Earth Day!

Happy Earth Day to everyone!  It was a beautiful Earth Day on Bully Hill.  More trees and flowers are blooming.

(pink dogwoods)

(apple blossoms)

(cherry blossoms... the kind that actually produce cherries)

(Cherry blossoms... not the fruit tree)

(I'm pretty sure these are weeds, but I really like them)

OK then, I've been on a bit of a hiatus from actually posting information about animal training.  I recently visited a doggie friend that was having a hard time greeting people at the door.  This little bully was getting a bit too excited when guests arrived, and she really did not know how to respond appropriately.  The owners were going to explore a few different options, but one of the things we discussed was teaching the dog to go to a specific "safe spot" when there was a knock at the door.  While this might seem very complicated, it is easy when you break things down into simple steps.

The first step is to start target training with the dog.  I think we've demonstrated that one before using the horses.  Once the dog learns basic target training, you can add some more distance and throw the target.  I also demonstrated this with the horses when teaching them to fetch.

Here, we are going to teach the dogs to go to a safe place using the same basic concept.  Instead of a jolly ball or a ball on a stick, they will need to target a blanket.

The following are some short videos of the dogs after I throw a blanket onto the ground:

This is not exactly the most exciting stuff in the world, but it is good progress.  As demonstrated by Petunia, even if the dog accidentally hits the target, you still click and reward.  The dog needs to figure out for herself why she is being rewarded.  Once your dog figures it out and is going to the target all of the time, you can add a command like "spot."  Thereafter, we can start to reward the dog for staying at the spot for longer and longer periods of time.


Rome was not built in a day, but it is a lovely place now.

Snow

I don't know why I find this so amusing, but I most certainly do.  Snow is virtually a baby.  She's 6 years old now and she likely weighs a ton.  She's as big and she is ornery.  Part of being a young, growing horse seems to be a desire to eat all the time.  She consumes far more food than Ellie Mae.  Thus, in the mornings and in the afternoon, Snow is in a huff, waiting to be fed.  If she is in one of the pastures, she will pace back and forth against the fence until I come to get her:

Well, that is slightly amusing, but not really funny.  This, however, is her reaction when I open the gate to "bring her" up to the barn.



I have about 20 videos of the exact same thing.  Sure, the blue-bloods will probably stroke their beards, cluck their tongues, and note that this is not the proper behavior for a horse.  They are probably right.  Still, she's always waiting in front of her stall when I finally make it up to the barn with Ellie, and she seems to be having fun.

Flat Stanley Post II

OK, I made a couple of Flat Stanley posts before my charming sister read it.  Here is the second post:

The Arrival

The trip in the mail took two days and I arrived at Bully Hill Farm unscathed... physically that is. Spending two days in solitary confinement is tough. It's just you and your thoughts, man... your thoughts. Well, I was real happy to get out and stretch my legs.

It was great to meet Uncle Paul. I had been told he was fun, but nobody told me that he was so handsome, strong, and kind.

Uncle Paul took me on a tour of the farm just to get me acquainted with everyone and everything. First, I got to meet Aunt Sarah. She is very pretty. Uncle Paul said that she is a Quaker which is an old religious group that settled in Pennsylvania. The Quakers were led by a man named William Penn which is how Pennsylvania got its name. They are a peaceful religion except Aunt Sarah apparently likes to yell at construction workers for making too much noise. Uncle Paul said that is why they had to move to the country.

Uncle Paul and I walked around the farm so I could stretch my legs and see everything.

Uncle Paul carved a fancy sign for the driveway so everyone who visits knows where they are.

The farm has lots of open fields so Uncle Paul's horses can run around and eat grass.

The horses get to stay in a big red barn.

The barn is on top of Bully Hill and you get some really neat views of the surrounding land

After a long trip and a walk up a big hill, I sure am tired and hungry. Uncle Paul says that we will need to eat and get to bed early because living on a farm is a lot of work. I think I'm up for it.


Sincerely,

So I know... how is this objectionable?  We learned about the Quaker religion and how a neighboring state got its name, we had a little character development for the protagonist, still my sister was all upset.  There's just no pleasing some people.

The Flat Stanley Project

No, this is not the name of a new band.  A few weeks ago my sister asked if I would assist with a project for my nephew, Matthew.  His class had just finished reading a book called Flat Stanley.  The premise of the book is that Stanley Lambchop is a normal kid, but his father purchases him a bulletin board which falls on him and flattens him.  Despite being flattened, the kid is fine and goes on adventures, solves crimes, etc....  It is painfully obvious that this book was published in 1964.  Anyway, everyone in the class made a Flat Stanley out of paper and mailed it (him, if you want to personify a piece of laminated paper) to a friend or relative.  I was the obvious recipient of my nephew's Flat Stanley since I live on a farm, oh yea, and I'm awesome.

So, I get Flat Stanley in the mail.  I'm supposed to keep a journal for him and track our adventures together.  I figure the easiest thing to do is make a blog for him.  Unfortunately, I have trouble writing for 2nd graders.  Thus, it seems that I will have to censor my work and publish the original product here.  Enjoy.

Introductions

Allow me to introduce myself, I'm Flat Stanley. I was made by my good friend, Matthew, as part of a school project for Ms. Mowery's 2nd grade class at Northfield Elementary School. Here is Matthew:

He's a smart kid and he's really good at sports.

I'm called "Flat" Stanley because I was flattened when a bulletin board fell on me. Despite some apparent damage to my skeletal structure, Dr. Dan said I was in fine health.  [Dr. Dan, someone from the Physicians Quality Assurance Board is here to see you.]  That was great because it meant nobody had to call Child Protective Services.

One of the neat things about being flat is that I can travel to visit friends and relatives simply by mailing myself in an envelope. Traveling by the U.S. Postal Service is great because it is cheap, I don't get charged for carry-on luggage, and I don't get subjected to searches and full-body scans. I don't even need to take off my shoes.


Matthew decided that it would be a lot of fun for me to visit his Uncle Paul because he lives on a farm. Matthew's mom was a little concerned because Uncle Paul does not always act "age appropriate" and "likes to work blue." I don't know what that means exactly, but I promised to properly censor my journal... despite my obvious First Amendment rights.

I'm really looking forward to learning about farm life.


Sincerely,

Obviously this is both very entertaining and totally educational.  Still, my sister was all like "you can't write about Child Protective Services... blah, blah, blaaaaaah."  My point is, kids gotta learn.  Regardless, I have made the Flat Stanley blog pretty lame so I will publish the fun versions here.

Spring!

I have been insanely busy lately.  My normal schedule has me up at 4:30 each morning and if I'm not working or training the dogs, I'm walking around in a zombie-like state eating.  This situation is not ideal for posting interesting stories to the blog, thus it has been rather neglected.  Although, I'm almost a bit surprised that I did not find virtual cobwebs when I came to the site, the computer was a bit dusty.  In an effort to do a little spring cleaning and freshen things up around here, I'm going to provide you with some gratuitous flower photos that I took this week.

  OK, this is not a very manly post, what with the spring cleaning talk and flower pictures, but I'm still a bit giddy over the change in seasons. Still, I will leave you with a short video taken from the banks of the mighty Bully Branch.

Adoption Fair

It has been a while since I have posted something to this blog, but not much has been happening on Bully Hill.  The good news is that the snow has melted.  The bad news is that the melted snow (actually, I think they call that water) turned everything into mud... and now it has started raining.  On the bright side, I have seen some small green shoots beginning to poke out of the mud.

Today, however, something interesting did happen.  The Mrs. and I loaded Kane in the truck and took her to a Baltimore Humane Society adoption event. 

Kane was a little skeptical at first,

but she decided it was pretty fun to ride in the car.

We were listening to Car Talk on NPR, and I think she found it amusing.

The adoption event was held in a vacant shoppe that formerly served as an apothecary.  It was sort of a strange venue, but it actually worked out quite nicely.  The store was large and open and it had carpet tiles on the floor.  This allowed me to bring some of the agility equipment since the dogs would have some traction.

There were a lot of excited dogs and Kane was a bit nervous for the first 30 minutes or so.  Instead of socializing, we concentrated on running the agility course and showing off her training.  Once she realized that the dogs were not going to attack her, she started to relax.  She was not exactly ready to play with the other dogs... that was way too scary, but she was able to hang out with them and meet people.  She actually had a good time doing the meet and greet at the front of the store.

 Once we vacated the agility course, some of the other dogs got to try their hands paws at it.  One of the pitties, Miller, did a pretty good job for his first day.

He was a good dog, but Kane was pretty sure he was up to no good.  Obviously, he was behaving in a rather suspicious manner.

Maybe it was the hot pink leash and red and yellow cape.  Any dog that so blatantly disregards fashion edicts could also be scofflaw.

In addition to Miller, there were a lot of other good pit bull dogs.  There was Otis, a timid, little, brown, fireplug who prefered to snuggle in his handler's lap.  He reminded me of Petunia, but with a bit more muscle and a bigger head.  Kane thought Otis was on the up and up.  Otis played a bit with a funny, little, brindle pittie mix named Laurel.  Kane was a bit suspicious of Laurel at first, but she figured Laurel was OK after a while.  Then there was an adorable, little, black, pit bull puppy, Eva.  She had bad skin, but I think all pit bull puppies have bad skin.  Eva was a lot of fun, but Kane, again seemed a little concerned about her motives.

So at the end of the day, we got to meet some nice people and some neat dogs.  Kane got one more experience under her belt and hopefully she will be a bit more open-minded next time.  It was a good day. 

Dear Mother Nature,

We give up.  I believe I speak for most of Baltimore and perhaps all of the Mid-Atlantic when I say that we are humbled by your might.  We apologize for all of the greenhouse gas and NOx emissions, water pollutants, poor land management practices, SUV's, reality television shows, and/or anything else that might have angered you.  Your vengeance is as cold and deep as it is fierce.  We should have learned from the example you made of Canada, but frankly, I still don't think anything we've done has risen to the level of Loverboy and Brian Adams.  Regardless, we are sorry for whatever we have done.  Mistakes were made and we shall do our best to correct them.

Now that we have gotten the apologies out of the way, I would really appreciate it if you stopped with the snow already.  It just isn't funny anymore.  Frankly, this is downright rude:

(Keep in mind this is a 4 foot fence)

(You can't even see the 26" jumps... they are buried a foot down)

 

That is Coop D'Etat on the far right.  Little Brett and the girls are in there! 


Now, when people do great things in the line of work, they do not like to be called heroes.  Firemen, police officers, ER doctors, etc... they all consider their actions to be part of what they are called to do on daily basis.  I am not one of these men.  I am a chicken hero.

I jumped to action in the middle of the blizzard of the century.  I was going to rescue my chickens!  Shovel in hand, I pushed out the back door and into snow that came up to my waist.  My well worn track from this morning had already been covered and the snow had drifted to about 4 feet deep on their porch.  Daddy is coming for you!  I struggled to dig a path to their door.

As I cleared the snow away from the entrance, the chickens could hear the sound of the shovel scraping against their coop... their home that had been transformed into a snowy prison.  They called out to me, "we're in here, help us... we are very bored, and we would like some more freeze dried, berry-flavored mealworms."  Their beautiful voices were tainted with desperation. Were they OK?!?!?!?!?


Before I answer that, let me show you some other pictures.  This is what we like to call a cliff-hanger.

The dogs were in a similarly dire situation.  How does one go to the bathroom in snow that goes above your head?

Tubbers was desperate for answers... and frankly, I did not like the one she seemed to be hinting at.  I sprang into action.  Shovel in hand, I pushed my way out of the front door and into waist high snow.  My carpet and Tubber's dignity were at stake.  I cleared off the front porch and dug a tunnel down to the spruce tree in the front yard.  There the dogs could find some cover and respite.  For more security and privacy, I dug out the snow under the pine tree and made walls under the branches.  It was like a fort to protect them from the howling winds and biting cold.

Brave Pea was the first into the foxhole.  It was a bit slippery, but it would do.  She called back to her incontinent companion.

The coast was clear... or the steps were kind of cleared off... whatever.

Tubbers could not even wait for Petunia to get out of the way.   They both drove down the snowy trench, around the corner, and under the big spruce.  They quickly christened it Fort Latrine.  Just as quickly as they came, they left...

Crisis averted, but what of the chickens? Well, before we get to that, the horses have been rather put out by the storm too. 

Poor Ellie was keeping watch and waiting expectantly for her breakfast.  I sprang action.  Shovel in hand, I pushed out the back door and... yada yada yada.  I dug out the area between the two barns so that they could get around easier, but frankly they have been getting around pretty well.  They actually don't seem all that inclined to seek cover.

After they ate their grain, they popped back into the yard to hang out.  Thankfully, they had the sense to go inside after a while.

I could not get a shot of Kane because she is white and the visibility was that bad when I had her out.  I did have to check on the Bumpases.  Shovel in hand, yada yada yada....

They were fine.  It was actually pretty warm and dry at the back of the garage.

But what of the Chickens?!?!?!?

As I got to the door of Coop D'Etat, I struggled with the lock which was frozen solid....

Yea, they were fine.  I gave them some scratch, some more feed, and even some mealworms and then went back inside. 

It's tough being a hero, but I make it look pretty easy.  Hopefully, my efforts to save animal friends will convince Mother Nature that we are all worth saving.  If so, you can all thank me later.