Category: Good Life Blog

Remember that little bundle of ears and paws we ‘rescued’ from the RSPCA shelter? That poor, shy, defenceless little creature with the blackest eyes? Yes, well – he – Angus – the ‘chosen one’ has taken over my house, my life and my sanity (but only for a little while). Turns out his human required a crash course in puppy fundamentals. Just in case you are considering a pup – and a working pup at that, I thought I’d share my crash course learnings to save you a world of pain.

I naively thought ‘dogs, pups – been there, done that many times – how hard can it be?’ And maybe you’re reading this and thinking the same thing. Ha – well let me introduce the Kelpie X pup … a high impact pupster with attitude – a pupster with brains – and he’s not afraid to use them!

Here are a few of my learnings in the first weeks of Kelpie puppyhood.

• One of the first lessons learned was, ‘life will never be the same again.’
• Oh and forget the idea of trying to work – maybe for the first six months. Say goodbye to your friends, your loved ones, your nice clothes and shoes… I mean just forget it.
• Do not let pupster run amuck through your whole house. No matter how cute they are, they will poo and wee everywhere. Once they do it once, they think they can do it again and again. This is not unique to Kelpies of course. I felt permanently attached to rubber gloves, mops and an assortment of sprays for the first 2 weeks.
• Urine Off and No Marking products have limited success rate in the early weeks because like babies – they just don’t get it.
• Pupsters can only hold their wee for an hour or so at a time so you have to be prepared to take them out throughout the night too. Yup! Peter was a Godsend with that one.
• Pupsters love early mornings – try 5.00am – In the name of the wee man!
• I learned to love the sun rising over the property at 6.15am (that was my limit).
• Chew Off spray – yeah pupster likes to chew that bottle.
• By the end of week two, sleep deprivation and the sheer shock of it all will leave you and your significant other looking like a husk of the vibrant soul you once were.
• Young as he is – the Kelpie pupster is super intelligent.  Mental note – make the most of it! He learned ‘sit’ in one day, ‘lie down’ the next … oh-oh competitive, proud, smug human of said pupster emerging …
• Crates are not cruel. It took a LOT of watching Victoria Stillwell (UK dog trainer) to cure myself of that one. Do yourself a favour – get a crate and sit in it for your own safety.
• Playpens/exercise zone / safe zone (whatever it means to you) clipped to crate is also not cruel – in fact, it will restore sanity and free up moments of your life again – and guess what – help in the challenging phase of toilet training.
• Kelpie’s are nutters! This statement needs no further explanation.
• Kelpies love a job to do. They are working dogs with a herding instinct. As the principal human, you have just become pupster’s very own sheep or cattle to herd. And, because you are so thick in complying – you deserve to have to have your ankles nipped!
• If you still don’t comply things can escalate – they take their job seriously. So learn to fearlessly turn your back on nipping pupster or take yourself out of his company (yep try walking calmly away with jaws snapping behind you).
• Sometimes Kelpies run along the backs of stubborn cattle. This potentially means you can say goodbye to your lovely day bed, or beautiful lounges. Alternatively, be prepared to replace their herding instinct with other forms of play and training.
• Pupster loves wallaby poo. I mean why?
• Some things take time – like ‘recall’ – ie coming to you when you call their name in various degrees of hysterical (fake) excitement or desperation. If they are on the scent of something big you better be offering wallaby poo to even have a hope in hell of him coming back to you.
• Pupsters are super intelligent. A Canine Enrichment site on Facebook could quite possibly become your very best friend. Mental stimulation is key – if you crack this – you’ve made it! (Thank you Abi from Meadow Pets xxx) And thank you Australia Animal Enrichment – there’s a not lot in Australia yet but this is a great start.There are other forms of enrichment too – such as music. Yep turn out pupster has an ear for music – so we tune him in to ‘Relax my dog’ on Spotify – by the third track he has mended his hyper ways. 
• But boy oh boy, when they look at you with those big black eyes, or nuzzle and throw themselves on you for a cuddle, or they allow you to sniff those pancake pads on their paws … you know they love you – and you know your heart will forever contain a paw shaped space just for him.

There are so many jobs around the garden we haven’t even begun to contemplate, however, the old Aviary was becoming a focal point for me. I’m thinking ‘easy wins’ here. 

“It shouldn’t take too much to clean that out. Then we can decide what we do with it.” I decide one hot Sunday. The idea grows in my mind and by the time the hottest part of the day has passed I’ve donned my Barmah and found a pair of gloves. The attire was more of a psychological requirement than a physical one. Who knew what beasties lurked in the old Aviary.

I gingerly opened the door waiting for sudden movements or scuttling sounds, but so far so good. I got brave and walked inside whereupon my skin immediately began to creep. Webs upon webs upon webs hanging from everywhere. Uugh. 

“Be brave,” I tell myself -but my bravery is not my strong point – and it’s certainly not bolstered by the sight of the skeletal remains of large spiders (OK, OK I know technically spiders have exoskeleton but you get the idea).

“What the hell was big enough to kill those monstrosities?” I wonder.

I decide more equipment and reinforcements are required. A broom with a very long handle and a hose set on ‘Jet’. For some mad reason, I also thought Angus would love to join in though he’s still too young to be trusted in the garden off leash. So stake in the ground, lead looped over, Angus in situ and part of the team. 

I begin shovelling the moss out from the bottom of the Aviary and dumping it on the concrete. The inside of this Aviary is like a museum dedicated to old bird food and a range of rusting containers. Once I remove as much as I can stand (remember I’m standing in a mass of webs here) I jump out and turn my attention to the hose.

As I spray the Aviary with as much gusto as the hose can muster, the pup becomes excited. And not in a good way. He’s still not a massive fan of the hose or water for that matter – it’s a very slow work in progress socialising the concept with him. ‘One does not get one’s paws wet.’ He jumps around madly and frees himself from his stake and decides he would like to eat the weeds already pulled from the garden earlier that afternoon.  Of course, anyone who has a pup knows you must never chase them when you want them to come to you because they think ‘hey this is a brilliant game. I’m going to take off at great speed in the opposite direction.’

It’s not long before I realise it’s an extremely bad idea to get Angus’s support in the Aviary. He just wants to eat grass, weeds and wallaby poo for heaven’s sake. He doesn’t get his last booster until next week so I am still anxious whenever he sniffs or picks anything up he shouldn’t – even if it is in our garden.

At least we both understand the value of the bribe (though for how much longer I’m not sure). Angus and beef treat now safely back in the boring confines of his playpen (thank God he hasn’t mastered jumping out of it yet) I’m back to the horror of the Aviary.

The jet hose was surprisingly ineffective. These flamin’ webs are holding their shape like chicken wire so I have to move to plan B with the end of the broom. Needless to say, my skin is crawling.

And then it happens. Something huge leaps at me from behind one of the old bird boxes. I scream so loudly Peter’s rushes to the driveway wondering what injury has befallen me. 

“I’m fine …I’m fine …it’s just … it’s just a beastie.” At this point, I am holding the broom between me and the thing.

It turned out to be a huge Cricket – a mutant Cricket. It had probably lived in the Aviary so long it had become hermit-like and was putting up a fight. He didn’t want to be moved on that was for sure. I decide a break is in order. I need a coffee. Perhaps I’ll pin an eviction notice on the Aviary and give him until tomorrow to move out on his own.

Easy win indeed!

 

 

 

Well, the brush turkey hatchling has been making herself quite at home. We seem to see and hear her everywhere which seems quite a strange behaviour given how vulnerable she must be to predators. She can be heard and seen quite easily in the leaves to the front of the property as well as behind up near the ponds. One thing we’ve discovered about this chick though – she doesn’t like the rain. Here she is taking a few moments to shelter and dry off those feathers. Matilda must be a bit of a Diva 🙂