My Dogs are My Happy Place

Hello, to all who decide to read my silly blog about my 3 huskies and our lives. I am giving this blog a reboot to keep track of our training progress. I also need a reminder that when I get busy with all that life throws at me, just taking time with my awesome furry four legged best friends always grounds me.

Mornings in this house can feel a little crazy sometimes. I get a little annoyed from time to time that my dogs don't like to deviate from their routine. When I get up I take them all out to pee this is normal for every dog owner. They have been good little creatures and not peed in the house all night but they really have to go. Aside from those negative temperature days that never annoys me.

We come back in and I usually have breakfast and then feed the dogs. No particular reason for that order. If I decide to make something that takes longer for breakfast the dogs get their food before I eat. I don't abide by any of the alpha nonsense a lot of trainers subscribe to.  I can talk about that more another time but for now I am not saying we don't need to provide our dogs leadership, but some people misunderstand what a good leader is.

Anyhow,  we all eat around the same time in the morning then they all want to go out when they are done eating. Usually they have to poop, but apparently didn't have to poop before breakfast?  I sometimes get annoyed by this second time out especially if it is single digit or below temps. Sometimes they just want to go out and sniff the front yard. We currently have chickens in the back and can't let them out unsupervised. On that note even if we didn't have chickens in the back they would not be able to go out off leash in the morning because they are too difficult to get back in. I do not like trying to chase them down when they would rather be outside half the day in the snow and cold. If we ever move one of my must have's in the new home is a big fenced in backyard where I don't have to take the dogs out and can just let them out. As of now we have to exit the back door and walk to the fence and open it. Also if we decide to keep chickens after this batch the new home would have to have a separate dog proof area.

Then I make sure they have water before I start my morning ritual. I drink a cup or two of coffee and listen to an audio book for a bit before I get to work. Much of my work can be done at home. I am not much of a early morning person so I do all that boring stuff while trying to wake up.  From paperwork to household cleaning.

I have just started getting back to walking with the dogs during the day. I had so much going on after buying into a dance studio and learning to manage it, I had neglected to spend that valuable time with my dogs. My husband usually walked them during the adjustment period. After doing it a lot the past 2 weeks I realized how important it is to both me and the dogs to have that time with them. It is a time of peace and healing for me. To just spend time with my furry best friends who pretty much love me unconditionally and have a high capacity for forgiveness when I screw up. I am not a religious person but there really is something special about that relationship with a human and a dog. I am calmer and better able to handle life and the dogs are calmer after a great walk. It does not even have to be a very long walk. Even when I am teaching and training during the walk I am more at peace than when I am dealing with difficult people. It feels like working with the gifts mother nature has provided. It feels like dogs were made to fill our lives with happiness and joy as long as we learn to meet their canine needs. 

I walk my two girls together and take Duke out by himself. The two girls are much easier to handle. Kira is not interested in humans and is not too bad around dogs. Maya is scared of humans and loves dogs but again she doesn't try to yank me towards them. 

Duke on the other hand gets over excited on seeing anything! Humans and dogs are especially exciting. He would like to go over and tell them how excited he is by jumping all over them and screaming like a banshee.  Needless to say, this is scarry for the humans and some of the animals he approaches. So I take him out alone right now so I can deal with this behavior. It is going to take time to deal with this in a humane and relationship building way but I have patience with animals. I realize they don't understand what I expect of them and that Duke is a challenge I have not dealt with before. We are going to obedience class tonight. He has had a loose leash walking class as well and I have been working with him as much as I can. He is really smart and learns quickly to do tricks and things he thinks are fun but he needs more appropriate outlets for his energy. I hope to get him into doggie dancing so when we have showcases at the dance studio we can do routines together. He needs a job and I think it will be perfect for him. He has the drive and the energy.

What I have gathered over the years with different dogs is that they all have their own unique personalities and that there is no one size fits all techniques to teaching dogs to be polite members of society. I have also learned that I have made a lot of mistakes. I have used training methods from people that are considered respected professionals that make my heart hurt a little and probably damaged my relationships with my dogs in the past and possibly Kira my black and white baby. I feel bad for the things I have done that have made my dogs feel like I am a crazed maniac that is very unpredictable. I vow to do my best to be more respectful to my animals while teaching them boundaries and manners. I am doing my best to learn what my dogs are thinking and feeling and telling me with their body language and vocalizations. Someday I will write about my first dog as an adult and the horrible issues we had that I am almost sure could have been resolved with proper training from the start.

I am learning to remember that my dogs to not speak English and I don't speak Dog. So when there is a training fail I need to figure out what I am doing wrong and how to be more clear in my communication with my dogs. In my opinion there is never any reason to use pain in any training session and really never a reason to be rough with a dog. We as responsible owners need to learn to understand how our behavior is confusing to dogs and realize poor dog behavior in most cases is our fault. There are dogs that are born with mental or physical issues and they are not included in my most dogs statement. 

I am glad none of my dogs display aggressive tendencies. I am working towards bonding with my dogs as much as possible. I am going to spend much of my free time giving my dogs the best life they can have for the short time I get to spend with them. 

I tried a few hobbies to help relax me but there is nothing better than seeing you dog happy and confident and excited to spend time with you. 

I have Maya taking shy dog classes once a week and Duke taking at least one obedience class a week. My husband plans to go with me to Dukes classes so I hope to get some class photos and videos to document his progress. I can also rent the space sometimes for play with all three dogs. I am not sure about Kira I might take her to obedience classes to just to refresh then take her to the tricks class because she likes doing tricks training she is not going to be an agility dog. She is too much of a princess for that. While Kira could do all the agility things she would only jump as high as she wants to and she would complete each task in her own timing. She is the most chill husky you will ever meet. 

I love the place we are taking the dogs. It is called The Zoom Room and it is in Perrysburg. The trainers are patient with me and the dogs. They love animals and have been super helpful when I ask questions. I probably won't get anything for it but if you decide to take your dogs because of this blog or my constant talking them up please drop my name as your referral. (Carrie Sund)

Morning Magic

Today I took Maya and Kyra for a walk and intentionally looked for the beauty in nature. We often walk in the cemetery by our house. It is a historic, well kept cemetary with lots of wildlife. 

It is also a beautiful place to daydream about our future home and all the nature I will be able to photograph. I am going to work no my photograph skills so I can bring you great photos. To go along with the progress we are making at our current home and the plans for more land.

My female dogs are usually very good on walks so I got a few decent shots of the creek that runs through the cemetery just after sunrise.

I am really enjoying this new hobby it is very peaceful. One of my goals for this period in my life is developing peace and harmony with nature in my everyday life. I even signed up on a stock photo site called Foap. That way maybe someday I can make a few extra $$$ as my skills improve. 

Soon I will be writing about our latest honey harvest and have a peaceful day!

Huskies and Homesteading

JUST SOME THOUGHTS 

I plan to write on this blog more. We have started thinking about getting a property with a couple acres that allows us to build a small modern homestead. I am not about all off grid or little to no modern convinces neither is my husband.

We have 3 huskies we absolutely love so we are calling it Huskies Homestead for now.

We currently live in an urban area with a small yard where we grow some of our own food. We have lots of fruits and veggies as well as laying hens and honeybees. 

We know we don't want to attempt to produce all our own food or raise large animals that need tons of space. We would like to expand on what we have started and create a beautiful place where can retire.

Maya

Duke

Kyra 

We would also like a place where our dogs can run. Enough room to have a nice fenced in backyard for humans and dogs. Space for a garden and chickens and a bee yard. Hopefully some fruit trees and maybe some rabbits and/or goats.

I personally am working at making more food from scratch or from the garden. I am also working on making bath and body items and candles for us and some to sell.

I dream of a place where we can do this on a larger scale but not so much we can't relax and enjoy. A little escape everyday in our own yard is what I have been dreaming about for years now.

I will be writing here as sort of a diary of our progress here and eventually in moving. I want to be able to look back and see what we have done over time.

I hope others enjoy the journey. Have a beautiful and peaceful day!

Bugs and and Plants

Good afternoon everyone! Today I am just sharing some finds in the yard.

Picture 1 and 2 are two praying mantises on my single pitiful rose bush I need to learn to properly care for because I love these bugs. They look cool and they eat bugs that I don't like in my garden. I need more roses as soon as I figure how and when to properly prune them.

Picture 3 is of the stupid morning glory vines that are like a plague and every time I think I get them all they are back 2 days later. They have a grass hopper in them. Not sure yet if grass hoppers are bad for your garden or not but for an insect they are kind of cool looking. 

These two pictures are of my chicken foraging patch which has peas, clover and flax and it is supposed to have alfalfa but I don't really see any. The flax is flowering and it looks beautiful. 

Then I found these in the wildflower area. I planted a bunch of seeds wild flowers and anything else I thought looked pretty. I figured whatever came up would be cool with me. Unfortunately I have no clue what is a flower or a weed that flowers and what is a weed that will just take over the whole thing. This is one of those mistakes I will learn from and start some from seed indoors next year. 

Jalapenos and tomatoes are finally flowering and my beans are doing really well, even the babies I planted hoping for a fall crop. The strawberries and marigolds in my cinder block raised bed are doing pretty well but I think I will have to wait until next year for more than a few berries. 

This is the area that I dumped over 20 bags of 40 pounds of dirt and planted almost dead marigolds. and two other flowering plants in good condition. I planted  herb and clover seeds as well and am hoping for good ground cover. I needed to build the soil up so there were not big holes under the fence. Chickens and huskies are sneaky and can slip through those things. Again I am not going to be sure what is and what is not weeds for a few more weeks but at least I actually know what most of the herbs and clover look like.  

I know it is not a mini farm or a huge garden yet but one step at a time and we will get there. 

Chicks to Chickens

One of our black australorp chicks

Contemplating Chickens

Around March or April this year (2019) I started thinking about getting chickens again and starting a garden. I was worried about getting chickens again because the last set was killed by a dog that dug under the 6 foot fence to get them. The neighbor was a nice guy but took on fostering two Siberian huskies he left out all day. They didn't get along well with his dog and it was originally only supposed to be 2 weeks if I am recalling right. 2 weeks turned into months of bored huskies staring at my chickens in the yard before one got under and killed one after the other once they stopped moving. The neighbor felt horrible so I am not blaming him.

This incident made me vow to never get chickens again unless I could buy or build a coop big enough they could be confined all day when I was not working outside or at least able to periodically check on them. Our previous coop was well build but not quite big enough to house chickens all day so they roamed the yard. It was also very hard to clean our when they spent too much time inside. We also stopped maintaining it after the last batch died and it was rotting away.

The chicken condo

The Coop

If you read my first post you will know that when I talked to my mom about chickens I discovered they were selling their coop. My step-dad is great at building things and he built their chickens a very large very sturdy coop.

As usual I got ahead of myself and realized I needed to ask my Ryan before I made a commitment that would involve caring for more animals. I am pretty sure he was reluctant to say yes but he did and we purchased the chicks from a hatchery and the coop from my family.

By the time we got the coop it was warm enough for the chicks to go out and they were about 6 weeks old at that point.

I am very thankful for the timing of all this and my mom and step-dads help getting it here and in the yard without taking out the garage and the fence and the house. I am also thankful for the hens, I forgot how much I enjoyed feeding them and watching them. It can be amusing to watch one chicken find a worm in the ground and watch the rest chase that hen around trying to steal her feast.

The Babies

I got the babies in the first week of May and they were actually larger than the first batch of chickens I had with this breed. Considering I did my usual spur of the moment thing and ordered immediately after I decided I had to write the company and tell them I needed a ship date before or after my already planned vacation. I had a pet sitter coming so he could feed and water them if they came before. 

They shipped them right away so my best guess is these little ladies were at least a week maybe 2 old when we got them. They may have had extra from a previous order and I am completely fine with that especially since they all survived shipping and the first are all still living today. 

I chose this breed (Black Australorp) because they are very calm, amazing egg layers, easy to handle, cold and heat hearty and when they feather they have beautiful feathers. I had leghorns in both my previous batches and they were crazy and noisy and skittish. After dealing with a few breeds in previous flocks I decided this was my favorite breed and that I didn't need variety. 

The baby chicks are pretty easy the first few weeks and not real expensive since we already had supplies. They get big and stinky fast so we started them in plastic tub brooders in my plant room, then moved them to an old very large dog crate in the basement. They were large enough to move outdoors when the coop was delivered. You can also do this in a garage if needed but you will likely have to monitor the temperature more closely.  They are happy out there and I let them out to roam the yard when I am available to check in on them or working outside so I will leave you with some pictures of the chickens in their back yard home.

first day outside

Buddy, The Friendly Neighborhood Stray

Buddy snoozing on my chair

Meeting My Favorite Stray Cat

In our neighborhood we have a lot of strays and I am an animal lover but I didn't want anymore cats. I still don't want anymore indoor cats. I tried really hard not to feel bad for the strays until this cat shows up in the yard next door meowing up a storm. He sounded like he needed something so I got him some food and water and within 2 days he was my outdoor companion. Sometimes he just lays in a shady spot and and watches me and sometimes he demands petting. 

The first week or two he was begging me to come inside which would not have been in his best interest since our husky is not gentle with cats and our cat hates all other animals in his domain...including the husky. So even though he made me feel bad for not letting him in I figured he would be better off outside and I left a little space open for him to get into the garage. This way he could get our of rain and have dry food. 

Buddy begging to come inside 

I really only wanted to help one cat out but now I have 2 additional regular freeloaders. I decided it was not really that expensive and because of this very friendly stray I am now considering building a cat shelter and feeding station next to my garage instead of inside my garage. 

I find it so relaxing to hang out in the yard with the hens and cats I just can't imagine not helping them out. If some are not spayed/neutered I can simply take them to Humane Ohio and get it done for under $30 and bring them home and shelter them in an old dog crate for a few days then let them back out. 

Hens checking Buddy out

Last week I met a lady who also knows Buddy and found out he frequents many local cat lovers, he is spreading his love around the area. That is also how I figured out he already had a name and it suits him well. The arrival of my hens and this cat have helped me learn once again to calm down, relax and enjoy the moment. Buddy has been a blessing to me and is a great reminder that it doesn't hurt to stop and pet the cat even if you are in the middle of some great big project. Planning is good but if you are consumed by planning your future and finishing projects so you can move on to the next one you can't enjoy the little things in life that bring you joy. 

I have added building a high quality cat shelter on my list of to do's before the weather gets cold. I am sure I know someone who can help me design it so it won't leak and keep the cats as warm as possible and someone with the tools and know how to cut the wood. 

Urban Farming or Sustainable Living Experiment.

One of my Black Australorp Chickens

Not Sure What to Call It???

In March and April of 2019 I started contemplating having a garden and some chickens again. At one time I wanted a few acres of property but couldn't find a home and land that fit our budget.  We ended up with a small garden and some chickens. Then after our second batch of chickens started laying eggs a dog killed them all and I vowed never to do it again.

This spring I was talking to my mom about getting chickens again because I miss the eggs and she said she was selling her coop.  This coop has much more space and I could leave them in it all day if needed to keep safe from predators. I took this as a sign and talked to Ryan (my husband) about it and we went ahead and ordered the chickens. 

The Rabbit Hole

For whatever reason these little chicks got me to thinking again about sustainable living and small scale farming. I was all in before and wanted to do everything all at once and I was younger. I still want to do more than I can reasonably do all at once but I am older and wiser (I hope) and would like to start by using the space I already have. Once these hens were ready to go outside I started spending a lot more time outside. Started contemplating more and more ideas.

Ideally I would turn my front and back yard into a very small homestead. I don't plan to give up all modern conveniences or move to the country. I would like to grow many of my own fruits and vegetables and care for the hens that provide my eggs. I would like to draw beneficial bugs to my yard and  compost to reduce waste and build rich soil. I would like to plant things my chickens will forage and make friends with the stray cats who will chase away or kill any rodents that might come near my garden. I would like to have a hive or two for honey bees and maybe someday we could find a way to keep miniature goats. I have dreams of buying the house next door and using that yard for goats and fruit trees.......

This is one of the hardest projects I have completed. Soil needed building and a retaining wall/walk path was put in. All done with hand tools and lots of hauling bricks and soil. Flowers and and herbs seeds planted as well as ground cover seeds. 

Converting Dreams To goals

Dreams are great and I went ahead thinking about how I was going to do all this stuff and trying to do it too quickly and all by myself. I bought plants and planted some from seed most were too early and I was not able to keep them alive since planting this year was late. I wanted to buy the stuff to start 10 projects and I finally had to stop and make a plan. 

Doing 10 things at once with no idea what I was doing was not the smartest thing to do. So I started focusing on one project at a time. I cleared out the raspberry patch first that I had let go for over a year. I did find quite a few raspberry canes in there. Then I planted a wildflower patch with seeds which in retrospect was not the smartest thing to do because I don't know what these plants look like as opposed to weeds. 

I also bought a compost bin and created a foraging area for chickens and planted a blend of seeds for chickens. I made a raised bed for strawberries and I build up soil near a fence line and planted it with some flowers and herbs as well as clover for ground cover and most of those are plants good for bees and other pollinators. I did manage to save a few veggie plants and have even produced enough green beans to eat with dinner 2x. 

I bought a lot of old farming/gardening/homesteading magazines and a few books to teach me about what to plant and when to plant and a multitude of other things. This summer and fall I plan to spend time building soil with compost and planning the gardening and maybe venture into beekeeping or at least prepare for next year. 

So far patients seems to pay off quicker than I thought and one project at a time yields results instead of 10 half started projects.

Cute stray not a close kitty friend yet

Another cute stray that comes close but does not fully trust me yet

I already have the chickens and the cats taken care of 3 frequent strays and my indoor/outdoor cat. Only one stray lets me touch it so far but they all get pretty close to me and are thankful for a bit of food and a water bowl. 

Neighborhood friendly stray, Buddy, drinking while my orange cat Loki watches. Buddy is my constant company when I work in the yard

Right now the focus is making a relaxing yard space and preparing everything for next season so I can make more of the land I currently live on. I am not contemplating extremes like I used to. I don't want to go to off the grid living. I simply want to produce more of my food and make more environmentally friendly and sustainable choices.