Temperature swings

Tuesday was sunny, temperature in the 60s, pushing 70. The type of day we often get in the winter, but we haven't seen any of those days this year. I has too busy with work to get out for a hike, but did get everyone out to the pasture.

SweetTart and Elektra

When I first saw the forecast for Wednesday I thought it must have been a mistake. A 30 degree drop in temperature in one day, and only lasting for one day didn't seem right. It turned out to be correct even if it wasn't right. Today felt raw, wet, and cold. It was cloudy all day. I was under dressed when I was outdoors and felt positively chilly. It was a good day to be indoors.

Candace and Elvis

Paisley and Elvis

Paisley and Bette

Candace and Paisley

Pushing puppies

The two remaining Marvel pups are now four months old and it's time they were separated and adopted. They've been coming indoors for the last couple of weeks and doing very well, but they need new homes. Towards that end I took them to be photographed by Dulcey Fuqua at a Valentine's Day photo shoot last weekend. The first two pictures are Dulcey's excellent portraits of Storm. The rest are my pictures of the process. 

In addition to the two pups, she also took pictures of Woody and SweetTart that should be out soon. Momma Marvel was there getting her picture taken as well so the pups had a brief reunion with her.

I've been using both Woody and SweetTart as puppy sitters, sometimes together and sometimes separately with one individual puppy under their watch. I think it's good experience for the pups. 

First two pics are of Storm by Dulcey Fuqua Photography:

My pictures from the day:

And here's a couple of pictures of Marvel having her picture taken: 

SweetTart

She was presented to us as a Great Pyrenees/Golden Retriever mix, but we're not really sure if she's a mix or a pure Pyr. It took her a few days to warm up to the other dogs in the household and when she met the puppies she assumed guardianship of them, so she's certainly got some characteristics of a livestock guardian dog. But she's also very personable and people friendly, she's house trained and crate trained, and she loves being indoors as well as out. So who knows? The bottom line is that she's a pretty girl and very friendly. She may not bond instantly with other dogs but she will learn to get along. When she met Woody (young German Shepherd Dog) she found him annoying at first, but he kept trying to play with her and eventually won her over. She gets along with the other 5-6 dogs in the household and is very good with the two puppies.

SweetTart is spayed and up to date on vaccines and is heartworm negative. SweetTart is available for adoption through Green Dogs Unleashed, www.greendogsunleashed.org. 

Good mornings

When Della was with us she made sure we got up early, pre-dawn, to feed her breakfast. We'd often be awakened by the thumping of her tail against a piece of furniture. If that failed to rouse us, there was always the paw, the big, heavy paw placed on the side of the bed. Her next move was to stand up with both front paws on the bed towering over me so she could not be ignored. 

Bailey is always ready to get up and go in the morning, but she doesn't really insist on it. She usually climbs into bed with us as morning approaches but she will initially curl up or stretch out between us and sleep a while longer. Once one of us reaches for our phone, however, she knows that we are awake and then she wants more active cuddling and petting. Sometimes you can get by with just petting with one hand while the other is doomscrolling on the phone, but she really prefers both hands and all attention to be focused on her. After being pawed a few too many times for improper petting, I find it's easier to just get up and get on with the day.

These are some recent morning pictures of Bailey in bed. 

Dreary day pasture play

It took a while to get Woody to settle down last night. He was agitated and both he and SweetTart barked at each other for quite a while. They had been in adjacent crates so I separated them and gave them both generous amounts of trazadone until we were all able to sleep. 

My goal for today (Friday) was to get Woody enough outdoor time that he'd be tired and get him adjusted to the other dogs. It was a wet and rainy day, which is far from ideal for that purpose but I had him out in Daneland with the puppies all day. That was his territory (shared with Norman) when he had been here before so he seemed comfortable there and of course the puppies are fun. But he also really needs to get used to the other dogs and to life indoors. I went for a two mile walk with Bailey but got home with just enough daylight left for some pasture time with the big dogs, Woody, Bailey, and SweetTart.

It was late in the day and a cloudy day, so light conditions didn't make for the best pictures, but the dogs had a good run and began to get better acquainted. Woody is fine. Bailey body slammed him a couple times and even rolled him over. SweetTart is a bit of a bitch, but Woody was just fine. The rain has started up again this evening and Woody is now settled down on a bed under my desk. I hope that what we did today will make for an easier night for everyone. 

By the way, I finally created a Blue Sky account and I'll be posting links to my blog posts there. My name on that platform is BRJacques, or here's a link:  https://bsky.app/profile/brjacques.bsky.social.  Zuckerburg/Meta/Facebook is now firmly planted in between Trump's butt cheeks, so I don't know how long I'll still be on Facebook. I've already deleted my rarely used Instagram account, and I always thought Twitter was stupid. You can skip the social media platforms entirely and just view the blog on its website: https://vadogrescue.blogspot.com/. In case I need to say it again, if you voted for or support Trump in any way, or any of his congressional enablers, fuck you and the horse you rode in on. You are not welcome here or any place in my life.