top of the refrigerator. One thing I did myself and recommend to others to discourage the practice, is to sprinkle a generous amount of cayenne pepper along the edge of the counter when you leave.





These two dogs are 3-4 month old pups currently on a stray hold at the SPCA. I drove in there today to meet him and have sent their pics out to the VGSR volunteers in case we have an applicant looking for a shepherd mix puppy. Very cute, both of them. The light colored one looks as much Golden Retriever as shepherd. She's the female and is pretty lively. The darker one is a male, very cute, sweet, and calmer. They will adopt out readily when their stray hold period of up. They were found at a construction site, probably dumped.

Emmylou rode along for the trip to the SPCA today and we stopped at a park on the way home for a walk. She loves the cold weather and spends hours in our pasture whenever she gets the chance, way beyond the time all the younger dogs have come in. The cold and snow make for good crisp scent. She loves to hunt small mammals and has enlisted Molly's help with the dirty and laborious work of digging up moles from under the surface.

Tomorrow begins Rocky's big adventure in canine health care with our trip to the vet school clinic at Virginia Tech to see a surgeon who may be able to help his ears.