Farm Fresh Blog

Friday, December 03 2010

We have already established that I like high-drive, thinking dogs. Now on the surface, most people will step up and shout "Me too!" BUT . . . do you really?

For every cute and clever thing they do to amuse you, there are five not-so-cute dangerous things their brains also concoct. Take, for instance, our intrepid young Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin. (Trace)

The Crocodile Hunter discovered sheep last week. Actually, that's wrong. He had discovered them before, what he discovered last week is that he could GET TO the sheep. No longer content to stay in the yard while I fed livestock, The Crocodile Hunter would race along the fence line until he found an impossibly small spot that he could slither his tiny ass through. Thus, I would be mindlessly feeding sheep, annoyed that they were stepping all over my new Crocs, when suddenly I would get that feeling that I wasn't alone. (Mostly because sheep would be magically moving in my direction.) Casting around for the source, I would find a pair of little blue eyes slithering sheep in my direction. EEEEKKKK!!!! Not good! Very, very NOT GOOD!

On the surface, you would assume that you could just throw his butt in a kennel until you were done feeding and then let him out after the excitement was over. Right? Wrong! Steve Irwin makes his own excitement! Immediately upon release from prison, Trace would begin running the fence line, looking for any spot he could slither his multi-jointed, snake-like self through.

So we commenced to fortifying the back yard like Fort Knox.

We tacked up cattle panels on top of the board fence which already contained hog fencing. Yes, it is the most Hillbilly Trash-looking arrangement you've ever seen. (Thank God you don't live next door to us.) I keep telling myself that when he is older I can take the cattle panels down and re-use them somewhere else.

I was amazed with how quickly he figured out that all he had to do was run to the end of the cattle panels and find another spot that had washed out where he could squirm through. I soon ran out of cattle panels. What to do? What to do? AHH HA!!! Cinder blocks! (Yes it just keeps getting trashier and trashier!) So we lined the rest of the fence with cinder blocks!

And then we tested it. Turn out the sheep . . . . and wait. Trace ran up and down every inch of that fence . . .

. . . but he didn't get out!

Don't feel sorry for him. He's plotting.

(To read why we call Trace "The Crocodile Hunter": The Crocodile Hunter LIVES! )

Posted by: forensicfarmgirl AT 10:00 am | Permalink | 9 Comments | Email

Comments:

I don't get it. What's wrong or trashy-looking about wire panels in combination with other fencing? Like, for instance, with the pipe gates on our place. We are trying to keep the sheep in, not keep the dogs out which is impossible here. That must be the difference and means we're more hillbilly than you are. Good thing the neighbors are far enough away not to see anything.

Posted by Peg H. on 12/03/2010 - 12:23 PM

Geez Louis, that's one expensive pup!---or did you have the fencing just laying around? There's not a thing wrong with jury-rigging the dog yard until Trace is old enough to know better. PS...I never ever wanted one of the 'needs a job' sorts of dogs. I know better.

Posted by CeeCee on 12/03/2010 - 01:53 PM

Looks like my Stalag 13 for the LGD. Only that's 8 ft high round the garden area to keep original Pyr in some 15 odd yrs ago. I just grew vines over it looks great. I bet Briar caused you less grief than "Stevey" I like the slow careful thought process my self.

Posted by Liz (Vic Aust.) on 12/03/2010 - 04:43 PM

You do what you have to do. Looks fine to me from the pictures. The fence is all standing and the Steve Irwin is on the side of the fence you want him on. ALL IS WELL!! LOL!!

Posted by Lynne on 12/03/2010 - 05:29 PM

NO! I did NOT have cattle panels just propped somewhere waiting to be used. Yes he IS an expensive pup! I had to spend a day going to Tractor Supply and then tacking those suckers up with haystring! What looks so bad is that the cattle panel is sticking up about a foot or so above the wooden fence. Plus . . . concrete blocks every few feet where I ran out of cattle panels does have a bit of a Hillbilly feel to it. "You might be a redneck if . . ."

Posted by forensicfarmgirl on 12/03/2010 - 06:18 PM

. . . on the other hand, I probably passed into Redneck Land when I made the front yard and the driveway area into paddocks for livestock. Hmmmmm . . . yep. . . I'm probably already a Redneck.

Posted by forensicfarmgirl on 12/03/2010 - 06:20 PM

Have you renamed him "Bad Dog" yet? :) I know he's just a baby, but goodness he's putting gray hairs on your head, isn't he?

Posted by CeeCee on 12/03/2010 - 06:24 PM

Just grit your teeth and think of Kona over the Rainbow Bridge, smiling in delight at his successor. He's probably giving Trace ideas by ESP. Seriously.

Posted by Peg H on 12/04/2010 - 07:59 AM

I KNOW! It's eerie how similiar they are! Even at this age, Kona was such a dominant force in the pack that we nicknamed him "Attila The Hun!" I see the exact same behaviors in Trace!

Posted by forensicfarmgirl on 12/04/2010 - 10:13 AM