new to the flock

Terry, If he is dropping his nose while you are heeling, keep walking in a forward direction, give a command....I use " no sniff".......and at the same time give a pop on the lead in an upwards direction. Tim, You will be fine missing a couple nights a week if you have to. Life has a tendancy to get in the way of a perfect world.

I am looking for a leg crook, but can not find one over here. Does anybody have a farm supply place close to them selling this leg crook? http://www.jamescountrysupplies.co.uk/General-Farming-Equipment/Farming-Sundries/Shepherds-Leg-Crook-End/prod_118.html If so would you be willing to pick one up for me please I am more than willing to reinburse purchase price and shipping. Cheers, NTTF

You had best mind your P's and Q's or I will post pictures!!!

See Suzy, I TOLD YOU it was proper farm attire! NTTF

As has been said, check out some of the falconry forums, and find yourself a mentor to teach you the ropes. This is mine. Storm 4 yr old social imprint Saker x Gyr NTTF

Ben, Even though most sheep are born trying to kill themselves, sometimes you find one that does everything right and survives. About 4 months ago I had brush wolves get into my flock. They took a couple of 50 pound lambs and tore one of my best ewes up. She was torn from the hip to the knee on the outside of the leg, and from the bag to the knee on the inside. The whole thing was just hanging. So if I sewed it in place it was a pocket of infection waiting to happen. I brought her in and using a sterile new exacto blade cut the skin off at the knee. I really figured I would be shooting this ewe before the week was out. However keeping it cleaned, and 3 shots of long acting antibiotic has seen this site down to about an inch and a half cirlce of scab. I am absolutely amazed that she has recovered. I dont believe she will lamb this spring but thats okay as she more than covered herself last year with quads. NTTF

Terry, You are on the right track with the heeling. Be sure when you take him out to have him sit, then tell him heel while stepping off on the left foot. His right shoulder is to be even with your left leg, if his shoulder is behind you he is lagging and needs to be encouraged to speed up with some kissy noisies or thata boys. If his shoulder is in front of your leg, he is forging and this is where you pivot 180 degrees on your right foot giving a solid pop, (correction), on the lead at the same time. Always vary the number of steps you take in this reverse direction before turning around or you will have your dog counting and turning before you want him to. Do this for the next week and let me know where he is at. As for the squeaking I would like you to try something for me. Make up a 6 inch tab of rope with the a snap. Set the dog up with a flat collar and snap the tab on. Let him wear this in the house. I am expecting him to start whinning as soon as he sees and feels it snapped on. Let him squeak and ignore him! When he goes quiet, tell him good boy and snap the tab off for a bit. Then repeat. If he is quiet and you can switch the tab for the lead to give him a walk great, if not slip the lead on and go as I know there is a need to get him out. How ever once he is staying quiet with the tab on snap a lead on him and let him drag this around the house. Again ignoring the squeaking and the dog unless he is quiet. If you have any questions let me know, and let me know what is happening so we can change anything that is not working. NTTF

Terry, things are not too bad and can be fixed relativly quickly and painlessly I forgot to ask what type of collar are you working on flat, slip. choke? NTTF

Terry, Do me a favour and take the dog for a normal walk. During that walk have someone count and record how many steps you take before the dog starts pulling,how often the dog is in position, how many times you pull back on the lead, how many times you say heel, and sit. Post this up for me and I will put somethng together for you. NTTF

He didnt happen to drop you into a very deep ditch full of water, expose you to the crazy duck lady, or drown you on a shingle beach aswell did he???? She looks fabulous Dan! Give my Love to Shaz. NTTF

Its okay Guys...... she is having a Granny Moment!!!!!!!!! NTTF

As many of you have noticed I have not been around for awhile. We have been having a very rough year. Trixs father under went cancer treatment last year, 6 bouts of kemo and then an emergency operation for colin cancer ontop. During this Her Mother had a heart attack and then another episode of a series of 8 strokes. My Father went through a period there where his blood sugar went out of wack and was very unstable on his feet. Needless to say Trix and I have been running all three farms and not had alot of free time for the computer. Trixs Father has been back in the hospital for the past 3 weeks with complications to having his colinopsy bag reversed, but is starting to mend now. On top of all this we managed to get hit by two tornados this spring, loosing a barn in the one.....still haven't found the roof....... and suffering some very heavy fence damage, so are still rather busy. To anyone that has sent me pm's I am sorry I have not gotton back to you, but I will try to get them answered eventually. NTTF

Have this dog checked for coccidiosis, with a stool sample! NTTF

Unless it is in that wonderful little Coventry park.. Dan

If you want some really good first hand info contact Tiercel by PM or email from his profile, as he has been through it with his one dog. NTTF

Treatment/Control There are no anthelmintics approved for use in the treatment of angiostrongylosis in dogs. Levamisole,fenbendazole and ivermectin have been used successfully to treat dogs infected with A. vasorum [7, 21, 23].The use of levamisole in dogs for the treatment of angiostrongylosis should be discontinued due to a lowtherapeutic index, potential side-effects and a presumed increased risk of post-treatment reactions due to itsrapid killing rate of the worms. Release of worm antigen causing an anaphylactic reaction was thought to bethe cause of hypovolemic shock in one A. vasorum infected dog after levamisole treatment [36]. Two doses ofivermectin (0.2 mg/kg) given subcutaneously one week apart has been reported to be effective for treatment ofA. vasorum. Fenbendazole has been used at a dosage regimen of 20 mg/kg, per os, given 1-2 times daily for2-3 weeks. Severe dyspnea and ascites may occur as post-treatment complications. Broncho-dilators,expectorants and diuretics may need to be administered due to these post-treatment reactions [4].Currently, premise application of molluscicides or fencing designed to exclude wild canids are not available aspractical control options. It is unknown whether any of the preventative anthelmintics designed for theprevention of Dirofilaria immitis infection in dogs would also offer protection against A. vasorum. Sanitationto limit exposure of gastropods to feces of infected animals may prevent the spread of infection within akennel or multi-dog household. However, wild canids probably represent an infection reservoir beyond theeffects of human control measures. We use an Ivermec wormer once a month to repell Canine Heartworm here. So unless you are on a monthly program of say "Heart Guard" .....one of the approved monthly wormers here.......then you are not preventing this problem. LB, here are the Clinical Signs. Clinical signs can be variable. Infections are usually characterized by a gradual onset of progressivelyworsening signs of respiratory and/or cardiac disease. Chronic cough, dyspnea, exercise intolerance, anorexia,gagging and weight loss are the most common clinical signs of infection. Subcutaneous swellings (hematomas), ascites, syncope, vomiting and signs of central nervous system disease may also occur. In rarecases, usually in younger dogs, an acute onset of illness followed by sudden death can occur. Occlusion of thepulmonary artery, acute onset of right-sided congestive heart failure and rupture of the femoral artery havebeen cited as the cause of death in these animals [21, 30, 32, 33].DiagnosisDiagnosis is based on history, clinical signs and the detection of first-stage larvae in fecal or transtrachealwash samples. Larvae are detected in feces using the Baermann technique or fecal flotation. Larvae are lessreliably detected on fecal flotation and may be difficult to identify due to osmotic damage from exposure tothe high specific gravity of the flotation media. The larvae are 310-399 x 14-16 microns in size. They have ananterior cephalic button and the tail terminates in a sinus wave curve ("severe kink") with a dorsal spine (Fig.3, Fig. 4). Immobilizing larvae with mild heat or the addition of a drop of iodine allows the diagnostician toperform a detailed morphological evaluation and obtain accurate size measurements. Multiple fecal samplesmay need to be examined to detect larvae due to intermittent shedding.Radiographs and hematological changes are nonspecific but may be supportive of a diagnosis ofangiostrongylosis in cases where fecal examinations are inconclusive. Radiographic changes include a diffuseincrease in peribronchial, interstitial and alveolar densities. Multiple nodular like densities may occur in theperipheral regions of the caudal lung lobes. Right-heart and pulmonary artery enlargement may also be visible[7, 21, 23, 34-35]. Hematological changes are inconsistent but may indicate anemia and monocytosis NTTF

Did anyone in your general area have a pet skunk that has been turned loose?

He was probably displaced when you shoved some poor inocent into his drainage ditch! :(

I start my pups between 8 and 10 weeks with these basics. Just remember to keep your lessons short 15 to 20 minutes, and to keep them fun. There is nothing wrong with letting them be a pup, just have them as a well mannered pup with basic training. NTTF

is that 5 a day or a fifth a day?

Holly, I managed to slip out to the lake for 2 1/2 hours one evening last week with a good friend of mine. Headed out to 50 feet of water and boated 175 in that time . we kept 50 of the 12 inchers between us for a couple of suppers and released others between 6 and 14 inches.

Recieved mine last week thanks. NTTF